Grow into the Future – LifeSpace Gardens and their Food Mission!

LifeSpace Gardens - Kaare Long

 

There is nothing more elemental and basic to life and living than food. The food we eat becomes our very essence as the old adage ‘We are what we eat’ still holds true to this day. And, as a society we are starting to question where our food comes from as we have lost the intimate connection that our forefathers and mothers had to their food by directly growing it or raising it themselves. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution we gained many things, but we also lost our ability to feed ourselves as we became dependent on box stores and supermarkets to sell us our food. We often don’t even know where the food we are buying comes from, let alone what process it underwent when being grown – pesticides, contaminates, antibiotics etc.

The trend of  ‘organic’ and ‘local food’ has become less of a cool thing to do, and more of a necessity as we realize that we can control where our food comes from – and we can even grow it ourselves. This may seem like an impossibility to an urban dweller where land is more costly than gold in most cases. We live in small spaces and often don’t have any dirt around us. How can we grow anything?

There is a local Company that has taken it upon itself to provide us with the solution – and even better, they’ve provided us with ways to become a green thumb, even if your thumb tends to be more of the brownish colour. Not so much the ‘Gardening for Dummies’ and more the ‘Gardening as a Lifestyle’ – in fact, the name of this local business is ‘Lifespace Gardens’ – They are designed to work where we live and they work within even the smallest of spaces. Their planters are all hand built and made with West Coast Cedar and are built to last and to function in our climate. LifeSpace Gardens also runs a community project called ‘Project Garden’ that gives you lots of tips, educational and how to videos and also food combinations for your planters. They work tirelessly within the community at schools and other neighborhood spots to help you learn how to become a skilled urban farmer – no matter how little you know.   So, no more excuses! It’s time to get our GROW on!

I first met LifeSpace Gardens during my #sayhitoastranger social movement community project in Vancouver produced by my company a Cue Creative Consulting. They were brave and bold enough to plunk a live vegetable garden in the middle of Olympic Village as a ‘say hi!’ checkpoint during our weekend event. I fell in love with their authenticity, their creativity, their collaborative nature, their community values and their commitment to bringing urban farming to every home in the City.

This last Spring I took on one of their patio containers – they call it the ‘High Rise’ – it is a self watering, mobile (with wheels) container that can grow a variety of herbs and/or vegetables. I chose to grow some herbs since I love using fresh, home grown herbs that I grew in the Summer during the Winter months. This project I called ‘Herbs to Harvest’ and I grew the following herbs from seedlings in the high rise patio planter from LifeSpace Gardens.

  • Oregano
  • Rosmary
  • Chives
  • Dill

Lexi from LifeSpace Gardens delivered my patio planter complete with dirt from  and seedlings and showed me how the self watering works. If you are someone who can tend to be forgetful in the watering department, these containers have you covered.  It’s fabulous for us endlessly busy city folk. View the Video below to learn more about how these amazing containers work.

The herbs took to the container immediately and grew through the Summer. I had fresh herbs to utilize in a variety of meals throughout the growing season and I LOVED just going out onto my deck to grab them by snipping a bit off as I cooked. You could also grow veggies in this planter – lettuce, kale, beets, carrots, peppers, onions – you name it. Through Project Garden plant2plate programs, you can learn the best planting combinations to help keep pests away, and learn what veggies can grow strongest by being together – Yes, there are certain combinations that work better and what is the best time of year to plant certain veggies and herbs. The plan that I followed with my herbs is called the ‘Wild Herb’ plan.

When it finally came time to fully harvest the herbs due to the seasonal change ( it was about November for Vancouver as the temps were still fairly high) I had a surplus of herbs to harvest and dry and put into little herb containers to utilize through the Winter months.

Once spring comes again, I will refresh my container and grow the same herbs, or try a veggie combination. The possibilities are endless!

LifeSpace Gardens makes many different sizes of planters so you can pick one that is ideal for your space. They also do many custom orders, so you can have them create a garden utopia in your home or business and they will support you through the growing and harvest process. Can you image fresh produce all Summer with no need to go the grocery store to make a salad? This is our future – to go back to our past and our roots and remember the life art of growing and creating our own food.

This mission statement from LifeSpace Gardens states it perfectly:

One day there will be a garden on every balcony, in every yard, on all the rooftops and in the most beautiful public spaces. Communities will come together; food and those who grow it will be elevated and valued; life will flourish, culture will grow, and nature will replenish. A Vancouver Company.

For Residential, Restaurants/Breweries and Communal Spaces – LifeSpace can create a living environment for you! Check out their portfolio HERE.

This Company is extremely high on my support and recommendation list because of the work they do within the community and for the community. They are engaged and present with their products and aim to better the world by bringing the capacity to grow your own food into every home. This is definitely a company that you’ll want to follow on Social Media and stay current with.  They are consistently creating community events and provide all sorts of ways for you to turn that brown thumb into a thriving green thumb and you can give your kids a leg up by teaching them urban farming early on.  The satisfaction that comes from eating the food that you have grown yourself is a high that cannot be replicated by anything else. You owe it to yourself and your family to take your food power back and dig your roots into the soil a bit more. Your health with thank you for it – in both body and mind.

LifeSpace Gardens

LifeSpace Gardens - Kaare Long
The LifeSpace Gardens Team!

 

Some photos are courtesy of LifeSpace Gardens: www.lifespacegardens.com

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