Get to Know Us
Below you will find background on all of the group members who will be working on the Sole Food Urban Farm Relocation Community Project:
In order of above picture (top to bottom):
Yev Petukhov:
Major – 3rd year Food, Nutrition and Health
My name is Yevgeni Petukhov, I come from a very small town in the south-eastern corner of Saskatchewan. I am currently in my third year of study at UBC Vancouver and am studying nutrition. My main drive in pursuing my degree is a love for personal nutrition, and the individual based assessment of clients in the aim to better their quality of life. The Sole Food Street Farm spiked my interest because I am very curious to view the processes involved in the production and delivery of their artisan quality foods to the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as the maintenance of the whole urban farm operation.
Bonnie Wu:
Major – 4th year in Food, Nutrition and Health
I am your local CBC who grew up in the suburban city Coquitlam, and during my last two years of high school, my family and I decided to move to Vancouver. Some hobbies of mine include eating, sleeping and repeat, which may have influenced my decision to dedicate four years of studies about food and its impact on us. My interests in food are more skewed towards the science side, but it was through LFS that I was made aware of the issues surrounding food not only on a global scale, but in my community as well. For this reason, I was drawn to the project with Sole Foods, where I can step outside my field and share what I have learned about urban farms and food sustainability through a new medium I have never worked with before.
Nikita Payne:
Major- 3rd year in Applied Animal Biology
I have a wide variety of interests ranging from athletics, to nutrition, to farming and animals in rural and urban settings. I grew up on a small farm in Armstrong, BC where rural farming is a common practice with many family owned farms ranging from large dairy productions to small 30 acre herb farms. I grew up on a 50 acre farm that mainly produces spelt grain and straw to be sold in the community along with raising sheep, small herb production, and vegetable gardens. I am interested in assisting Sole Foods move their urban farm because I would like to better understand how they compare to rural farms and how they differ. I am interested to see how they deal with issues such as water supply and restrictions, how they maintain soil nutrient levels in such restricted growing areas, and how they overcome space restrictions, etc.
Andrew Lang Wong:
Major – 3rd year in Food and Environment
I am a local Vancouverite in my third year at UBC. I am currently studying Food and the Environment as both the individual topics of food and the environment have been important to me for a majority of my life. I am a half Chinese, half a European mixture who grew up in a very liberal neighborhood of east Vancouver surrounded by farmers markets and organic things. My family has always valued local, organic foods for both their quality and minimized impact on the environment. My love for the environment stems from my hobbies such as skiing, hiking and climbing; all of which showcase the natural beauty that I hope to help preserve. My goal is to integrate sustainability with food security and sovereignty in North America. I am interested in this project as I hope to gain a better idea of the realities of dealing with food policy, funding, and the other complexities of urban agriculture.
Spencer Cain:
Major- 3rd Year in Global Resource Systems
I’m an American studying in Vancouver, but I’ve spent 15 years of my life living in the Middle East. While living overseas I’ve had numerous interactions with people from all corners of the planet as well as being emerged in a culture entirely different from my own parents’. I came to British Columbia bright eyed and bushy tailed to learn and immerse myself in north-American culture. From this move I realized that I was curious the most about the rain and water in the area of Vancouver. Coming from a semi-arid environment to arguably one of the wettest places on the planet left me with more questions than I had answers for. From my own curiosity I developed a passion for is hydrology- the study of water on our planet. Aside from water, my deepest passion is for photography and capture life as well as more specifically the change that occurs around us. I am interested in assisting Sole Food’s move their urban farm because I am interested in the water budget that they need to grow food in an urban setting as well as if/how they comply with the City of Vancouver’s water policies. Assisting sole foods with their move ties into my other passion of photography and documenting change, and hopefully from this we can effectively capture this process and apply it for future moves and/or grants in the future.
About the Project
Group Interests (Why we chose this project)
The members of our group come from a diverse set of academic focuses and backgrounds; each bringing our individual knowledge and passion to this project. Our fields of interests include urban nutrition, urban agriculture, sustainable agriculture, policy, and water management. We believe that our diversity will be beneficial when dealing with a complex and multifaceted organization like Sole Foods. Sole foods deals with many connected factors, both social and technical: drawing the interest of each group member for a different reason. However, we all share interest in Sole Foods as they are a leader in the field of urban agriculture with one of the largest urban farm networks in North America. The documentation of ‘The Big Move’ is a chance to join the front lines of an exciting organization that is part of a larger movement, and to truly become entangled in the complexities of the modern food system that we have been studying in class. We also hope that the experience of leaving the classroom to observe the intricacies and challenges that emerge in complicated policy situations will aid us in better understanding our food system. Working alongside an active community organization is a fantastic opportunity, and our experiences in LFS 350 will hopefully enlighten us in engaging with local communities, conducting interview-based research, and experiencing the challenges and rewards of working in the field.
