Nain family hopes to combat food insecurity with community garden

A family in Nain is hoping to show people just what can be grown in northern Labrador in an effort to prioritize healthy food and create a new community garden.

This year, Katie Harris and Adrian Earle harvested more than 400 pounds of potatoes, 150 baseball-sized onions, 80 pounds of carrots, as well as brussels sprouts, pumpkins, lettuce, kale, spinach, cabbage and more.

"We should be producing a lot more food in our province," Earle said. "It's better for the planet. It's just better for everybody to grow lots of it at home."

Earle estimates that he and Harris have grown hundreds of pounds of fresh produce in Nain with the help of friends. (Heidi Atter/CBC)

Having a garden was something Earle always wanted to do, he said. So with the help of a Mennonite friend from Alberta, the couple started by composting for a year, then planting small amounts of root vegetables in raised beds.

"The first year that we grew stuff. We grew beets and potatoes and we couldn't believe it," Earle said.

The couple compost just about everything from hair, bones they have boiled down and more beyond just table scraps. Their raised beds are made from old oil drums that have been cleaned, cut and drainage holes drilled into the bottom.

Earle and Harris use recycled oil drums for their raised garden beds. (Heidi Atter/CBC)

"They work really well. They're really durable," Earle said. "And it's free except for a few drill bits to drill them up and some grinder just to cut them apart which wasn't too expensive."

Having access to these foods would have made a difference when she was a child, Harris said. She hopes her own children see the impact they can have by taking action.

"I didn't grow up going to school with cherry tomatoes," Harris said. "They'll remember that for the rest of their lives, and hopefully they will be able to carry it on with their own kids someday."

Harris and Earle say they have been getting lots of help from both their own kids and others who stop by. (Heidi Atter/CBC)

The couple started with ordering seeds and soil, and estimate they spent around $2,000 over the past five years on the garden.

Earle estimates they have saved more than $30,000 on food, given the high cost of groceries along the north coast of Labrador.

"And it's not just about saving the money," Earle said. "It's way healthier and it's just incredibly tastier."

Earle says the produce grown in his garden with, seaweed and compost, is better tasting than at the grocery store. (Heidi Atter/CBC)

Community garden in the works 

Following their success, the couple is working to create a community garden for about five more families on the town's former hockey rink by the Nain RCMP detachment.

The large clay space is perfect for growing produce, Earle said, adding there are details to work out, but the interest and need is there.

WATCH | Sharing is caring for this family and their growing garden:

The couple hopes to have funding for a greenhouse within the next couple of years, but funding has been a challenge, said Earle.

"If we get it set up well, then you'll be able to grow in there from hopefully, to start, in March until, like, the end of November, which seriously extends the season here," he said. "You could grow some of the biggest vegetables in the world."

Harris and Earle's daughter, Iris, spent a lot of time in the garden this past summer, Earle says. (Heidi Atter/CBC)

Earle hopes it shows people what can be grown in rural, isolated places. As well, he said, they're following in the footsteps of people from generations ago, like when missionaries had community gardens even further north, without irrigation systems, running water or machinery.

"We have so much more technology available to us today to live a traditional lifestyle more comfortably than what they used to then, but still make it so that it's healthy for everybody and the earth at the same time," Earle said.

"And everybody could be a lot happier and have a better place to live."

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