Like many of us, you might be doing a little last minute pumpkin carving tonight. As you design your jack-o-lantern, take a minute to ponder where that pumpkin came from and the farmer who grew it. If your pumpkin is from Ontario, chances are it was grown in Ontario’s Greenbelt.
Ontario’s Greenbelt protects green space, farmland and environmentally-sensitive areas from sprawl. It’s also home to more than 285 farms, which grow everything from pumpkins to squash, apples to carrots.
As pumpkins decorate porches around the GTA, our talented and inquisitive intern Yasmin wanted to know more about where pumpkins come from. So she visited a farm in the Greenbelt and met Mike, a farmer with a Greenbelt pumpkin patch on his farm.
Mike spoke to Yasmin about the importance of protecting Ontario’s Greenbelt, the threat of urban sprawl, the links between access to local food and good health, and more.
Watch this video to meet Mike and find out what Yasmin saw when she visited Mike’s farm, Market Garden.
This Halloween, remember where your pumpkin came from. And be sure to show your support for local farms and farmers by taking the Greenbelt Pledge.