An Earthy Evolution

Managing two organic farms, working with youth and seniors, providing a helping hand to those in need and turning front lawns into food-producing hubs, the Earthwise Society has a lot on its plate. “We never say no to a good idea,” says Emily Hadary, the society’s com- munication co-ordinator.

It was, after all, a great idea that sparked the organization’s incredible story. It was 1979 and a municipal strike had garbage piling up in homes throughout Delta. A group of residents had an idea of how to dispose of at least some of it. Group members established hubs at community centres throughout the municipality to which residents could bring newspapers and bottles, which were subsequently taken to the few recycling depots that did exist, at the time, in the Lower Mainland.

The strike ended, but Deltans’ love of recycling didn’t. The program carried on and finally in 1988, thanks to the now officially named Delta Recycling Society (DRS), the munici- pality became the first in Western Canada to have household recyclables, such as newspapers, picked up weekly along with regular garbage.

By 1995, DRS was managing a fully operational recycling plant at Tilbury Industrial Park and providing onsite job skills training to those in the community with disabilities. that same year, the first Earthwise Garden was planted at Tilbury. The one-acre display garden was the first of its kind in B.C. It demonstrated ecological landscaping and won recognition from the B.C. Landscape and Nursery Association for Leadership in Environmental Stewardship.

When the Corporation of Delta contracted a larger for-profit recycling company to manage the municipality’s recycling, DRS found itself at loose ends. But Hadary says it wasn’t a setback as much as an opportunity to rebrand. DRS soon became the Earthwise Society, with a new focus on growing the food humans eat rather than cleaning up the waste we create.

Two farms and lots to learn
Earthwise’s main site moved from Tilbury to Tsawwassen, where it now manages a farm store, garden nursery, a small organic farm and teaching gardens.

Earthwise Farms is a social enterprise with profits from produce sales supporting its education and social programs. Believing the best way to learn is by doing, Earthwise’s team members in- vite the community to become involved with initiatives such as the Farmers Work/Learn program. Individuals sign up to work on the farm and through self-directed learning become familiar with sustainable agricultural practices. The teaching garden is a place to see first-hand how easy it is to grow things without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Throughout the growing season, school groups visit Earthwise’s campus and learn how pollinators help plants grow, or how insects living in the soil are part of a thriving ecosystem.

“It wasn’t something we were looking for,” Hadary says, but in 2015 Earthwise received an unexpected donation of 57.5 acres of undeveloped land in Agassiz and this changed everything, she says. “We could now grow even bigger.”

Not only could a small organic farm be established on the site, there was also room for an orchard and a food forest. The main focus in Agassiz is education, compared to Delta’s community outreach, Hadary says. The Outdoor School program offers a suite of eight sessions that each week tackles topics such as wet- land ecosystems or why organic farming is good for the earth. As in Delta, students learn the benefits of natural weed suppression, pest control or how to amend the soil using organic compost.