Nourish

Food insecurity is becoming a growing issue within the city of Peterborough. Food insecurity can be generally defined as having a lack of physical and economic access to an adequate quantity of both affordable and nutritious food. Nourish is a non-profit organization in Peterborough which seeks to improve food security within the Peterborough community by determining a single method which can be used to measure local homegrown garden harvests, in a project known as "How Much Can We Grow". Information that can be collected from the chosen method is significant as it can help determine to what extent homegrown gardens are contributing to improving food security within the area, and encourage more individuals to become involved with gardening in the future. The following report will discuss the research results for the project and will cover the social benefits of gardening, motivations for gardening, and a single method that can be applied to the Peterborough area for measuring garden harvests. These results are based primarily on local survey responses, for a survey which was distributed throughout the Peterborough community.

Community gardening is integral to the creation of sustainable local food systems, providing fresh, healthy, nutritious food, while fostering resilient community spaces. The purpose of this study is to build on existing knowledge about the social benefits of community gardens and explore their application in the context of Peterborough. This research is conducted on behalf of Nourish, a community organization actively working to address food issues. Through this research, the social values of community gardening in Peterborough will help inform Nourish programming, outreach, and future grant proposals. In Peterborough, the unique social benefits experienced by community gardeners revealed a health-conscious orientation, supported by evidence of social cohesion and enhanced food security.