Earlier this year, I was asked to speak to the health team at Onion Lake Cree Nation.
This was very different for me as usually, I am contracted by ag societies, county ag boards or gardening/horticulture groups. This group reached out as they wanted to help support their community by improving the quality of food and how much was available in their remote community.
I was invited in to teach and then given tours of the existing community garden they had built. They shared that nobody on staff is a gardener and that all of them do this when they can fit it in. From a fruit orchard, to an herb garden and passive solar greenhouse, this community had made huge strides towards their goal.
No till growing intrigued them as the garden would require less volunteer hours to maintain so the chance of high success was greater. The location is also rural with no water. As no till builds drought resistance gardens that do not need any supplemental water, this was the perfect solution for a large community garden!
After several online meetings to understand what vegetables should be grown as well as reviewing grant applications and sourcing supplies, I went back to Onion Lake to help build the community garden.
I posted about my experience on my Kross Farm Facebook page as it moved me deeply! It was a hot, windy and miserable day for moving heavy soil and a whole lot of straw but this crew was all in, laughing together, dancing and building their garden.
It struck me that day what I was witnessing.
I was seeing the very definition of hope.
As a parent, when you cannot provide healthy food for your child, there is a level of shame in that. When you have to reach for the mac and cheese box again and again, knowing that it would be healthier to prepare a home made stew with vegetables. It hurts.
When you can't afford the gas money to drive the long distance to the closest grocery store. It hurts.
When you can’t afford all the grocery items on your list, it hurts.
When the unhealthy food is the cheapest thing you can afford to buy and you buy it knowing it could be hurting your health, it hurts deep.
What I was seeing the day we built the garden is a group of people who felt hope. Hope that in their community, those hurts would become a thing of the past.
As the story was shared on social media, helpers began standing up. Two greenhouses (Spring Joy Greenhouses and Hollyhock's Greenhouse) contributed their unsold vegetable plants! Community members came forward when the gophers ate a lot of the transplants we put into the garden. There were extra hands to seed the garden and set up the hoop houses! Community members took turns caring for the garden all summer and helped to harvest the produce as it was ready!
In September, this group of health care volunteers with a big dream of food security for their community, held a harvest celebration. Every family in their community will receive a 10lb bag of potatoes for free. Some of the over 1000lbs of produce was taken to the food bank, some to the senior housing, some to the schools, some was used in classes on food preservation and some was used in a community meal to celebrate the community coming together.
CTV Your Morning and CTV Saskatoon shared the story about a health care team that wanted to improve food security for their community. CTV’s Allison Bamford wrote a story about Onion Lake's community garden. OLCN also shared an interview and Polite Canada had coverage as well!
Next year, their no till gardens will be expanded so they can grow more! No till growing means no supplemental water, minimal amounts of weeds and absolutely no chemicals necessary! As there is less weeding and no watering, the hours involved in growing a no till garden are greatly reduced! This is especially important for a large community garden run by volunteers!
As soil health improves, the plant health also improves so yields increase! This year the community harvested 10lb cabbages. Next year, the cabbages will be even bigger! As yields increase, fewer plants have to be grown to result in the same yields so more can be grown in the space!
When I designed this garden, I wanted it to produce vegetables that would entice kids to try! Purple and orange cauliflower, purple beans, fun squash, rainbow carrots and peppers and potatoes all the colours of the rainbow were included in this garden plan. Planting every colour of the rainbow makes eating vegetables look really fun! What's more, many of the colours disappear when heated so a magic trick happens with brightly coloured vegetables!
For more information on how I grow, please visit my about page!
This story doesn't just happen in Onion Lake Cree Nation! I've helped many other community gardens build towards food security!
If you are interested in building food security in your own community, please reach out to me via my contact page, I'd love to work with you towards growing food security in your own community.
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