Inuvik Greenhouse is getting creative in its operations for 2020, offering 12 "veggie boxes" over the summer at the cost of $20 each.
Food will be grown by two hired staff and distributed on a weekly basis instead of the usual "rent a plot and garden" model.
"Basically what is happening is we're turning the community greenhouse into a large farm," said executive director Ray Solotki. "A lot of people are really stressed about the access to fresh local food."
To relief the stress, the greenhouse is maintaining three programs this summer, most prominent being the veggie boxes, which has been done as a small project over the last four years but is getting kicked into high gear in 2020.
For $20 a week, the Inuvik Greenhouse will deliver a box of fresh vegetables right to your door for 12 weeks.
"We're going to have 45-50 families getting weekly boxes of what we're harvesting to their homes," she said. "We're going to give you four or five different varieties of vegetables dropped off to your house and send out a survey to everyone who has signed up and find out what they want.
"Also, because of the funding we've received, we're able to offer it to low income families either for free or at a partially subsidized rate."
She noted this was possible solely because of some generous donations to the greenhouse, including roughly $6,000 in shipping costs covered by Manitoulin Transport. Industry, Tourism and Investment also has given allowances on funding for the Greenhouse society, and the society recently got a $25,000 grant from Community Food Centres Canada, as well as cash donations from local citizens.
"We're getting a lot of help from a lot of different places, it's the whole community that's helping us," said Solotki. "It's important to us to make sure we in turn are employing people locally, buying materials locally and supplying as much food as we can here locally."
Baskets will consist of four or five types of vegetable. Solotki added the food would be handled in accordance to COVID-19 guidelines to ensure the food is as healthy as can be, with sterilized tools and two staff working on opposite sides of the building.
COVID-19 has put a wrench in a lot of plans for a lot of different groups throughout the north and the Inuvik Greenhouse is no exception. Since the plots are very close together and not exactly modular, the greenhouse is unable to let people in to garden this year, under the current rules issued by the Chief Public Health officer.
Rented plots from last year will be held over until next year or potentially later in the summer if the restrictions are eased. Greenthumbs who are really attached to their plots can also pay the greenhouse to garden the plot on their behalf.
"Project two is if you were a member in the past and want your plot back, for almost the same price as the veggie box, we're able to offer you to have your plot planted by us and then once a week we harvest and bring you what we harvest," she said. "At this point it's just an offer for returning members."
Other programs the greenhouse normally operates, such as the flower plant sale and hanging baskets will continue as per usual. Solotki added greenhouse staff were planning to construct small plots for people to garden at home if they wish as the third big program.
"We're hopeful the town still wants to purchase plants, because that's our main way of paying staff," said Solotki. "We're all trying to do the best we can to make sure our community has food and a positivity and all those things."
She thanked volunteers for their patience during these uncertain times and noted the greenhouse was planning to move forward on other plans, such as bringing in equipment to begin growing food all-year-round.
"We hopefully will still get that funding. My proposal is due on Friday, so we'll find out soon, but they're really excited about what we can offer," she said, noting that other programs such as the veggie box program help generate traction to getting the year-round project underway. "We can maybe turn it around to help low-income families, if we can provide a $20 a week veggie box, all we need from the government is a little bit of subsidy.
"We're working with a company called Cold Acre. They actually have a box greenhouse system in Whitehorse and they provide weekly boxes to people. You get a pound of greens for $15 a week, so we're looking at the same model here.
"It's something where we could produce thousands of pounds of food on a yearly basis."
Anyone interested in a food basket should contact Solotki at info@inuvikgreenhouse.com.
"We want to make sure the most people possible have access to food from the greenhouse this summer," said Solotki. "We're just trying to follow all the guidelines issued by health."