The people behind Occupy Gardens Toronto similarly made the same connection and took the meme birthed on Twitter one step further. On May 1st they planted the People’s Peas Garden in Queen’s Park.
For just under five months, hundreds of volunteers have tended to the public vegetable garden to raise awareness about the global food security crisis, the increase in food prices, the value of gardens over lawns, and the need for more spaces for people to participate in growing their own food.
For nearly five months the free food garden has grown and flourished without incident. Then last Friday, two days before Occupy Gardens Toronto’s 'Autumn Jam: A Harvest Party and celebration of sharing, community and free local food' event, the City of Toronto Parks Forestry and Recreation went in and trashed the garden. Herbs, vegetables and flowers that would have been harvested and distributed suddenly found themselves in the dumpster.
The area where the garden had grown has been replaced with sod.
There was a real opportunity for Toronto to work with the People’s Peas Garden and set it up to address the issues of hunger, self-sustainability, biodiversity and come out smelling like roses. Instead they opted to treat the garden with the same disrespect for gardens that we've documented here at TreeHugger countless times. A real opportunity to create change when we need it most has been squandered.
Occupy Gardens Toronto is planning a “peasful” demonstration at City Hall to respond to the destruction of the garden. On October 1st from 12-1pm EDT they’re holding the ‘Right to Food Rally-No Garden is Illegal!’ and asking supporters to bring food to share, signage, soil, seeds, and live plants. From their use of the emoticon after the request for live plants, it sounds like Occupy Gardens Toronto is planning to occupy Queen’s Park again.
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