April 2021 - Toronto ON
This lane is called Milky Way, once upon a time this alley led to a dairy. Story has it that milk was often spilt along the way.
I am trying to find out the name of the dairy and its history. I may need to go to the reference library when we are out of lockdown.
Paying homage to its background, a horse, wagon wheel and an overturned milk can.
This mural (and
hostel???) are new to me.
"Last night they were here..."
An old Elicser.
A patch of back-alley land has undergone a decade-long transformation from an underutilized privately-owned plot to a thriving community garden that produces over one thousand pounds of fresh vegetables each year.
“The Milky Way garden is a pretty unusual community garden, because it’s on private land,” explains Joshua Barndt, Development Coordinator of the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust. The plot’s owner, a local filmmaker, was unable to acquire the permits needed to build housing on the plot, and it went unused. About ten years ago, Tish Carnat, an ESL teacher at the Parkdale Library, had a conversation with her students about the costs of vegetables. The students, mostly refugees from India and Tibet, said produce available in stores was “quite unaffordable,” says Barndt. “But they had quite a bit of experience with growing food.” Carnat approached the owner of the plot, and a community garden was seeded.
For the past decade, the library’s ESL students have worked about 40% of the lot, growing vegetables in raised bed. “The class gardens every Monday morning from nine to noon” says Barndt. “Throughout the week, the students who are interested are going there on their own time and taking care of the site.”
