St. Paul - Incredible Edibles

‘Incredible Edibles’ concept began in 2013 to promote healthy eating by planting edible food in green spaces and in barrels along the town main street.

St. Paul is located in north eastern Alberta. It has a population of just over 6,000 people and holds a long history of community development work.  St. Paul took part in the ‘Healthy Alberta Communities’ project from 2007 -2009, they also received a “Thrive” grant in 2012, focusing on “Healthy Food for All in St. Paul”. Most recently, the “Thrive” sub-committee is actively involved in the Comprehensive Community Cancer Prevention Initiative with Alberta Prevents Cancer.

With a focus on promoting healthy eating, the Thrive committee developed the “Incredible Edibles’ initiative in 2013, that involves planting herbs and vegetables in planter barrels along the town main street. Healthy food is visible throughout the community and available for community members to harvest and share. This initiative was made possible through a number of strong partnerships. For example; The Town of St. Paul assists with watering the planters and the Chamber of Commerce assists with promotion and renting the planters to local businesses.

The current involvement of “Thrive” in the Comprehensive Community Cancer Prevention Initiative in St. Paul has brought together a multi-sectoral collaboration of core team members with representation from schools, worksites, healthcare, community organizations and the community at large.  Expansion of the Incredible Edibles project now includes involving three local school shop classes to help build raised garden beds for use in community facilities and organizations, such as the St. Paul Abilities Network and the St. Paul Crisis Centre. The remaining beds will be sold to the community at large. The funds from the sale of the raised beds will be used to create a self- sustaining initiative where the schools will be able to continue to buy supplies needed to build and continue to sell the beds. The goal is to continue to build awareness of the importance of healthy eating, growing your own food and food accessibility.

The core team has also partnered with the local Food Bank and the Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre (MNFC) to oversee the building of 28 additional raised garden beds in an empty lot behind the two organizations. The MNFC members will assist with the building of the beds, as well as the planting and harvesting of the food.

The Town of St. Paul are partners, and will place 10 “Incredible Edible” barrels along the town walking path beside benches to also increase visibility and accessibility of healthy food.

Currently, the barrel planting is scheduled for the first week of June (weather permitting). This year, St. Paul is focusing totally on edible plants including: edible flowers, herbs and vegetables. Barrels and planters are both being rented for $50.00 each. An additional grant received from a local grocery store, Peavey Mart, is subsidizing the cost of the plants. The town will begin watering the plants on week days after they are placed and will continue until early September. Weekend watering and weeding is the responsibility of the renter. Signs will be made for most planters and barrels that will say “Please help yourself” to indicate the produce, flowers and/ or herbs are available for picking.

This collaborative project is focused on demonstrating how easy it is to plant and grow food in a variety of ways, and to show children how to identify food as it grows. In St. Paul, key partnerships throughout multiple sectors of the community are supporting this unique initiative by contributing to each stage of the process.

Ways to take action: Community Strategies - Mental Health