OUR MODEL
Community Agriculture
The goal of the Community Agriculture (CA) program at Abundance is to bridge the gap between the country and the city and enable urbanites to grow local food and land-based communities. It was inspired by the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model, where members pre-purchase a CSA box for every week of the growing season from their local farmer. The farmer then uses the funds to grow local organic food and provide a weekly box of harvest to the members. This reduces the risk of growing food for the farmer, and allows urbanites to know and support their local farmers.
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In the CA model, the members are the farmers. Members of the CA program signup for the season (May - October) and are organized into community-based PODs that consist of six households in the Metro Vancouver area that live within a 5-15-minute drive from each other. Members commit to at least one community farm weekend each month throughout the season. POD members work together to schedule their farm weekends, ensuring their POD is represented each weekend. During harvest months (June to Oct) POD members who come for the weekends also deliver full veggie bins to the city for their other POD members to pick up at a designated location in their neighborhood.
A typical community farm weekend begins Saturday at 10am with an Opening Circle followed by working together in the vegetable garden, food forest and medicinal herb garden. The evening consists of a potluck dinner and a member-led activity that can include things like arts & crafts, storytelling around the fire, a hike up the mountain, a dip in the river, playing music and dancing in the barn. Members are welcome (encouraged!) to stay overnight in our first-come, first-served barn accommodations or use our grassy tent space. Sunday is a day of leisure, connection, and play and sometimes includes a member-led activity or workshop.
If you are interested to join the program, you can find the application form below:
Applications are now closed for our 2025 CA Program
Our Community Agriculture (CA) members come to the farm a minimum of one weekend a month throughout the growing and harvesting season. We spend time working in the garden, planting and harvesting food. We also share meals, tell stories around the fire, play music and dance in the barn. The families who come to the farm each weekend take produce back to the city for themselves and the other members.
We believe this is a replicable model that allows city dwellers to use nearby land to grow food and build community. You can learn more about our CA model here.
We have also planted a food forest as part of our CA initiative. A food forest is an ecosystem of fruit and nut trees and shrubs that work in synergy and require minimum input and maintenance. Our food forest includes ~150 fruit and nut tress, as well as berries, vines and other perennials. These trees, once mature, will provide our community with much greater abundance!
