Hello Friends,

As of October 31, 2013 we’ll be losing our main downtown operating site  on Ethel Street, and we need your help to help us find more land to so we can continue farming in the city next year.  Because GCA is a multi-locational farm, we do have several other plots we’ll reuse in 2014, but we would love to replace our Ethel site with more land in the downtown core to stay true to our urban farming roots. We would like to thank the owners of the Ethel Street location for their generosity over the past 4 years that helped us establish Green City Acres as Kelowna’s first urban SPIN farm. We owe a lot of our early success to them, and wish them the best in the future. We’re hoping to find new land by the fall, (September-October 2013) to start prepping for planting in the Spring, 2014.

How you benefit: 

Land owners who allow us to farm their property will receive the following:

• A free CSA box of fresh, organic produce from our farm every week from May until the end of October. Share sizes depend on the land size donated.
• If produce doesn’t suit you, we will pay cash to rent your property. Rental rates will depend upon land size.
• Aside from maintaining the farmed area of your yard, we will weed whack or mow the edges and perimeters of the property for a tidy appearance.  You can spend your weekends relaxing, instead of doing yard work and pushing around a cumbersome lawn mower.
• We’ll contribute all the work and financial cost to maintain and prepare the site for production. We do ask for the use of your water, which is still less than the expense of watering a lawn. If the site exceeds 5000 square feet, we’ll pay for the water use.
• You’ll gain a sense of security.  Having someone you know on your site at a regular basis is a major deterrent for vandals and thieves.  Sites we’ve developed in the past have seen drastic decreases in crime and vagrancy.
• You will have a beautiful and productive farm plot in your yard that will be the envy of all your neighbours- without doing any of the work!

What we need: 

• 2000 square feet of farmable land (concentrated in a large site, or made up by several smaller sites).
• Land that is in the immediate downtown area, preferably close to our home base near Nester’s Market).
• South facing yards are ideal, but other configurations can work if the land still receives good sun exposure.
• The farmed area cannot lie directly under the drip line of overhead trees.  It’s better if the land isn’t directly surrounded by trees, and is not close to any walnut trees.
• Sites that are free of nasty invasive weeds such as Bind Weed or Canadian Thistle. Invasive grasses such as quack grass aren’t a big problem because we can get rid of it fairly easily.
• We need easy access to bring equipment to the site, such as bikes, bike trailers and a rototiller.  At least a 4′ pathway or gate will suffice.
• Access to an outdoor water faucet from March 15th to October 31st. We will typically install some kind of irrigation timer and system, at no cost to you.
• Flexibility with access time. We don’t always know when we’ll be in your plot. Typically it’ll be during daylight hours of the week, and we will give you notice when we’ll be operating any machinery such as a rototiller or weed trimmer.

The map below shows the area where we’re looking for land. The circles represent distance from our home. The further from our home, the larger the land needs to be.

If you, or someone you know has a yard or lot which could host the next chapter of Green City Acres, please contact us: Email: info@greencityacres.com Phone: 250-861-0620.