Yellowknife Gardening Begins

My Yellowknife adventures have begun as L. asked me to design and build raised garden beds at her house. This provided to be a bit of a task but I designed them based on the Inuvik Greenhouse beds and the toughest job was filling them with soil!

I used 2 x 4s and 2 x 6s and lined the boxes with rigid sheets of styrofoam and heavy duty poly. I also reinforced the inside of the boxes with small, metal brackets for extra strength. All of this seems to have done the trick. We then ordered local soil for delivery and all I added for nutrients this year was a lot of bone meal and some organic fertilizer. We can add more next year but for year one this was a large enough investment.

Seeds were planted the first week of June and some starter plants from Arctic Farmer and Canadian Tire were added also. Progress for the first week of July (1 month of growing) has been slow but I blame some older seeds (Canadian Tire beans) and that the soil has limited nutrients in it. But bottom line.... things are growing and that is all that matters!

Photos show the new garden beds in Yellowknife vs. my Inuvik Greenhouse plot at the same time last year!

S.

     

I am Moving to Yellowknife; New Gardening Challenges Await!

Recently, I have made the big decision to relocate and move to Yellowknife. Yellowknife is my hometown so in a way I am moving back to Yellowknife. However, it has been 13 years that I have lived in the Inuvik Region. Always lots to do when moving but one of the toughest task or chore to date was giving up my plot at the Inuvik Community Greenhouse. This plot has been mine for 11 years and has provided me so much food and produce but more than that my plot has been my own little sanctuary and has provided me energy and stress/anxiety relief for all that time.

Another task of moving has been going through filing cabinets and electronic files and purging and sorting. In this, I found some photos of my garden plot from 2011. For new members to the greenhouse this will give a good perspective on what to expect out of your garden week by week during early to mid season at the Inuvik Community Greenhouse.

May 14 and 15, 2011

 

May 28, 2011

 

 

June 5, 2011

 

June 11, 2011 



June 18, 2011

 

 

June 27, 2011

 

 

 

Looking forward to new Yellowknife gardening adventures and challenges.

 

S.

 



New Project- 2017 Grocery Shopping

On the internet, social media and newspapers there is so much coverage about food prices in Northern Canada. At Christmas I even saw a graphic on social media that posted the price of a turkey in various locations throughout the Yukon, NWT and Nunavut. Interesting to say the least. I am also forever listening to people complain about the price of food in Inuvik; some of it I think is warranted and some of it is just simply complaining. When I hear of people complaining about the price of watermelon in Inuvik in January, this is not legit complaining as #1 you shouldn't be buying watermelon in January (carbon foot print!) and #2 the fact that you can even access watermelon in Inuvik in January is a small miracle in itself!

So here is what I believe:

1. You can easily access whole food and healthy food 12 months of the year in Inuvik.
2. That if you buy foods according to each season and if you limit processed foods than food costs can be reasonable.
3. That if you limit yourself to a medium level of simplicity in cooking/meal planning/consumption (no watermelon in January and not eating steak and lobster dinners), food costs can also be reasonable.
4. For those fortunate enough to receive a Northern Allowance or other allowances with their jobs, people are indeed compensated for possible additional food costs incurred.

Many people will disagree but this is what I believe. So my plan for the next year is to blog about availability and price of food in Inuvik and see if what I track actuals backs up these beliefs!

For those people new to Inuvik (small, remote community) these are my tips that I tell them about food availability and costs:

• Buy local as much as possible.
• Limit your food needs/tastes. Example: You may not be cooking really specific recipes or ethnic recipes that you may have cooked in a city/down south.
• Keep a good selection of dry goods and condiments stocked up in your cupboards. Example: quinoa, rice, canned beans, lentils, couscous, canned veggies, etc.
• Drink UHT, soy milk, almond milk, etc instead of cow's milk.
• Preserve or freeze local meat and veggies as much as you can each season (fishing, hunting, berrypicking, garden, greenhouse, etc).
• Do a meat order some how/some way. This might be from the local reindeer herd, from a butcher down south or a meat pack from a local grocery store.
• Buy 50% expired food as much as possible. Freeze it if need be! its the only way I buy chicken in Inuvik!

Experiment #1: Comparing Food Prices

Two curiosities.

A) I am curious if food prices vary from grocery store to grocery store in Inuvik and I want the actual documentation and proof of this. Not just anecdotes from loyal customers. So here is a copy of my basic grocery shop at Stanton's from January 6, 2017 (middle of winter, storm day, Dempster Highway has been closed a lot). The only thing not available was cow's milk for my mom! I will do the same grocery shop/list soon from northern store and the local convenience store.

B) I am also curious if food prices are drastically different from summer to winter. So here is my proof of winter prices. Normally I would not buy blueberries or avocadoes in January but I know I will be buying them in the summer. I will have to see if there is actually a price difference in these items season to season.

This grocery list also shows what my basic food consumption is. Sure I buy chips, snacks, pop, etc each week but this is a basic supply of what I eat/consume regularly.

• avocadoes
• green onions
• carrots
• squash
• almond milk
• canned tomatoe sauce
• canned beans
• lettuce
• peppers
• tomatoes
• feta cheese
• seeds/nuts (pumpkin seeds)
• condiment (honey)
• eggs
• ground turkey (frozen)
• ground beef (frozen)
• blueberries
• strawberries (frozen for protein shakes)

 

Yes, all these foods were available and looking to be in good condition as Stanton's today. I was impressed by this. The only product not available was cow's milk. I checked at 2 places and nothing except 50% chocolate milk was available.

