Non-profit urban farm taking food production into their own hands

Franca Perri was born and raised in Calgary. Since she started volunteering with Grow Calgary a couple of weeks ago, she is really loving the farm life.

"I have always been a city girl, but I've always loved the land.So I've always been called to the land,"Perri said.

Perri is one of about 50 volunteers taking asmall-scale agricultural farm management certificate course with Grow Calgary, a non-profit farm organization.

The free course teaches advanced urban farming practices such as soil management, farm design, crop selection and seeding.

Chelsea Klinke, executive director of Grow Calgary, saidit's a way to teach the importance of food security through local and sustainable production.

"It sounds clich, but people are seeking to go back to the land and to see where the tomato you're buying in the grocery store, how it starts, what that seedling looks like," she said. "But also what's great about Grow Calgary is you're bringing people together again."

It's the first large initiative by the group since moving from its northwest Calgary location to a new donated plot of land near Balzac.

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Heather Dumont, a farm manager with Grow Calgary, said what she likes most about volunteering at the farm is getting out and socializing with people.

"During COVID times,you're not really doing a lot of socializing," Dumont said. "So it's kind of nice to have a bit of community as well."

While the certificate isn't a post-secondary document, Klinke said it equips volunteers with enough knowledge to potentially operate their own farm one day.

For Perri, who wants to do just that, this is a great first step.

"This is what I needed," Perri said."I needed to get back to the land and get my hands dirty and dig in there and feel it because we don't do that anymore."