Our Neighbourhood Small Grants project was a garlic harvest party that took place at Timberfield’s Farm: a two-acre regenerative farm located in Agassiz. The farm’s owner-operator, Mark McLaughlin, had organized similar volunteer work parties on his farm in past seasons. The Neighbourhood Small Grant program seemed like an ideal opportunity to support a positive initiative that was already taking place and extend it to a broader swath of the Agassiz-Harrison community.
When Mark and I decided to plan this garlic harvest party, we did not have specific expectations in mind for what we wanted to achieve with it (i.e. number of participants, amount of garlic harvested/processed). We simply wanted to organize a feel-good event that would allow participants to meet their neighbours and connect with a local farm based in their community.
On the whole, the event went according to plan. It took place on August 10, on a blisteringly hot summer Sunday. We had just shy of 40 community members of all ages come and go throughout the day.
We chose to organize the work party portion of the event as a drop-in activity, allowing participants to stop by anytime between 10am and 3pm to lend a hand. We primarily spent this time sorting, cleaning, and grading garlic: a task that could be completed in the shade, without too much physical exertion.
With funds provided by the Neighbourhood Small Grants program, we were able to provide a free barbecue for the volunteer garlic grading brigade to enjoy. Due to some uncertainty around the exact number of participants and their dietary restrictions, we also encouraged attendees to bring side dishes to share. The result was quite the feast!
We adjusted our budget partways through the project to include the rental of sound equipment. We thought that some live music would be a nice accompaniment to a shared meal. We ended up framing this part of the event similarly to an open mic night, allowing any musically-inclined attendees who were interested in sharing their gifts to do so. This turned out to be a very special experience. We had a truly eclectic range of performances—from folk-country tunes to Bon Jovi ballads to ambient prog-rock soundscapes.
Overall, we feel that this garlic harvest party was a success, both in terms of participants’ experience and its alignment with the community-building goals of the Neighbourhood Small Grants program.
Mark and I would like to thank the NSG program and the Vancouver Foundation for their support this season. We would also like to extend a special ‘thank you to Yunuen Perez-Vertti for her management of the program in our region. It was a privilege to work with such a responsive and organized program coordinator!
