Greenhouse project aims for ‘food sovereignty'

June 20, 2006

By DAWN DE BUSK

Frontiersman

SUTTON - Palmer resident Dave Marshall waters tiny transplants inside the rustic greenhouse. Early starts of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and even sugar-baby watermelons surround him. Six-packs of forget-me-nots, marigolds and poppies promise to color summer gardens. Mellow music wafts from a radio in the corner, and several spiders keep Marshall company while a tray of carrots started from seeds share soil, waiting to be transplanted into separate pots until eastern Valley residents put them in the ground.

Marshall works on gardening, construction and maintenance projects as a volunteer at the Chickaloon Village Four Seasons Greenhouse, situated at Mile 60 Glenn Highway in Sutton. Wasilla resident Kizzi Davis is the greenhouse's lead volunteer, organizing the approximately half-dozen people who regularly donate their time to the greenhouse.

The community greenhouse was designed to empower people through &#8220food sovereignty,” which is the ability to control food production, distribution and processing. Every time a person grows a successful vegetable garden, a trip to the produce section of the grocery store can be skipped, making the individual more self-sufficient, said Kim Sollien, former sustainable foods coordinator with the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council.

&#8220Food sovereignty puts the control of what's available to eat in the hands of the people, instead of in the hands of corporations and agri-businesses and food chain stores,” said Sollien, now the Chickaloon Village health and social services director.

A First Nations Development Institute grant for $78,000 helped pay for the greenhouse, she said. With a recent grant from the Alaska Marketplace for $25,000, the greenhouse will be able to obtain an alternative energy system.

&#8220We're hoping to use the Alaska Marketplace funding to build a renewable energy system combining wind, solar and possibly veggie oil through a diesel generator so the greenhouse would be off the grid. It would become in a self-contained food-producing facility,” Sollien said.

The 30-by-40-foot foundation for the greenhouse was poured in 2004, with hopes of raising the roof that same summer. Building the structure didn't start until 2005.

&#8220We were looking for a builder, and no one dared because the design joined some different building techniques. People had some anxiety about joining recycled plastic, cord wood and recycled glass with log cabin and stick-frame techniques,” Sollien said. &#8220But Pat and his son said ‘Let's try it.'”

Pat McEntee, the ecosystem-based plan coordinator with the Chickaloon Village, and his son stepped up as the lead building team. The First Nations Development Institute grant allowed two years for construction, which meant the money had to be used by the fall of 2005.

That summer, about a dozen people - both volunteers and tribal council employees - showed up regularly to peel logs, put the walls in place and chink the logs, McEntee said. As many as 25 people assisted the building project, he said, along with two pieces of machinery - a 1986 plane de-icer with a hydro-lift from Elmendorf Air Force Base, and a 1966 Army Surplus crane.

The four-seasons greenhouse is divided into two parts: the atrium, which faces south; and the north side, which will be used during the winter growing season.

The dividing wall between the rooms is designed from recycled, glass freezer-section doors that were donated when Safeway remodeled its grocery store, McEntee said.

Playing up to the southern exposure in the atrium, the see-through panels were shower doors in a past life until an Anchorage hotel decided to upgrade its rooms.

&#8220The hotel remodeled. The shower doors were discarded, salvaged and recycled,” McEntee said, adding the walls were built to fit the windows instead of the other way around.

Bales of recycled plastic jugs and mortar insulate the northern-exposure wall. Since the bales of used milk jugs were sliced in half, McEntee was thankful that Valley Community of Recycling Solutions had bundled some unused, defective milk jugs that came from Matanuska Maid. Those unused ones smelled much better, he said.

The well-insulated north side of the greenhouse stays cool throughout the summer and is used for some storage and paperwork. In the late fall, the atrium will shut down and the north side will house the plants.

The winter growing chamber will be heated during the day by fireplace, while north winds off the Matanuska Glacier power wind turbines, storing energy in a battery bank to run the grow lights at night, Sollien said.

The community greenhouse was created to have growing seasons from February through October, allowing the soil to rest for two months out of the year, she said.

This summer, the greenhouse will supply free vegetable and floral starters for Valley residents - although it's approaching a late period in the outdoor growing season.

In addition to plans for edible gardens outdoors, designs call for a nice retreat outside with ponds, benches, trees and shrubs.

A rainwater catch system also is planned, along with a well. Davis said monthly meetings at the site will allow residents to have a say in the direction of the greenhouse.

Sollien believes buying Valley-grown vegetables, dairy products and meat supports the region's economy and promotes health.

&#8220Nationally, people don't have a say in what they can eat unless they know a farmer. We just go to the store and have to buy and eat what they provide,” Sollien said.

&#8220I try really hard to eat bioregionally. While avocados and bananas are available, I try to eat them sparingly. I think they won't always be available.”

The decrease in the availability of fossil fuel and the resulting high cost of petroleum will cause shipping costs to jump even higher, making imported fruits and vegetables too costly, she said.

&#8220Ninety percent of food people eat in Alaska is shipped. It will become more and more apparent to people that it's more affordable to eat vegetables grown locally,” Sollien said. &#8220I think bodies are healthier when we eat what grows in the place we live, in the regional climate.”

Contact Dawn De Busk at

352-2252, or dawn.debusk@

frontiersman.com.