 

Happy shopping, cooking and eating! I am looking forward to see what I find by tracking all of this in 2017 in Inuvik.

 

S.

The End of the Season

Gardening season seems to come and go so quickly in Inuvik, although yes, I know we live above the Arctic Circle and should expect a short season but as they say 'time flies when you are having fun'. So in early- mid April I was planting seeds and now in early- mid September my garden is almost completely cleaned out and harvested. It has been a great gardening season as usual with a good bounty of healthy food and nutrients and of course the always present variable that some things worked and some things didn't work so well. The joy of gardening!

The last harvest included chives (which I will leave in the garden cut off and hope they grow back in early season next year), lots of beets were still in the ground until the very end and I got a good harvest of herbs to be dried. Amazingly enough there was still some good lettuce at the end of season, a second or even third planting of the season. And lots of green tomatoes that will ripen on the kitchen counter.

In my estimate I will have garden veggies in my fridge for another 7-10 days and then the season will officially be over. Thank you for listening (reading)!

S.

An Absent Gardener

I have been an absent gardener for the month of August as I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Olympics in Rio. If you ever a chance to go to the Olympic games DO IT, it is the most amazing experience being able to cheer on Team Canada. When I returned from Rio (after 3+ weeks of travel) I was pleasantly surprised at the state of my garden. I have never left my garden unattended for such a long period of time and to the extent that I have even been critical of people who abandon their gardens in the summer. So what did I do with my garden?!?!

Before I left for Rio I did a good purge of my garden. I pulled out most of my leaf greens (lettuce) and seed herbs (dill, cilantro, etc) and I cut back all my hearty plants (tomatoes, kale, squash). And my hard work seemed to pay off!

Once I pulled my lettuce, etc. I planted and all new seeds and even despite poor weather I had a whole new crop of great looking lettuce upon my return. Beets and kale didn't take over the garden as they even seemed to enjoy the time to grow without interruption! :) The tomatoes and squash were over grown but nothing a good snipping couldn't fix. And I returned in early September so it meant it was time for picking green tomatoes to ripen at home anyways.

 

My advice for others is that you can leave your garden unattended without totally abandoning it but put in a bit of time preparing for your departure before you actual leave. Like I said, do a purge, trim back plants and make sure there is someone watering your garden somewhat regularly!

My hard work paid off even more when I enjoyed a good home cooked meal after being away from home for so long. Surprisingly, Brazil does not have great food and very little fresh veggies in their cooking (think bread, cheese and lots of meat and potatoes). So it was such a treat to be able to eat the fresh produce from my Inuvik garden.

Happy travels everyone.

S.

Lots of FUN!

My last post was a little negative and despite me being a bit confused by my garden this year, I need to redeem myself and say that I once again love my garden and I need to be more appreciative of what it provides to me. Here are four great things to celebrate with my garden right now:

1. Inuvik was lucky enough to welcome the Minister Carolyn Bennett to our community. She is the federal Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and came north to discuss the Nutrition North program and food security in Canada's North. She also took some of her time to tour the Inuvik Community Greenhouse. So great!

 

2. I had a great harvest from the garden this week and got to share it with some of my friends for an amazing supper. I picked my 1 head of broccoli which I now wish I planted more of and picked all my little summer squash and a few interesting beets. Love it all!

 

3. In my yard my lilacs have bloomed. I planted these shrubs about 7 years ago and this is the most blossoms I have gotten in one summer. In the North I first saw lilac bushes in Fort Simpson and decided if they could grow there, they could grow in Inuvik. Unfortunately the blossoms only lasted a couple days but they were beautiful!

 

4. Finally, it is pesto making season as the green and garden harvest is so plentiful right now. I find this to be the perfect pesto recipe:

Garden Pesto

2 cloves of garlic
2 cups greens- don't be picky, this can be kale, bsil, mint, carrot leaves, etc.
1/2 cup oil- don't be picky, use any type of oil
1/4 cup nuts- don't be picky, any nuts work including pine nuts (expensive), almonds, walnuts, etc.
Mix together, then add:

1/2 cup cheese
Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
Blend together in the nutribullet or blender.

Happy gardening.

S.

My Garden is 'Weird'!

I have decided that my garden is weird this year. I am not sure if it is the new roof at the Inuvik Greenhouse or the hot weather or a combination of both or something totally different but my garden is officially 'weird'. I cannot figure out why it is so different this year than past years?!?! So what makes it 'weird'.

 

There are many plants that seem to have stopped growing and are dwarf in size. This would be my peas, cilantro and dill. All these varieties have grown about 3-5 inches but have produced as they should (peas have grown, dill has sprouted, etc). But they have grown to this short size and have quit growing.

Then I have other plants this year that are HUGE! My kale leaves are as big as a dinner plate and by early July I already one full head of broccoli. My bok choi which usually bolts and goes to seed has continued to grow and is about 4 times as 'full' as usual.

 

By the beginning of July, types of lettuce, chard, and beets that usually survive until mid-season have already bolted and gone to seed.

I am going to spend time this week replanting most of my rows and tried to get a full second crop out of the garden. Don't get me wrong as there is still a lot growing in the garden and a lot being harvested but the garden is just not as lush as in previous years.

Happy gardening.

S.