The Gahana Community Garden in Eden Valley has become a living learning space where youth, families, and community members come together to grow food, share knowledge, and put zero-waste principles into action. Building on school-based regenerative programming, the garden supports hands-on learning rooted in Indigenous knowledge, environmental stewardship, and community wellness.
Key milestones achieved include:
● Youth leadership and employment: Trained and employed six local youth to support the community garden and deliver regenerative practices and education, building skills, confidence, and leadership.
● Community-led infrastructure: Installed essential garden and composting infrastructure, including raised beds, seedling boxes, rainwater collection, multi-bay composting, vermicomposting systems, and storage units.
● Food production and sharing: Prepared and planted eight raised beds with edible, medicinal, and perennial plants, harvesting a wide variety of fresh produce. Twenty bags of fresh food were distributed to community food hampers and shared with students and community members.
● Waste diversion and circular practices: Established an organics collection and composting system and conducted waste audits, achieving approximately 50% diversion of organics and recyclables from both the garden and the local school.
● Education and capacity-building: Delivered sustainability and zero-waste training to approximately 250 community members, including K–12 students, teachers, families, and community members.
● Hands-on learning for students: Taught students seed saving, herb drying, composting and vermiculture, microgreens, upcycling, and gardening practices, both in the garden and in classrooms.
● Community connection: Created a shared space that brought together the school community and Community Wellness Centre participants, groups that rarely interacted previously, strengthening relationships and collective stewardship.
● Seasonal stewardship: Maintained the garden through soil renewal, fertilization, fall planting, and winterization to ensure long-term sustainability.
The Gahana Community Garden stands as a vibrant hub for food security, education, and environmental action, empowering community members to see waste as a resource, reconnect with the land, and implement regenerative practices together.
