“There seems to be some positive attitude changes from government, municipal government, and people towards food security,” Says Scott Coish.

Scott decided to be a bigger part of that positive change when he first heard about Food First NL five years ago. New in his role as the Parks and Recreation Director with the Town of St. Anthony, he attended the Recreation NL annual general meeting, where Food First NL was a topic of conversation.

“While at the AGM, I mentioned that I was planning on starting up a community garden, and Recreation NL staff mentioned Food First NL,” says Coish.

“As luck would have it, Sarah Ferber (from Food First) reached out about a session being held in St. Anthony. I attended the session, really enjoyed it, and had a great conversation with Sarah after the session ended.”

“In the past few years, there seems to be a renewed interest in community gardens … These are great to get kids and families involved with growing and thinking about food security.”

Throughout the Northern Peninsula, there is a long history of family gardens, an old tradition that has been making a comeback.

“In the past few years, there seems to be a renewed interest in these gardens,” says Scott. “I noticed a lot of communities are doing community gardens. These are great to get kids and families involved with growing and thinking about food security.”

Scott currently operates a community garden in St. Anthony. The garden received start-up funding from Food First NL, through a project aimed at building food security dialogue and action on the Northern Peninsula. It was supported by the International Grenfell Association.

“Moving forward, I think Food First NL needs to continue with their current ideas,” says Scott. “Continue to reach out to communities, maybe do some in-school presentations, and get all the kids involved as they are our future. Continue to offer food security support and information to the communities.”

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