Cultivating opportunities

Macdonald

Winnipeg

Not every kid living in the city gets to experience life on the farm.

However, thanks to the FortWhyte Farms program, thousands of high school students have had a chance to do just that — and not just for a morning or afternoon.

“Not a lot of people know about the farm, but I’d say the impact is incredibly huge with the youth that come through the doors. We work with them over the course of years,” explained Kayla Penelton, FortWhyte Farms social impact manager.

“We are an educational farm, open year-round. We host a four-stage program, working with youth facing barriers throughout Winnipeg.”

Both working farm and social enterprise, FortWhyte Farms has been providing hands-on experience to 100 high school students from Pembina Trails School Division and Winnipeg School Division each spring. Participating students spend a couple hours each week on the farm, working in three main farm areas — the commercial kitchen, woodshop, and the farm itself.

“We do a session learning about a topic around the farm, and then break into groups to work in those areas,” Penelton said. “They learn skills, learn measuring skills, a lot of technical skills, as well as life skills.”

Some of those students will go on to work a summer job with FortWhyte Farms.

“We hire 15 youth to work full-time over July and August, continuing those three main areas, as well as our social enterprise, which is our farm store, where they’ll also learn some retail and communications skills,” Penelton said.

“They’re building infrastructure, harvesting and washing vegetables. We do personal development, life skills, and gaining those skills. Employability is a key part of that program.”

Through the summer months, FortWhyte Farms operates as a fully functional farm, with two acres dedicated to market gardening, a food forest — which includes native fruits and shrubs like saskatoons, rhubarb, asparagus, haskaps, elderberry, cranberry, plum, sour cherries — as well as limited animal husbandry and bee keeping.

Produce from the garden is sold directly to 55 consumer-supported agriculture members, as well as the farm store. Last year, the farm produced over 6,200 pounds of food, while in 2023, it produced over 10,000. As a social enterprise, money made through the sale of its food products is reinvested in the farm program.

“We are starting seeds now, so the youth are part of that process,” Penelton said. “We grow that in our passive solar greenhouse. That’s happening now. We’ll then plant three-quarters of that.”

The farm is also home to rabbits, laying hens, and kunekune pigs, all of which are raised for meat, but while alive take an active part in the farm’s holistic management program. Kunekune pigs, for one, are grazing pigs, rather than rooting pigs, which allows them to contribute to soil without uprooting the crops.

“We’re limited to those animals, because if we had other ruminants animals, it could transfer disease to the bison,” Penelton said, adding that the farm practises the “five freedoms” of animal welfare, ensuring its animals are free from hunger and thirst; discomfort; pain, injury or disease; fear and distress, while being able to express normal behaviour.

“The youth learn animal husbandry skills, pasture management, soil management, as well.”

Of those who complete the summer work, many students will go on to take part in FortWhyte’s leadership program.

“If they’d like to stay on for the next year, they can apply for leadership program,” Penelton said, adding the focus is on developing resumé and cover letter writing, as well as developing leadership skills. Workshops with staff from social development organizations across the city, such as SEED and YES, are also part of the program.

Since its founding in 2003, thousands of students have tried their hand at urban farming at FortWhyte Farms.

“There’s never a dull moment,” Penelton said. “In the woodshop, youth are often making birdhouses to put up around FortWhyte, or for purchase. They’ve built shade shelters, a mobile chicken coop, and this year they’re working on a shade structure for the bison mound.”

Throughout the warmer months, there are a number of opportunities for the public to take part and learn about FortWhyte Farms, starting with Earth Day celebrations on Sunday, April 26, pollinator walks and pizza nights in June, and culminating in the annual harvest dinner on Sept. 10, which acts as a fundraiser for the farm.

Visit fortwhyte.org/about/fortwhyte-farms/ for more information.