For some years we've worked towards the goal of having prisoners from Kingston institutions come out and work on the farm with us. Working outdoors a lot of the time, we have a sense of freedom and an awareness of how it is precious. Inmates at local institutions do not have such freedom. Their daily lives conform to strict rules and schedules. At some point in their lives, these men need to reintegrate into the community in order to gain freedom and the opportunity to make a new life after they have served time in jail. Our hope has been to be a bridge between inmates and the community. A place for inmates to get out and get a taste of freedom, while gaining relationship with us, and honing agricultural skills (many of them already have agricultural skills, knowledge or transferable skills). Over the years we've had people on parole, and others on release from detention centres serve at Oak Street Garden by doing community service, and we've employed some of them too. For the first time this Summer we've had inmates come meet us, work in the field, and start the process of reintegrating into broader society. Please celebrate with us. If you want to know more, please ask.
If you have contacts who would like to complete community hours with us, do put them in touch.
Thanks to those of you who have started spreading the Word about Farm Stand, please keep doing so! You may share our posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, create your own, or call, text and talk to people about the flexibility of Farm Stand, and how much you enjoy eating and cooking with our vegetables.
