Edible gardens on display this weekend in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – Grow what you eat, eat what you grow, and still have a beautiful garden. If you've ever wondered about edible gardening this weekend is your chance to find out more and tour local gardens centred around edible plants.

The Gleaning Abundance Project will host an Edible Garden Tour on Saturday June 20. The tour is an opportunity to explore Kamloops gardens and promises 'you will be inspired and amazed what these urban growers are up to.'

Starting downtown, the tour will explore several unique gardens, including a 25-year-old edible garden, and will also examine composting and water-collection systems. The tour then moves to Batchelor Heights to visit a Mediterranean-style garden with rare fruit trees and shrubs. The tour will end with refreshments under a grape arbour.

If you aren’t available this weekend, the Gleaning Abundance Project is still looking for harvest leaders. A harvest leader oversees a group of volunteers and is in charge of weighing, recording, transporting and coordinating the delivery of a harvest. A leader must be available for at least three different harvests during the season and attend an orientation program.

Leaders get first pick of the harvest haul, chances to win prizes and the satisfaction of being able to help both the environment and a good cause.

Started in 2013, the program began as an Interior Health initiative as a means to preserve our local food systems. The program harvests fruit trees, farms and gardens excess or unwanted produce to be used in food outreach programs.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.