CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW 'GARDEN OF EADEN' WEBSITE AND SEED SHOP
By JILL MAHONEY
INUVIK, NWT -- Carrie Young is working on the second floor of an old hockey arena, dirt wedged under her cropped fingernails. Around her are containers of colourful geraniums, pansies and nasturtiums. Down below, there are carefully tended plots with rows of tender lettuce, silky cornstalks and broad strawberry plants.
This is the Inuvik Community Greenhouse, which, at 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle, is thought to be the world's most northerly commercial operation and Canada's only community hothouse.
By JILL MAHONEY
INUVIK, NWT -- Carrie Young is working on the second floor of an old hockey arena, dirt wedged under her cropped fingernails. Around her are containers of colourful geraniums, pansies and nasturtiums. Down below, there are carefully tended plots with rows of tender lettuce, silky cornstalks and broad strawberry plants.
This is the Inuvik Community Greenhouse, which, at 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle, is thought to be the world's most northerly commercial operation and Canada's only community hothouse.
"It sounds cheesy, but it's a testimony of hope that you can do something if you want to, even in the frozen Arctic," said assistant co-ordinator Yoenne Ewald.
The rink, which belonged to Grollier Hall, the town's former residential school, was slated for demolition when a couple of locals formed a non-profit society in late 1998 to raise funds to transform the half-pipe-shaped arena into a greenhouse.
"They were just driving by one day and thinking, 'Oh, what a shame, what a waste of a building,' " said Ms. Young, the co-ordinator. "And they thought, 'Hey wait a minute, that'd be a really nice greenhouse.' "
The facility, which is in its fifth year of production, allows people who live in Inuvik, a one-stoplight town of about 3,700 in the northwest corner of the Northwest Territories, to grow their own vegetables under the midnight sun.
Summer student Brandi Lemishka's mother and her boyfriend have had a plot for three years, and tend produce such as the lettuce they have been eating for the past three weeks. "It's a lot better for them because then they don't have to go spend so much money on their food, because up here it costs a lot of money," said Ms. Lemishka, who enters Grade 11 in the fall.
At North Mart, Inuvik's grocery store, romaine lettuce was selling late last week for $3.79 a head. Small heads of iceberg lettuce were $1.79. Red peppers cost $6.21 a pound (0.45 kilograms) and broccoli was $2.59 a pound
For transplanted southern green thumbs such as Ms. Young and Ms. Ewald, the greenhouse also provides an outlet for the most un-Arctic of pastimes.
"I think it's a hobby for a lot of people that they didn't expect to be able to do up here," said Ms. Young, 32, who studied horticulture in her native Ottawa.
"They were just driving by one day and thinking, 'Oh, what a shame, what a waste of a building,' " said Ms. Young, the co-ordinator. "And they thought, 'Hey wait a minute, that'd be a really nice greenhouse.' "
The facility, which is in its fifth year of production, allows people who live in Inuvik, a one-stoplight town of about 3,700 in the northwest corner of the Northwest Territories, to grow their own vegetables under the midnight sun.
Summer student Brandi Lemishka's mother and her boyfriend have had a plot for three years, and tend produce such as the lettuce they have been eating for the past three weeks. "It's a lot better for them because then they don't have to go spend so much money on their food, because up here it costs a lot of money," said Ms. Lemishka, who enters Grade 11 in the fall.
At North Mart, Inuvik's grocery store, romaine lettuce was selling late last week for $3.79 a head. Small heads of iceberg lettuce were $1.79. Red peppers cost $6.21 a pound (0.45 kilograms) and broccoli was $2.59 a pound
For transplanted southern green thumbs such as Ms. Young and Ms. Ewald, the greenhouse also provides an outlet for the most un-Arctic of pastimes.
"I think it's a hobby for a lot of people that they didn't expect to be able to do up here," said Ms. Young, 32, who studied horticulture in her native Ottawa.
And, as Ms. Ewald, 24, who moved to the tundra of Inuvik from Victoria in April, said, the facility offers newcomers "a gentle way of easing into a new ecosystem."
