Jennifer Smith

And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Tomorrow's Community Services Standing Committee meeting agenda has a couple of items dealing with two of my favourite subjects: transit, and food.

The first quarter Transit report is just chock full of good news. Paid ridership is up 81% compared to this time last year, costs per passenger trip have been cut nearly in half, and more and more people are buying transit passes, meaning that they are becoming regular, daily users.



All this is a huge vindication for the tireless defenders of Milton's much maligned transit system, and a slap in the face to those who keep insisting that "nobody in Milton rides the bus". Here's hoping the naysayers will stop trying to sabotage the system and start working to make it even better and more efficient.

The other item that caught my eye was a request for authorization to start a new Community Garden on some Town property adjacent to Chris Hadfield Public School. The garden would be roto-tilled and fenced by the Town, planted and harvested by students as part of their curriculum, and tended over the summer by parents and neighbours.

The original proposal from the school explains the importance of this initiative:

A food garden at Chris Hadfield will have a tremendous positive impact on our students. From junior kindergarten to grade 8, the garden will provide an opportunity for our students to discover where food comes from, to raise their environmental awareness, to learn their science and geography curricula through hands-on experiential learning, and to feel connected to their local land...


Furthermore, this garden will act to bring the local community together. Lead by a small group of knowledgeable and dedicated parents, the garden will be cared for by local families over the summer months. This project will encourage the coming together of a diverse group of community members with knowledge of gardening from different backgrounds and cultures.

I love this idea, and I hope this will encourage other schools to do the same - especially those in newer areas where houses don't have much garden space.

By the way, this will be Milton's second Community Garden - and if you didn't know we already had one, you're not alone. It sits at the corner of Ontario Street and Childs drive just across from the Mall on part of the Allendale property owned by the Region. The Town tills and provides water for it, but does absolutely nothing to promote it or even let people know it's there.

Photo courtesy of Purple Lizard Design

I hope the publicity surrounding this new garden will get the Town and its citizens thinking more about where our food comes from and what we can do to reconnect with our agricultural roots. Who knows? Maybe this is the real cure for sprawl.