The Airdrie Urban Farm Collective is thankful for Airdrie's helping hands after some soil and compost was stolen and unwanted sod and gravel were left by their farm near the Daybreak Community Church.

The collective is a registered non-profit organization. They are growing food and learning together as a community of all ages and stages. They provide food for the Airdrie Food Bank and for people in need who can make a small donation (whatever they can pay that is within their budget) for the grown products (they don't use any chemicals). The donations will go back towards the garden as well to produce more food.

Jana (whose last name is being withheld for confidentiality) explained what happened to the generous donation of soil from the Blue Grass Garden Centre.

"They have donated a truckload of garden soil and compost. Last Saturday, the group was able to move a lot of the compost to the farm, and when we went back the next day we noticed somebody had taken some of our soil and compost. Probably around five-gallon buckets of each."

On top of that, earlier this week somebody else decided to take some more soil and compost for their own use.

aPhoto of where somebody stole dirt.

"If every person in Airdrie thought, hey, free soil, I can put in my garden, I'm just going to take five gallons, that soil would be gone fast. Even our members aren't allowed to take any of it home with them."

Previously, during the end of the last growing season, somebody left unwanted sod and gravel which the collective had to find a way to get rid of.

APhoto of the unwanted gravel and sod that was dropped off

Jana is asking the people to leave their materials alone as they will be used to produce food for the community and the people who need it the most.

"Something fantastic has come from all of this showing Airdrie is an amazing community. We posted about how sad we were with everything that has happened and so many people have reached out offering help."

According to Jana, somebody has offered up security footage showing which vehicles it could have been. Multiple people have also offered to replace the compost and soil.

"We have two different people say that they'll come and help us with the sod, which is fantastic. Yes, it hurts that somebody will come and steal from us, but our community is amazing and we really appreciate them."

The community-run garden was built on donations as they gather each Saturday from (10 a.m. - 2 p.m.) and Tuesday nights during the summer (6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m.) to take care of the garden, anybody is allowed to join the collective. No single person owns the garden all of it is shared between the collective.

"If you work at the farm, we always give you something in return for your efforts as long as we have something to harvest from the farm."

To learn more about the collective, click HERE. This year they are on track to double their harvest from last year, according to Jana she expects to grow thousands of pounds of fresh produce.

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