BARRIE, ONT. -- Locally grown produce and home gardens have been trending during the pandemic.

COVID-19 brought on questions and concerns surrounding fresh produce and the increasing need to be self-sufficient and food secure.

But not everyone has access to land for a sustainable home garden, making it difficult to be self-sufficient.

With a CAJA box, sustainability becomes accessible to anyone, in any space, with free time or no time at all.

Non- profit organization, Community Action Program for Children in Simcoe County (CAPC), has been doing its part to help families through this pandemic with a gardening program that kicked off today.

With the help of CAPC or other organizations working with CAPC, 220 families were able to pick up their very own CAJA box to take home.

Lesley Watts, CPAC program manager, said this is their fifth year doing the program. Last year, she said they handed out 70 boxes.

“The CAJA box is excellent for families with limited means or limited space... so it could be on a patio, on a balcony, it can be on a little corner,” said Watts.

“They get the box, and then the bags of soil to fill the box,” explains Watts. “ They get a bag of fertilizer mix, and they get six seedlings and a cover.”

Watts said its a learning skill for everyone involved.