Community Projects

Earth Connections Garden Centre has the pleasure of working constantly with new community partners across the country. Outlined below are some of our more recent partnerships with schools, food banks and community projects across Saskatchewan, Alberta and Yukon.

Athabasca Health Authority

230+ Garden Towers

Thanks to the Nutrition North Funding, Earth Connections has distributed 230 Garden Towers to Stony Rapids, Black Lake, and Uranium City between September 2017 and the spring of 2020. At the outset of this project, The National Aboriginal Diabetes Association printed an article on Northern Gardens in their September 2017 newsletter. Click here to read the newsletter. An article was also published in the fall 2017 edition of NOSH, a newsletter published by the Food & Culinary network of Dietitians of Canada. In the spring of 2019, we provided Stony Rapids with 6 Raised Beds and 8 Cold Frames for use at their newly built Women and Children’s Crisis Centre. We also facilitated the creation of a therapy garden, which included a barrel oven rocket stove cob workshop at Stony Rapids School. This was capped off with a pizza party for students and teachers! Several articles were published about the Therapy Garden, including one in Eagle Feather News. Earth Connections ran a January 2020 Microgreen Workshop in Stony Rapids and another in Uranium City, providing the communities with microgreen growing kits. In February, we piloted a School Snack Program at Uranium City School. (This program was paused due to Covid-19, but will hopefully be re-started in the near future). Over the course of the spring of 2020 Stony Rapids, Black Lake, and Uranium City purchased over 110 individual-sized raised beds and cold frames along with over 170 seed packs for families in these communities, funded through Nutrition North.

Ottawa Network For Education

79 Garden Towers, 40 Schools

Earth Connections Garden Centre has partnered with the Ottawa Network For Education to bring the Garden Tower into classrooms in and around Ottawa. So far there are 10 schools participating, with Garden Towers and seedling stations for their classrooms. There have been 15 towers distributed to date! (2017)

Garden Towers in Schools

Earth Connections provides schools across Canada with Garden Towers, Seedling Stations and more. To date we have helped over 350 classrooms get their students growing!

St. Anne Elementary School

2 Garden Towers

St Anne’s Elementary School in Saskatoon now has 2 Garden Towers and seedling stations for their “Gardening Club”. (2017)

Schools In Regina

6 Garden Towers

The Regina Food Bank's Urban Agriculture Project, in partnership with Mosaic, placed 6 garden towers in schools in Regina. The Four Season Urban Agriculture Project has only just begun; they are currently building on partnerships to create various opportunities for volunteers, schools, individuals, community and corporate groups in the community. (Sept. 2017)

Garden Towers in Senior Centres and Care Homes

Earth Connections has provided towers to many senior centres and care homes for gardening purposes, as well as for horticultural therapy. Notable examples of these communities making use of the garden tower include Sage Resources and Sherbrook Community Centre in Saskatoon, SK and Trinity Village in Ontario.

Beardy’s & Okemasis, Ahtahkakoop, and Muskeg Lake Cree Nations

The Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in association with Canadian Feed the children has 2 Garden towers, 1 for the daycare program and one for the school. In January and February 2018, Earth Connections facilitated a 5 day Gardening and Greenhouse course for members of Beardy’s & Okemasis, Ahtahkakoop, and Muskeg Lake Cree Nations, funded through Canadian Feed The Children.  Each community  received a Cold Frame for community growing. Muskeg Lake Cree Nation went on to establish a 3 acre food forest. (Add Link to video featuring the food forest, posted to EC Facebook page October 2018). Earth Connections was honoured to be invited by Willow Creek Health Services to facilitate two, one-day gardening workshops to assist with their Community Garden Project in May of 2018. Ahtahkakoop School added 9 Garden Towers to their Library Resource Centre in the fall of 2019.

Challenge Disability Resource Group

2 Garden Towers

The Challenge Greenhouse Program allows community members in Whitehorse, Yukon to learn new skills and foster interest in growing their own food organically. We have supplied the program with two gardentower units with the help of the Environmental Grant provided by the City of Whitehorse. You can click here to see the Challenge Greenhouse Program Blog and to read more about their organic gardening experiences. (Dec, 2016)  

J H Moore Elementary

2 Garden Towers

J H Moore Elementary School in Lashburn, Saskatchewan now has two gardentower units for their salad bar program. The towers have been set up in the kindergarten class room! J H Moore was also featured in the June 2016 edition of Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (See pg 12,13). Pictured right is Susan Plant, the principal of the school. We are looking forward to working with the various classes next year. (June, 2016)  

Regina Food Bank

48 Garden Towers

This fall we began setting up 48 gardentower units at the Regina Food Bank. Each unit is equipped with growing lights and the aquajet irrigation system so that they can grow efficiently indoors all year round. Hope hope to post finished installation photos in the very near future! (Coming Soon)  

Sage Seniors' Resources

3 Garden Towers

We set up 3 garden towers at a new care home in Saskatoon. It opens in early December and the residents will play a part in growing fresh food! During the winter months they will be using lights around the towers to assist in the growing! (Nov, 2016)  

Silverspring Elementary

One Garden Tower

The grade 8 graduating class at Silverspring School in Saskatoon donated a gardentower as a farewell gift to the school! Pictured left is their teacher Mathew Fiedelleck with the garden tower during grad prep this year. (June, 2016)  

Gardenscape Saskatoon

Mini Garden Tower

We are grateful to have met so many amazing people during our first show this year at Gardenscapes. Next year we will back back with a huge corner booth to show off our displays, feel free to come give the garden tower a spin! (April, 2016)  

 

Flying Dust First Nation

Organic Food Distributors

We enjoyed showing our products and making connections at the street stall on Saturdays at the Saskatoon Farmers Market. We were there with our award-winning (Green Thumb Award, 2016) GardenTower and sometimes with certified organic produce from the Flying Dust First Nation! (May-Oct, 2016)

Athabasca Delta Community School in Ft. Chipewyan

In February 2018, Earth Connections ran a Gardening and Growing Technologies workshop at ADCS. The school received 3 Garden Towers and seedling stations.

Hatchet Lake

In July 2018, Earth Connections was happy to be called upon by the Prince Albert Grand Council to discuss challenges and strategies of gardening in the north at a two day workshop.  The Hatchet Lake Health Centre received 6 Cold Frames.

Carry The Kettle First Nation

In 2018 three garden towers were set up in the community school. The community established a community garden in the spring of 2020, including 6 cold frames provided by Earth Connections. 

Muskoday First Nation

We attended a Garden Meeting to answer food security and gardening questions, and provided seeds for community members. (April 2019)

Yorkton Tribal Council

In 2019, Earth Connections provided 6 Yorkton Area First Nations with Raised beds, Garden Towers, Seed Starting Kits, and seed packs. (Kahkewistahaw First Nation, Key First Nation, Zagime Anishinabek, Keeseekoose First Nation, Cote First Nation, and Ocean Man First Nation). These same communities received 130 raised beds for community growing in 2020. The Yorkton Tribal Health Centre set up 3 Cold Frames.

University of British Columbia Terrace Campus

UBC received a grant in 2019 to set up 5 garden towers indoors for air purification.

City of Calgary

In 2020 the city of Calgary began piloting their Food in the Park program, including the use of four garden towers.