Green Lake’s new greenhouse begins feeding community as federal food vision takes root

The village’s greenhouse project has since entered its first growing season, with about 30 plants now filling the structure beside the community hall.

“We actually went to town yesterday, and No Frills donated a bunch of plants and we got a bunch of pots from Home Hardware, so we transplanted some tomatoes and peppers today,” greenhouse supervisor Jade Chartier said in a July 16 interview.

“Right now we have a bunch of lettuce, we have some cabbage, eggplant, we have a bunch of tomato plants, a bunch of peppers. We even found a watermelon, some cucumbers.”

“It’s really nice. Our community gets fresh fruit and vegetables right at home here.”

(Image Credit: Jade Chartier)

Chartier said she and her team assembled the structure from the ground up, installing the base, laying gravel, building the metal frame and putting up the poly covering themselves while relying on YouTube videos and instruction manuals to guide the process.

“It kind of felt overwhelming, but my team and I, we got it done,” she said. “There’s so many tiny little pieces we had to put together.”

The greenhouse is only part of the community’s broader plans. Outside, the team has already rototilled a larger garden and is waiting for soil before expanding production beyond the greenhouse.

For Chartier, the greenhouse’s progress reinforces the importance of the federal government’s broader push to strengthen local food production.

“That’s really awesome,” she said. “It provides our community free food and nothing’s better than that.”

“Food is so expensive these days, especially fresh vegetables and fruit.”

(Image Credit: Jade Chartier)

She said residents have embraced the project, with some volunteering to help maintain the greenhouse as it enters its first growing season.

The team is already planning its next step by starting more seedlings and expanding into the larger outdoor garden.

“We just hope to get a fresh start next year and start seedlings and we can have more vegetables and we can plant in our bigger garden over there,” Chartier said.

Chartier also said she believes Green Lake could eventually help provide fresh produce beyond the community, aligning with the longer-term vision federal officials described during the announcement.

“Yes, in the future, that’d be really great to provide that for the northern community.”

Chartier also hopes it encourages others to grow food of their own.

“If you’re wanting to get into planting your own fruits and vegetables, you should,” she said.

“It’s really beneficial.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung

Green Lake’s new greenhouse begins feeding community as federal food vision takes root

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