Volunteers needed for farm

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

Feed it Forward is looking to bring in more volunteers to their farm.

Founder chef Jagger Gordon says Greenwood Farms, at 8875 Lakeridge Road in Whitby, is always looking for more volunteers to help feed the hungry.

Currently, they are growing produce such as edible flowers, chili peppers, kale, and a lot of tomatoes, according to Gordon. There is also plenty of fruit, including strawberries and melon.

Feed it Forward was founded after Gordon noticed the food wasted at events he was catering.

He noticed a lot of food was bypassing hungry Canadians and ending up in landfills. He blames this on government legislation which prohibits grocery stores from donating food to community outreach and food programs because of the expiration dates.

The organization’s goal is to cut down food wastage by giving food to those in need, which would have otherwise been thrown out.

“I wanted to do as much as I could through my pallet and the pallets of others too,” says Gordon. “But what blew my mind was the food wastage that was occurring…”

Gordon thought it would be best if he and other chefs started doing pop ups to give the food away which would have been otherwise wasted.

At the farm, volunteers will have a lunch provided by Gordon, and will “be able to have a day out where they can actually get their feet in the dirt and basically… maintain the [farm’s] integrity.”

Jagger says the farm is entirely organic, so pesticides aren’t used.

“We have to maintain a lot of our own weeding and pruning,” says Gordon. “And after we prune then we come into harvesting. As harvesting comes with most of the tomatoes, we’re going to be making our own tomato sauces.”

Gordon explains the volunteers at the farm will be canning tomatoes and offering them to people who support Feed it Forward.

Volunteers will be working from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday until late September.

To sign up, visit feeditforward.ca.