Home Grown Show at Museum of Vancouver

How Backyard Farming Is Changing the Way We Eat

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) has partnered with Farm Folk/City Folk to explore Vancouver’s passion for backyard farming and local food. The large-scale photographic exhibit captures the current momentum behind local food production and urban agriculture.

The exhibit Home Grown: Local Sustainable Food, is a visual feast of 39 Brian Harris photographs set across four seasons, running August 26, 2010 through January 2, 2011.

“With harvest season in full swing and farmers markets bursting with tomatoes, we felt it was the perfect time for MOV to celebrate the city’s backyard farmers,” says Museum of Vancouver’s Director of Audience Engagement, Amanda Gibbs.

Using large-scale photographs Home Grown introduces visitors to the people behind local food. The photos range from proud inner city gardeners to an aerial view of an industrial scale sustainable hothouse. Visitors will gain insight into alternate styles of growing food like house-lot farming and farming co-ops.

“This series of photos is dedicated to those who see the beauty in small scale sustainable farming. Urban agriculture is about how we relate to the physical world and strive to develop a deeper connection to our food. The industrial world doesn’t seem to want people to know how their food is being produced,” says featured photojournalist, Brian Harris.

Harris’ images take MOV visitors to the city’s rooftops where a beekeeper tentatively lifts a tray of bees from a hive atop of the Vancouver Convention Centre’s living grassland roof.

“The living roof is 20 acres of grassland – it’s like a prairie up there – smack bang in the middle of a city, a powerful juxtaposition to the cityscape behind it,” remarks Harris.

The exhibit will also include a Communal Wall of Preserves which will grow with public participation, as MOV hopes patrons will donate jars of home-preserved fruits and vegetables. Jars of all shapes with a maximum height of 11inches or 28cm can be dropped off at the Museum’s front desk.

Upcoming Events

MOV will host a series of food-based events throughout the fall, including a free outdoor summer film, a Food & Beers speaker series, and Talks & Tours.

MOV-ie in the Park August 23, 9pm
Presented by Potluck Café and Catering and Horizon Distributors
Attention all foodies! Roll out a blanket and enjoy Eat Drink Man Woman, a food-themed movie on a giant outdoor screen in Vanier Park, just behind MOV. Free event.

Opening Night August 25, 7pm
Presented by MOV and Farm Folk/City Folk
Join us to celebrate the launch of the new feature exhibition Home Grown: Local Sustainable Food. Event is open to the public. Tickets are $15 and available at www.museumofvancouver.ca or at the door. Members will receive an invitation postcard in the mail valid for themselves and one guest.

Food and Beers Speaker Series
Hosted by David Beers, presented by Tides Canada

  • Can The City Feed Itself? October 14, 7pm
    A panel of local food corporate knights from growers & chefs to manufacturers discuss what still needs to be done to ensure a sustainable local food industry in Vancouver.
  • How Do We Compare to Other Cities? November 25, 7pm
    Renowned authors of The 100 Mile Diet, James McKinnon and Alisa Smith, return from their travels to share ten local food ideas being trialed in other North American cities.
  • Vancouver’s New Food Writing December 8, 7pm
    Meet Vancouver’s food writers as they discuss the current passion for food writing and how urban kitchens are linking their food to the planet.

Talks and Tours with Growers, Activists, and Chefs
Hosted by Farm Folk/City Folk,  held the first Thursday of the month at 7pm. Free with admission.