Soul Food Street Farms’ Indigenous Garden Project

Sole Food Street Farms is a social enterprise urban farm in the heart of Vancouver that empowers individuals by providing low-barrier agricultural employment, training and inclusion in a supportive community. Each year, the farm produces approximately 15 tons of fresh food. Two-thirds of this produce is sold to local restaurants, farmers’ markets and through weekly harvest box programs to generate revenue that sustains their operations. The remaining third is donated directly to food-insecure individuals and families through partnerships with community organizations operating in the DTES.

In 2026, Central City Foundation provided a grant to Soul Food Street Farms to help fund an Indigenous garden project called Stl’a7áshen pen’emay, which means Feast Garden. The project revitalizes several planting beds with native, food-bearing and pollinator-friendly species such as salal, saskatoon berry, yarrow, nodding onion and more. Ceas Wyss, a renowned ethnobotanist and Squamish Nation member, guided plant selection, shared cultural teachings and brought in Elders to co-host workshops.

Sole Foods is presently working to establish programs that provide urban Indigenous youth with a hands-on gardening experience, connecting them with Indigenous food and plant knowledge. These programs will provide the opportunity for intergenerational connections with Elders through workshops and knowledge sharing and create a healing space in an urban centre for DTES Indigenous organizations, groups and individuals.