During Toronto Urban Agriculture Week September 11-19 growers across Toronto will be “racing” to donate fresh vegetables and fruit to community food programs.
This is not a race to be the most, the fastest or the best – it’s a race to see how much fresh, healthy produce we can provide to our city when we work together. Your veggies and fruit count!
Announcing Veggie Derby door prizes!
All Veggie Derby participants who donate produce they’ve grown in Toronto and report their donation by 5:00 pm Saturday, September 18 will receive a growers’ swag bag and an entry to a draw for TCBN planter boxes.
About the prizes:
10 gift certificates for 2 1L jars of Crooked Farmz compost tea, available for pick up in 2022 from farmers’ markets across the city. www.crookedfarmz.net
12 2.5L buckets of Acti-Sol’s Mother Hen organic fertilizer. https://acti-sol.ca/en/
And some mystery garden goodies!
Join the Veggie Derby in 4 easy steps
1. Register
Sign up to receive updates. You can register as an individual, a family or team, a community garden or an organization. Click here to register.
2. Donate your produce
During the week of September 11-18, harvest and donate vegetables and fruit from your garden to a community food program near you. See more info about where you can donate here or check our donation site page.
3. Track your donation
Send us your numbers in any of the following ways September 11-18:
- Fill out a tracking form online. https://forms.gle/2nG494YYsT6pcGH3A
- Print off a PDF of the form from the link below. When you’ve filled it out, scan or take a picture of it and email it in uaweekto@gmail.com
- Send us an email listing the types and quantities of produce you’ve donated to uaweekto@gmail.com or DM @tourbangrowers (Facebook or Instagram)
- Send us a picture that shows what you’ve donated
4. Celebrate the final tally on September 19!
We’ll announce the final results during the Best in GrowTO Contest Celebration online on Sunday, September 19 at 1:00 pm. You can also watch the progress online during Urban Agriculture Week September 11-19 at www.uaweekto.wordpress.com
Questions? Email us at uaweekto@gmail.com
Veggie Derby FAQ
Who can enter?
If you grow food in Toronto, you’re welcome to join the derby! We welcome registration from individuals, families, groups, community gardens, businesses and organizations.
Want to have a bigger impact? Get together with a group of friends or neighbours and pool the produce you donate. Receiving organizations generally appreciate this too.
We want to tell the great stories about food and the people who grow it. If your team has a good story, let us know and we may feature you in Veggie Derby promotional stories. Email uaweekto@gmail.com.
You can also register for a grower or a group of growers who would like to participate but don’t have internet access.
What can I donate?
Vegetables, fruit or culinary herbs that you’ve grown in Toronto will all be counted. Produce purchased at stores, farms or farmers’ markets should not be counted.
How do I donate?
See our list of donation sites here: https://uaweekto.wordpress.com/veggie-derby-donation-sites/
If one of these feature sites is not in your neighbourhood, call 211 to find a community kitchen or meal program near you. Make sure to call before delivering, not all food programs can use small quantities of produce!
Do you belong to a faith organization that offers a community meal (such as a mosque, church, temple or synagogue)? They may be willing to accept produce.
If you give your produce to someone you know who has trouble accessing fresh produce, we’ll count that too!
