The family behind Strathcona 1890 might be one of the most dedicated Vancouver food advocates – on a mission to show people that growing urban food garden is important and fun! The visual aid of the Mazda truck transformed into a beautiful food garden lends to inspire people to make the most out of limited space.  Founder Judy combined a passion for gardening, love of heirloom seeds, and big time commitment to both community and child development, and launched a safe seed company and the only Truck Farm in Canada. I dare you to look at a pickup truck the same way after checking out Strathcona 1890’s Truck Farm (pictured below)!

Judy’s love for gardening in small spaces once required a flatbed truck to move only her patio planters, including an 8 foot tall plum tree. This obvious commitment to wanting to change the world and inspire people to realize that planting a small area of food on their patio, yard, community garden, or simply starting with one pot, is the best way to control and participate in our food system. Educating urban dwellers that engagement with growing our own food brings a joy and pride, but it’s also vital in connecting people with where food is coming from and how it is grown.  Judy spends a lot of time educating customers and local community groups about GMO food and how it’s affecting our food system. She developed her own line of heirloom seeds and sales help support food growing programs in Vancouver’s inner city. The goal is to grow and create job opportunities for people living on disability and welfare directly in the community where Judy actively participates.

If kids aren’t already drawn to the Truck Farm, Strathcona 1890 connects children to gardening and food with very cool projects. One example is taking place this Sunday at Vancouver’s Car Free Day on Main Street. as Strathcona 1890 will be planting microgreens with kids in lego. Isn’t this totally unique? I can’t think of a better way to bridge first time gardeners with a comfort zone of Lego – this is amazing stuff!

For those that are looking for open pollinated heirloom seeds that are not genetically modified, Strathcona 1890 seeds can be purchased online or through any of these retailers. The heirloom seeds packages make a great gift (Father’s Day) with each container using historical botanical illustrations that capture the feel of early Vancouver. The Strathcona 1890 collections of seeds enable people with little or even no yard the ability to grow and produce a portion of the food they eat. Two of our Strathcona 1890 favourites include: Junior Gardener (includes a rainbow of carrot colours, jack-be-little miniature pumpkins, snap peas, and dwarf sunflowers). Could playing in the dirt get anymore fun for a child with rainbow carrots? And for adults the Salad Sampler that has been assembled for planter gardening so anyone can grow this medley of seeds including Eva Purple Ball tomatos, Lambs lettuce, pepper seeds, carrot seeds, basil, onion, and English pea seeds.

Strathcona 1890 is a grassroots movement educating people about GMOs and inspiring a love of gardening for children. What a great story and I love this quote from Judy “never leave someone who is passionate about branding, no room left to garden and an old pickup truck, with too much time on their hands”. Because as she’s proved….something magical might happen. Look for the Truck Farm at a community event listed here in Vancouver.