The Shrubscriber Community

Shrubscriber is an online community that advocates for nature-based solutions to problems impacting Edmonton. We bring together climate-conscious citizens, nature lovers and gardeners to fund trees for community projects. Become a shrubscriber today and help build a biodiverse, food secure and climate-resilient city.

Virginia Park, Edmonton

Sherry Heschuk is an educator and community activator, splitting her time between teaching in Athabasca and volunteering in her home neighbourhood of Virginia Park.

In 2019, Sherry began working for Commonwealth Games Association as the Edmonton ambassador promoting sports for newcomers (S4N) to the city. While in her role, she noticed that many participants showed up hungry and increased interest in sports nutrition. In working to provide participants, Sherry realized that many of the girls and women in the community were interested in sharing their garden stories. One of the Newcomers was a youth beekeeper, which led to her becoming a certified beekeeper through Dustin’s beekeeping courses.

Sherry is the Sustainability Chair for Virginia Park and an advocate for the Abundant Community Edmonton (ACE) program and connects community members to build food security and equity. In 2020 Sherry and community members worked with the City of Edmonton to receive a Partners in Parks Agreement to cultivate a small community park. The group spent the last year preparing the garden site and hoped to plant fruit-bearing trees this fall, including apricots and other plants that would provide a foundation for the Virginia Park elementary school’s greening of their park spaces.

By working with the Belleview community league, Sherry and other league members supported community health, sustainability, and social equality by creating a food hampers program for the Al Mustafa Academy.

Recently, Sherry attended a Participate Edmonton workshop hosted by Edmonton Poet Laureate Nisha Patel. The workshop aimed to give voices to Edmontonians – a skill that Sherry is implementing in her community to promote storytelling and food security. With the help of a City of Edmonton, Abundant Community Edmonton Grant, Sherry is researching the historical greenhouses, trees, parks, and forest of Virginia Park.

Why Sherry Joined Shrubscriber

As her roles continue to change, Sherry strives to reconnect others who feel less connected to nature and each other. Sherry joined Shrubscriber to find ways to further build connections within and bring new ideas to her community.

Sherry brings her collaborative nature to Shrubscriber and is skilled in community engagement and activation. She would love to help others promote their work around food security and celebrating local stories.

Sherry has rented the Bellevue community hall for the 101st celebration of her neighbourhood and would like to extend an invite to Shrubscriber members.

Sherry’s Shrubscriber Ask

As sustainability coordinator, Sherry hopes to promote Indigenous collaborative storytelling and to share stories around food. She is very excited about HungryZine, a community-focused zine centring on radical food stories, art and culture” and would like to invite Shrubscribers to share their old recipes – especially if they involve locally harvested ingredients.

Sherry’s Great-Grandmother, Pearl Ogryzlo, and Ukrainian heritage have been an inspiration to her. Throughout her work, Sherry wants to continue to value seniors and elders, their contributions, knowledge and sharing of histories – storytelling is one of her favourite things to do in her neighbourhood.

Sherry’s Great-Grandmother’s Million Dollar Pickle Recipe:

Sherry Heschuk’s great grandmother’s million-dollar pickle recipe

Learn more about Shrubscriber and connect with members like Jonathan at Shrubscriber.com

The Shrubscriber Community

Shrubscriber is an online community that advocates for nature-based solutions to problems impacting Edmonton. We bring together climate-conscious citizens, nature lovers and gardeners to fund trees for community projects. Become a shrubscriber today and help build a biodiverse, food secure and climate-resilient city.

Jonathan Crane
Fulton Place, Edmonton

Jonathan and Megan Crane in front of their home

Jonathan Crane has been the pastor at the St. Augustine’s Anglican Church in Fulton Place since 2013. Shortly after arriving, Jonathan connected with community members looking for a site to place a community garden. After engaging the Church in the project, a community garden was raised on the East side of the church and continues to thrive with a multigenerational community of gardeners tending 30 individual household beds 8 communal beds and other communal fruit-producing spaces. It is a community organization with a number of Sunday morning members engaged as well.

Jonathan, his wife Megan, 11-year old son, and 8-year old daughter live nearby and have incorporated permaculture design into their yard by adding fruiting trees and shrubs, a large vegetable garden, 3000L of water harvesting structures, rabbits, and honeybees. Most recently, Jonathan and his family added solar panels to their roof.

Crane residence with gardens and newly installed solar pannels

Jonathan’s Roots

Jonathan grew up with a forest biologist for a mother and a history of gardening and ecology on both sides of my family. In their 20s, Jonathan and his wife Megan were deeply influenced by some families that lived simply and actively changed their lifestyles in response to disproportional global wealth and environmental injustices. They have become more and more passionate about what individual people can do to change their consumptive paradigms and disconnect from the multinational industrial food and product systems that are currently the norm. It can be done. They are fond readers of Wendell Berry, who has given them so many words and perspectives for living a life of local abundance and gratitude on the land.

Megan crane in the garden

Growing Forward

Jonathan has been influenced by the concept of biomimicry, which is to observe natural systems and let those principles shape our human practices. In his work in the church, he is aware of how many conventional practices and beliefs are simply unsustainable and disconnected from the world around. The Anglican church is recovering from a colonial past, is acknowledging the need for change, and is seeking to reconcile with the ecological and indigenous roots of this land.

West of the current church building is the original building constructed in 1959. Jonathan and the congregation are presently exploring how best to rehabilitate and use the space to benefit the local neighbourhood. One option is to create a community arts and music space.

Along with updating the building, an expanse of lawn to the West and South is being reimagined. One vision sees the site transformed into a multifunctional forest with edible plants and space for contemplation and reconciliation. He thinks a change in church paradigm requires a change in landscape – from a chemicalized grass monoculture to a biodiverse forest acknowledging the sacredness of the land. A process of community engagement is just beginning to discern what the land is wanting to become.

Crane vegetable garden

Hopes For Shrubscriber

Jonathan heard about Shrubscriber when talking to one of the community gardeners and would like to support rewilding projects across the city. He is looking forward to connecting with other members, helping where he can, and gathering ideas to support the church rewilding project.

Learn more about Shrubscriber and connect with members like Jonathan at Shrubscriber.com