SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Two years in the making, work on the newest plot in the Yellowknife Community Garden Collective, to be located at Weledeh Catholic School, will begin this summer.

Rosella Stoesz, left, co-ordinator for the Weledeh garden, and Merrill Dean, school principal, survey the plot of land on the school property where the new Yellowknife Community Garden Collective garden will be located. Collective garden members will work with students who wish to learn about how to grow food. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

Merrill Dean, principal at Weledeh, said she approached the association about two years ago. At the time, Dean was learning a lot about food security and the ability for an individual to grow their own food, and from that came the idea of a garden.

"I went to the collective and said 'I have a dream,'" Dean said with a chuckle. "They said they liked the idea and onward we went.

"One of the things that struck me is that so many of our kids in the North don't have an understanding of how food is produced," she said, adding her daughter, an intelligent person, didn't know much about how food is produced. "She thought rhubarb grew underground because she, of course, hadn't seen it growing."

Shannon Ripley, chair of the gardening collective, said funding has been finalized as of recently. The City of Yellowknife, BHP Billiton, NWT Power Corporation and TD Bank Friends of the Environment will be providing money for the Weledeh garden to be built.

Rosella Stoesz, who is coordinating the new garden project for the collective, said as a first time gardener last year her experience was eye-opening and when the opportunity came up to be a part of this project she couldn't say no.

"I was thoroughly taken by the whole experience, the community aspect of the garden especially," she said.

Growing into the role as coordinator, Stoesz said it will expand the availability of gardens for people in the city, providing what she said would be a potential 18 new plots, while building a connection in the community.

"To have people connecting with each other who might not normally have things in common and when you have a garden in common it's a starting point," she said, adding teaching youth about gardening is a big bonus to the situation.

"It will make a connection to the school and provide that student an opportunity to do something they've never tried before. A lot of us grow up without seeing food being grown."

For Dean, the garden is an opportunity for students to expand on what she calls life lessons. She said once the garden is up and running, students will be paired up with members of the garden collective and will have the chance to learn how to produce their own food.

"I thought, wouldn't it be incredible if we could get a garden area happening," she said of the limitless learning opportunities rooted in a garden, both in the classroom and out.

"There is going to be a plot or two for the school. The high school cook (from St. Pat's) who teaches food over there is going to take a plot and teach kids how to do food preservation, all the way from growing it to preserving it after it's harvested."

Dean also hopes the garden can become a place for science to be expanded upon.

"We see an opportunity for science classes out there and how do plants grow and why do plants grow and what happens during the process," she said, adding it's also an opportunity for youth to learn about self-sustainability.

"There is something about sitting down to a meal where you're eating beets you grew with your own hands or carrots and how great they taste."

While gardening will take place inside the fenced-in area, which will be built this summer, Dean is looking at putting in berries outside the fence for residents to pick from.

"One of the things I'm doing now is working with students to plan for outside the fence," she said. "We want to look at making it a park-like area with benches. We're looking at some aspects like that."

The garden is expected to be ready for full use next year.