An observation my husband I made the other night... We went to dinner at Peter's Pasta downtown. Being after hours, I parked my car in the City Hall parking lot because none other was available close to where we were eating, and what a surprise we discovered after returning from dinner.
We thought before leaving we would check out our tax dollars at work and see what was planted this year in their flower gardens out the front of City Hall. We were surprised and thrilled to see numerous vegetables integrated in with the flowers, my guess is 2/3's were vegetables and the rest being flowers, an absolutely incredible display.
Neat rows of Swiss chard, beets (ours are a fraction of the size), two varieties of kale, squash, different herbs, all growing side by side in an organized pattern and all thriving with the flowers, cacti.
This display has motivated us to plan for more edible landscaping in our own home and think more self sustainably. Food is becoming so much more expensive and to plant something that is not only attractive to look at, but on some scale helps with having something more nutritious and not having to go out and purchase as part of a meal because you grew it yourself.
If you are downtown for music in the park, a free event (free is a beautiful thing), do walk by City Hall and behold this most beautiful display of edible wonders growing side by side with non edibles — flowers, shrubs, (nasturtium flowers are pretty tasty), and see the riot of colors, different textures; it does get you thinking about where our food comes from. We found this display very motivational and plan to have something like this on even a small scale to start.
Enjoy the sight of our tax dollars at work and happy gardening. Great job City Hall!
SHANNON ATWATER
Kamloops
