Sharing bounty at potluck
Community garden opens its doors to the public to promote its philosophy of freshness
Mark Rieder
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 23, 2015
INUVIK
The Inuvik Community Garden takes advantage of the North's short growing season by trying to squeeze every last pound of food from the soil.
Maica McEachern plays a curved head flute to an appreciative audience at the Inuvik Community Garden potluck July 19. - Mark Rieder/NNSL photo
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Executive director Raygan Solotki said the organization hopes to do a study so they can have concrete numbers on how much is grown every year.
"We are trying to collect some data so we can say, this is what we are getting," said Solotki
They are also looking to maximize yield by getting a better knowledge of what to plant.
"We want to get more people understanding what is going on in there, what grows well," she said.
One group of gardeners took note of how much time and money they spent on their plots to find out the financial advantage of the garden.
"They figured that they saved $1,000 in food costs from using the garden," said Solotki.
Not satisfied to rest on what has already been done, Solotki said there are hopes to expand.
"Maybe there's a potential for having chickens here. Can you imagine going to the greenhouse in November and picking up your eggs? How fantastic would that be?" she said.
The facility held a potluck, July 19 which was opened up to the community as a whole.
"I know that people tried very hard to use things from their gardens," said Solotki.
It was an opportunity for members and the public at large to mingle and share their knowledge and opinions.
"Today it was open to the public because my hope is that next year everybody in Inuvik will be a member of this greenhouse even if they don't garden," she said. "There are member perks, like once a month potluck dinners and things like that."
Solotki wants to make it a regular event.
"We are going to try and do one every month during the season," she said.
It was also a chance for gardeners to meet others from the community.
"Sometimes we find that maybe members don't know about who their neighbours are," she said, "This is a good opportunity to meet their neighbours, find out what's going on and feel like a community."
Much needed repairs will soon be done.
"The most exciting news is that we have the funding for the roof," said Solotki.
