Vacant Lots Farm Club converts vacant urban lots into therapeutic growing spaces for personal and community wellbeing. Our elevated urban farming experience lets you share in the abundance while helping turn empty spaces into thriving sources of food and flowers.

Our first location is a bare 5-acre grass field that has sat empty for 20 years. Due to the first-of-its-kind nature of the project and location (a future school site, which other organizations have not been given access to in the past), the pre-development phase including lease negotiations and permit applications will have taken 24 months by the end of 2025. To keep momentum, we need to take advantage of the 2026 growing season. Having been the grateful recipient of much community interest and support, we have a strong desire to bring our essential infrastructure and programming to realization next year which will allow us to stay in integrity with our generous community supporters and make the impact of our mission accessible. Funds will support the essential infrastructure on our first lot, an inviting plateau inside a diverse community hub in northeast Calgary, comprising two acres of member space inside a five-acre parcel. By constructing these modular structures, the farm club will achieve full operations by the end of 2026. The structures include three pergola shade structures, two c-can secure storage units, one 105′ hoop house, perimeter fencing, furniture and equipment, along with water storage and irrigation system. To support this initiative we have designed all infrastructure to be modular which aligns with our license of occupation terms and temporary use, while enhancing our ability to set up quickly and re-use materials at future locations.

Funds will also support the development of detailed field trip and team workshop programs for 2026, launching to target markets, testing program delivery, and conducting end-of-year user surveys. We’ll track program sign-ups, revenue, and qualitative feedback using metrics from the Farming Concrete: Data Collection Toolkit by NYC’s Design Trust for Public Space. Qualitative data will assess participants’ mindset changes regarding nature (vegetables, insects, compost) and appreciation of urban greenspaces, while quantitative metrics will measure soil health improvements and biodiversity increases.