For its more than 100 members, not all of whom have plots, the greenhouse, which opens in May, is a meeting place and "an oasis in the North," as Ms. Young put it. Families bring picnics or just pass the time soaking up the warmth and fragrant flowers. "It's always nice in here no matter what the weather is outside," she said.
The greenhouse, which receives funding from the territorial and federal governments, aboriginal groups and businesses, is also a community-development project that plays host to school groups, workshops and even tourists.
"It's amazing what can be grown on such a small square footage," said retiree Robert Harrison of Kingston, Ont., who toured the greenhouse with his wife Linda last week. "Square-inch gardening -- this is good," Ms. Harrison said.
The greenhouse is so popular there is a waiting list of residents eager to dig their fingers into its 88 raised plots, which are about 18 inches (46 centimetres) deep and can even nurture potatoes. The large ones are 16 by 4 feet (5 by 1 metres) and cost $50 a year to rent. The small ones, which are 8 by 4 feet (2.5 by 1 metres), are $25.
For its more than 100 members, not all of whom have plots, the greenhouse, which opens in May, is a meeting place and "an oasis in the North," as Ms. Young put it. Families bring picnics or just pass the time soaking up the warmth and fragrant flowers. "It's always nice in here no matter what the weather is outside," she said.
The greenhouse, which receives funding from the territorial and federal governments, aboriginal groups and businesses, is also a community-development project that plays host to school groups, workshops and even tourists.
"It's amazing what can be grown on such a small square footage," said retiree Robert Harrison of Kingston, Ont., who toured the greenhouse with his wife Linda last week. "Square-inch gardening -- this is good," Ms. Harrison said.
The greenhouse is so popular there is a waiting list of residents eager to dig their fingers into its 88 raised plots, which are about 18 inches (46 centimetres) deep and can even nurture potatoes. The large ones are 16 by 4 feet (5 by 1 metres) and cost $50 a year to rent. The small ones, which are 8 by 4 feet (2.5 by 1 metres), are $25.
Many are thick with lush vegetables, from sprawling squash to onions to beets. One is even trying musk melon. A few have built-on supports for hanging flower baskets and latticework for climbing plants. One has delicate red, pink and white poppies. Some are whimsical, with a decorative scarecrow and a green smiling caterpillar. A few are neglected, with parched earth and stunted plants.
The greenhouse's growing season is like that in Southern Canada: from about the second week of May until early October, a stark contrast to outdoors. The last snowfall or frost in Inuvik is often in mid-June and starts again in late August.
The town's 24-hour daylight -- which lasts from about mid-May until mid-August and streams in through the roof's greenhouse glazing -- is a gardener's boon. One woman who keeps careful records says vegetables tend to mature one week to 10 days earlier.
But, as Ms. Young notes, the ever-present sunlight also has its drawbacks. If the weather is especially hot, the building can overheat and some vegetables, such as spinach, can go straight to seed. By contrast, if the weather is overcast for extended periods, tomatoes and other vegetables rot on the vine.
The greenhouse, which bans herbicides and pesticides, encourages its gardeners, who supply their own seeds, to add organic material to the poor-quality soil, which can have high sand or clay content. It does not prohibit the use of commercial fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro, but hopes to start a community compost program.
Article care of the City Gardener
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The greenhouse's growing season is like that in Southern Canada: from about the second week of May until early October, a stark contrast to outdoors. The last snowfall or frost in Inuvik is often in mid-June and starts again in late August.
The town's 24-hour daylight -- which lasts from about mid-May until mid-August and streams in through the roof's greenhouse glazing -- is a gardener's boon. One woman who keeps careful records says vegetables tend to mature one week to 10 days earlier.
But, as Ms. Young notes, the ever-present sunlight also has its drawbacks. If the weather is especially hot, the building can overheat and some vegetables, such as spinach, can go straight to seed. By contrast, if the weather is overcast for extended periods, tomatoes and other vegetables rot on the vine.
The greenhouse, which bans herbicides and pesticides, encourages its gardeners, who supply their own seeds, to add organic material to the poor-quality soil, which can have high sand or clay content. It does not prohibit the use of commercial fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro, but hopes to start a community compost program.
Article care of the City Gardener
For related articles click onto:
Dahlia 'War of the Roses'
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