Urban Agriculture

Urban agriculture is about more than growing food. It is about restoring our relationship to land, culture, and one another. By stewarding shared spaces like ketayak community kistikana, hosting seed exchanges, and removing barriers through education and tool access, we affirm the right to affordable, culturally meaningful food. In growing together, we strengthen food security, and create welcoming spaces rooted in mutual respect, learning, and care for the land. 

Garden Outreach & Education

We offer educational urban agriculture presentations and workshops to community gardens, organizations, schools, and groups. We also connect gardeners to resources and collaborate with the City of Saskatoon to maintain existing gardens and to start new ones. Each garden is managed by a collective of volunteers who organize all aspects of the garden. Community Gardens can be contacted via Community Gardens Map.

In the winter months, our Garden Clubbrings gardeners and non-gardeners alike together in a space for learning and sharing, addressing isolation and helping ease seasonal/mental challenges by hosting workshops around our shared interest in food, nature, gardening, and art.

Do you need access to tools in order to manage your garden and grow food?

We’ve partnered with Library of Things YXE to offer surplus tools for loan to the public, including wheelbarrows, hard hats, shovels, rakes, hoes etc. Tools are loaned out on conditions outlined by the Library of Things YXE and accessed through their borrowing portal. Arrangements are made for items to be picked up and returned to CHEP’s offsite location. 

Our Growing & Learning Garden Space

We host an urban agriculture education and demonstration garden called ketayak community kistikana which means Elders Community Garden in northern Michif. This garden is a former lawn bowling site in Victoria Park (on Ave H South), bordering the core neighbourhoods of King George and Riversdale. The site hosts various CHEP programs and grows food, flowers and herbs used in CHEP’s programming and sold and gifted in the community. 

The askîy project 

The askîy project is an urban agriculture internship that engages both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth to learn together about growing, harvesting, and selling food through an innovative model. Its five key focus areas are: growing food and food skills, enhancing cultural connections, promoting environmental sustainability, creating social enterprise, and engaging youth. Askîy project job postings are announced each spring via our social media.

Seed Exchanges

We host seed exchange events throughout the year to strengthen local food security, promote seed-saving, and increase equitable access to gardening resources across our city. These events exist within a larger national movement and play an increasingly vital role in preserving local, sustainable food systems.

Saskatoon Seedy Sunday: This long-standing gathering brings together seed vendors, urban agriculture exhibitors, community organizations, and environmental presenters in one vibrant space. A cornerstone of the event is the community seed exchange table, where participants can swap and share seeds.

Saskatoon Seed Exchange: Hosted in partnership with the Saskatoon Public Library at multiple branch locations, these exchanges typically take place in February, March, or April and are listed on the Library’s events guide.

CHEP Sprouts Day Camp

This summer camp is an opportunity for children and youth ages 7-12 to engage in outdoor, experiential learning and play through programming focused on gardening, cooking and exploring nature and community. Aptly called "Sprouts," we plant ideas and practices about food and gardening that we hope will sprout and grow with children into adulthood! This 4-day camp involves:

  • Gardening chores and activities

  • Preparing their own lunches with veggies/herbs harvested from the garden

  • Enriching community-based activities with local community partners 

CHEP Sprouts Day Camp is the only camp of this nature offered in Saskatoon. It is an excellent demonstration of the garden-to-plate concept of eating in our food system and is an enriching, hands-on learning opportunity for children.