Project Objectives and Community Organization
Sole Food Street Farms have been in place in Vancouver since 2008. There are currently 4 farms dispersed amongst metropolitan Vancouver with the biggest farm located on the corner of Pacific and Carrall. What Sole Foods aims to achieve is a sustainable, urban farm that provides jobs to those who struggle with getting employment, as well fueling the movement towards more locally grown produce. The farm focuses on Vancouver’s downtown east side where it is known worldwide to have an ever-growing population of homeless and substance-addicted people. The farm provides jobs for those people and provides second chances with aims to help get them back on their feet and to help them along on their road to recovery. Sole foods have a very high quality of foods grown which makes their produce a hot commodity to high end restaurants and eating establishments in Vancouver. The high quality of the produce means that the food is not distributed to the downtown east-side, but the jobs that the farm has created are sourced to the inhabitants of the downtown east-side.
Being the first of its kind, Sole Foods believes this would be a great opportunity to document the process of relocating an urban farm through a visual and written medium. The goal of this project aims to not only showcase the physical aspects of the relocation, but also the topics behind the big move such as zoning, by-laws, city regulations and restrictions pertaining to urban farming. To do this we will be using videography to capture the physical component of the project, as well as conducting interviews and accompanying Sole Foods to a city council meeting. Through this project, we hope the end product will be used to inform the public in addition to serve as a guideline for future urban farm relocations, projects of the like, and future grants. On the side, we also hope to tap into the effects on the local community, and the employees of Sole Foods, who are the very soul of Sole Foods. Our eyes are focused on the success of Sole Foods obtaining the lease and permits, however due to the uncertainties that currently pertain to the move, if the series of events happen to steer a different path, we will proceed to document the journey and experience for future references.
First Impressions of Process
We would like to emphasize some of our first impressions regarding the community project in its entirety. We will then discuss how we believe going directly to the community for insight is better than wasting time relying on surveys and biased peoples of other communities to attempt to give us information regarding a separate community we will actually be completing work in.
Our group enjoyed talking with Matt Johnstone regarding the project because we were getting the information directly from the source regarding the needs of the community and how it will be affecting the community after the farm has been relocated. The move of Sole Foods seems like a very asset based community development (ABCD) project which relates to what we will have studied in LFS 350 and as a group we are excited to learn firsthand what that truly means. After speaking with Matt from Sole Foods our group was impressed with the amount of work that is required to make a seemingly simple thing such as ‘moving’ occur. However, in order to move an urban farm in a city there are many steps required before the actual ‘moving’ can take place. Matt shared a few of these steps with us, for example, many regulations, permits, and bylaws had to be met and put in place in order for the move to even be possible. Hearing these things made our group realize that this will not be a simple task and that it is going to require a lot of effort and time commitment to actually make a difference for the community. The project is going to be difficult not only with regard to all the prep work on Matt’s end but also on our end as we are all students with full course loads, many exams and other projects that require our attention. As a group we aim to give our full effort to the project and help as much as possible as it progresses forward.
With regard to Ernest Sirolli’s Ted Talk and how Food Justice Interplays with our work we have the following. In the words of Ernesto Sirolli, “Want to help someone? Shut up and listen”. When our group met and talked with Matt directly we listened to him and asked questions accordingly. Matt was more than happy to inform us of his community and area as well as its strengths and weaknesses. Before meeting with Matt we hoped for an outcome and we got it. We sat and listened with the local of the East side, and discussed opportunity and strategy for the future of the project. Matt expressed his concerns and opinions very transparently and we were very touched by his honesty and him seeking help from us. Our intent was to not patronize nor mislead but the reaction and excitement we received in our talk was tenfold what we expected. After our discussion we realized that there are a lot of uncertainties that need to be accounted for, on top of that the five of us have full course loads and with midterms looming behind the first autumn rain there will be a lot to balance.
Below is a link to the Sole Food’s website where you can find information about all of the main organizers and administrators, along with the history and the goals of Sole Foods as a company.
http://solefoodfarms.com/