Growing local food in Fort Nelson

Northern Health's IMAGINE Community Grants provide funding to a variety of groups with projects that make Northern communities healthier. Our hope is that these innovative projects inspire healthy community actions where you live! Check out the story below and read more IMAGINE Community Grant stories.

Sometimes when groups are looking at the healthy eating and food security needs in their community, the idea of applying for "seed funding" from the IMAGINE Community Grants program is taken very literally. Other times, especially in a region where the growing season is "short in days but long in daylight hours," those seeds need just a little more help.

Youth Sustainability Greenhouse Project

That's what the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality was proposing with their Youth Sustainability Greenhouse Project, which got an IMAGINE grant in the spring of 2016. As the Regional Municipality looked for ways to involve more youth and families in local food production in Fort Nelson (they had already put in a few raised garden beds in 2015), building a greenhouse was an excellent way to address a need, promote healthy outcomes, and create a project that would last.

The greenhouse they built, which was used by young people in the local Summer Fun Program, served two primary purposes, according to project coordinator Krista Vandersteen:

1. Local food: "Youth in the program planted, cared for and harvested vegetables from both the garden and the greenhouse. Participants planted various vegetables from seed, including carrots, spinach, lettuce, peas, beans, squash, tomatoes, garlic, and green onion … The greenhouse allowed the participants to actively grow vegetables that they could not in the adjacent garden."
2. Education: "Once per week, the Northern Rockies Sustainability Coordinator visited the program to teach participants different lessons regarding food growth and [food] security. The children also learned about healthy eating and why vegetables are important in their diet. 135 youth participated throughout the summer, learning about multiple topics such as composting 101, using a rain barrel, and the importance of bees … Parents enjoyed that the program contained a practical educational component that their children may not be receiving in school."

Now that the greenhouse has been funded and built with the support of an IMAGINE grant, the new gardening and education parts of the Summer Fun Program will be continuing annually.

The bumper crop that resulted from the greenhouse and the talented young gardeners also created the chance for a unique partnership. "When the project ended," said Vandersteen, "the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality was left with extra produce that had not been eaten or used in programming. An effort was made to reach out to the local food bank as perishable food is often difficult to acquire." Now, the project organizers are working with the local food bank to set up a partnership for next year. "As extra produce is harvested throughout the growing season," said Vandersteen, "it will be donated to the food bank. The partnership will help to ensure no produce is wasted, and is going to people in need."

It's clear that in Fort Nelson, the IMAGINE Community Grant seed funding has grown into something pretty impressive!

Learn more about IMAGINE Community Grants

IMAGINE Community Grants provide funding to community organizations, service agencies, First Nations bands and organizations, schools, municipalities, regional districts, not-for-profits, and other partners with projects that make Northern communities healthier. We are looking for applications that will support our efforts to prevent chronic disease and injury, and improve overall well-being in our communities. At the time of this story's publication, the deadline for the next cycle of IMAGINE Community Grants is March 31, 2017.