Research Library

In collaboration with the Peel Youth Food Circle, we have created grow guides to help you grow okra and bitter melon at home! These guides are available in English, Punjabi, Hindi, Mandarin, Tamil and Tagalog. In the guides, you will find:

• the history and importance of okra and bitter melon

• tips on how to start your seedlings indoors, transplant (planting them out in your garden), harvest and save seeds

• information on companion planting, crop rotation and other ecological-growing techniques

• a recipe to help you enjoy okra and bitter melon!

We would love to see your gardening journey! Tag us and connect with us online @shadeofmiti and @peelyouthfoodcircle.

These guides were created by our community to support food sovereignty. Consider making a financial donation to support our work! All financial donations will be used to print physical copies of the guides that will be distributed through our community at libraries, food banks, community centres, newcomer and settlement agencies and other spaces.

Happy growing!

The Organic Seed Alliance Variety Trial Tool can help you plan simple variety trials and view the results.

A guide to conducting on-farm research by the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

The Environment Commissioner of Ontario’s report on soil health.

This guidebook aims to provide insights for working collaboratively with farmers in research. We identified and synthesized the literature on farmer-led research and farmer participatory research activities from around the world, with a focus on the North American context. Further, we shared our experiences and lessons learned from the first three years of Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario’s Farmer-led Research Program. This resource is meant to be used as a practical tool for researchers and practitioners looking to develop, implement, and evaluate farmer-led research programs.

Web link to free PDF download of SARE’s Systems Research for Agriculture e-book. This handbook is essential reading for research coordinators and all other team members as they navigate the complexities of multifaceted systems projects.

An NE-SARE publication on on-farm research as it relates to pasture experiments.

On-farm research guide by Organic Farming Research Foundation.