community projects
okra and bitter melon garden guides
There isn’t a lot of information on how to grow okra and bitter melon in Ontario….much less information that is created for and by local farmers, youth, newcomers and BIPOC growers.
We have created a gardening guide for okra and bitter melon in partnership with the Peel Youth Food Circle. Guides are available in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Tagalog and Mandarin Chinese (simplified and traditional). They are free to access for all and there is an option to leave a donation to help us print copies if you are able to financially support.
mississauga urban hikers
We co-founded Mississauga Urban Hikers with Sustainable Mississauga and have been hosting regular community hikes and outdoor activity events for our community. This outdoors club is open to all, with a special invitation for youth, newcomers, 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals.
In 2024, we hosted local community hikes, bike repair shops, snowshoeing and winter hikes for over 100 people. Like all our work, education is a key pillar and we focus on teaching people how to identify plants and trees, hiking etiquette and about the local environment.
Recognizing a lack of environmental education resources for youth, newcomers and BIPOC communities, we created a tree identification guide in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese to help people learn about the 10 most common trees found in the GTA.
the lassi revolution podcast
Local journalism is critical to community development and education. In 2021, we collaborated with Sustainable Mississauga on a food and climate justice podcast - The Lassi Revolution. We’re not journalists but we wanted to highlight people in our community who, in their own little ways, were revolutionizing our food and climate systems. We talked to activists, farmers and community members about food, farming, climate change and more. The podcast was aired weekly on SAUGA 960 AM in 2021. Now, you can listen to some episodes for free wherever you find podcasts.
farmer-led okra research
Okra is an important cultural crop to many communities in Ontario. However, not many farmers grow okra commercially so there isn’t much data-based information on how to grow this crop successfully.
From 2022 - 2023, we partnered with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario to lead an okra variety trial. We worked with over 15 farmers across Ontario and Quebec to grow different types of okra to see which is most commercially productive in southern Canada.
From this research, It’s Giving Farm was curious to see if we could breed a new okra variety that performs better in our climate. We’re excited to be working with It’s Giving Farm and the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario on this breeding project! In 2025, we will be going into our second year of the breeding project where we will focus on cross-breeding the top performing varieties we observed in 2024. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Stay up to date on our okra breeding project on social media.
