Bringing nature (and joy) home to the city

What's the Homegrown National Park Project?

• Thirty retired canoes relaunched as pollinator-friendly planters

• Sixty-five keen volunteer urban Park Rangers

• Thousands of milkweed plants welcoming monarch butterflies

• Musical parades, outdoor movie screenings and community events -- including Homegrown pizza night!

 

This award-winning project began four years ago. It aimed to transform Toronto neighbourhoods, one fun, citizen-led step at a time.

Each spring, we recruited and trained residents of neighbourhoods along the former Garrison Creek. With the support of DSF staff, these Homegrown Park Rangers gained skills and confidence. Then we set them loose. They established new pollinator-friendly spaces in their neighbourhoods. They created food- and art-filled community events that engage their neighbours. And they did it all for the sake of bees, butterflies and other essential critters.

 

Ranger Aidan's community canoe project landed thousands of pollinator-friendly canoe planters. Ranger Marc's rain garden project transformed 11 front yards into flood-busting rain gardens. Rangers Anjum, Georgia and Gillian helped swap pavement for pollinators along Palmerston Square. That inspired the adjacent school to hatch its own exciting greening plan. And Ranger Michael began a "butterflyway" of pollinator patches through his Cedarvale neighbourhood.

 

This year, the Homegrown National Park Project will focus on:

• Greening Toronto laneways

• Growing our canoe garden fleet

• Creating more butterflyways through the city

• Hosting more outdoor events -- movies, pizza nights and the fourth annual Park Crawl September 25!

 

For more information, check out www.davidsuzuki.org/homegrown. If you want to get involved, contact Jode Roberts at jroberts@davidsuzuki.org.

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