Reconnecting Through the UBC Farm
From NarratingLandscapes
by Kwaku
I have never really felt a particular connection to the idea of growing my own food, and living off of the land, but I have felt a responsibility to my environment which has led me to live a moderately waste conscious life. Admittedly I have never made any radical or uncomfortable changes to my lifestyle in the process. The idea of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, as romanticized by Delphina Cuero, is an interesting one, but something that I personally would not be able to accomplish, and is likely becoming increasingly difficult for the last vestiges of people who can really say that they do, as big business and land development eye the remaining natural spaces left in the world. This is trend is reflected even close to home, as the proposed development of the UBC farm would be in order to build more condos in the south campus area. We live in a time when potential profits determine the nature of almost every aspect of the way we govern our lives, so this is not really surprising, but it would be unfortunate if the farm was developed, even if a small portion of it was to remain. The idea of seeing firsthand where your food comes from is still valuable though.
I was really impressed by the lengths the UBC farm has taken in order to get the community to reconnect with its food system and source, and realize that the produce selection and availability in grocery stores is not really reflective of what is available in our natural ecosystem. Living in an urban centre it is really easy to forget that those papayas you ate the other day were grown in another country, by another person, or perhaps mass produced. We have a tendency to take for granted our network of mono-cropped agricultural powerhouses, shipping all kinds of goods to all kinds of places, almost at a whim. The reality that Cuero describes is much more reflective of the natural world around us, rather than a man made system of intensive land use. She describes people who identify primarily with the land in terms of plants, animals, and human interaction (Shipek 24). I think it is safe to say that a good portion of people in Vancouver would not know where to begin if dropped in the wilderness and left to their own devices today, myself included.
I really feel like the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden in particular is a great initiative, because not only does it force that reconnection with how food is produced, but it also reaches out to Vancouver’s most disadvantaged community. It addresses often ignored issues the residents of the Downtown Eastside face everyday because of poor and inadequate nutrition, which can lead to disease. It provides an avenue to come together, grow food, and prepare it as a community.
The proposed development will likely see the farm shrink from its current 24 hectares to 8, and may also result in its relocation altogether. This continues the university’s recent legacy of failing to acknowledge the farm’s true importance in the community. The farm has gone from being one of the central aspects of campus, and the reason for the UBC’s current location, to an afterthought, if a thought at all. If the farm is cut so drastically in size I doubt that it would be able to take on all of its current initiatives, and it would probably have to pick and choose which directives were most important to keep, which would be a shame.
References
Shipek, Florence Connolly 1991. Delphina Cuero: her autobiography, an account of her last years, and her ethnobotanic contributions. Menlo Park: Ballena Press.
Supported by the Arts IT Fund at UBC