DAMASCUS – Maybe you gave gardening a try last summer and want to do it again. Or maybe you didn’t give gardening a try last year and are determined to give it a go this season.
Pfisterer Farm, located outside Damascus in North Wellington, hopes to ignite some green thumbs in families across Guelph-Wellington by giving away free window herb kits before spring arrives.
The kits are meant for the kitchen window and come with peat wafers and seeds. And Pfisterer Farm has 500 to give away to residents of Wellington County and Guelph.
Geared towards school age children, the window herb kits aim to build excitement around local food and backyard gardening. Residents of Guelph and Wellington County can request their own kit by visiting www.vegetabales.com and filling out the online form. Kits will be mailed out early March.
This initiative is in partnership with 10C Shared Space and has allowed the Pfisterers to double their reach in the community.
The farm is also announcing the sale of their VegetaBALES – vegetables that grow in bales of straw.
It’s a novel approach to vegetable gardening, says Jess Pfisterer, who owns the farm with her husband, and one that came from the combination of a move in late summer and the arrival of their first baby.
“We stumbled upon growing vegetables in straw bales and quickly realized the method’s potential,” she says. “It removed the challenges of tending a traditional gardening plot, required no weeding or backbreaking labour, and absolutely zero tools.
“Additionally the bales create instant raised beds perfect for anyone with mobility issues. They also offer the ability to grow on any surface including a lawn, deck, patios, balcony – anywhere the sun shines.”
With the onset of COVID-19 they noticed a sharp increased interest in all things local and many urbanites looking to take up gardening, some for the first time. In keeping with their farms vision and values and with support from the Seeding Our Food Future (Our Food Future) program they decided to create complete local gardening kits. vegetaBALES is now a proud offering from the Pfisterer Farm for the 2021 growing season enabling anyone to grow their own at home.
To learn more about vegetaBALES or to order a free herb window kit, visit www.vegetabales.com and fill out the online form.
Kits will be mailed out early March.
