Bear River Community Greenhouse Grand Opening – June 17, 2017 1 pm

BEAR RIVER GREENHOUSE – 100 WHARF STREET (Behind the Legion, along the Waterfront.)
Grand Opening – June 17, 2017 1 pm

It is with great excitement that the official grand opening of the Bear River Community Greenhouse will take place on June 17, at 1 PM at the Community Greenhouse in Bear River.

This project, co-chaired by Bear River residents, Carol Dibble and Kris Murdock, under the auspices of the Bear River Board of Trade, has been almost two years in the making. The former solar aquatics and sewage treatment plant decommissioned in 2012 by the Municipality of the County of Annapolis was slated for demolition unless a repurpose for the building could be established. An eleventh hour proposal was submitted to Council, approval was given in 2015 and work began immediately to retrofit the structure to a community greenhouse with the help of several funding grants, establishment of a greenhouse and waterfront committee and much volunteer time and in-kind effort by the community.

In May of this year the community was invited to apply for membership in the community greenhouse. A fee of $50 for the growing season entitled the members to full access to the greenhouse which includes a 4’x8’x18” high raised bed filled with certified organic soil. A rainwater system was installed inside the greenhouse and plumbed to hoses along the wall to accommodate the watering requirements for a total of 24 indoor beds. Two more beds are located directly in front of the greenhouse for general community sharing with the planting of various herbs and haskap/gooseberry berry bushes in each. Additional beds are also positioned outside in the waterfront garden area for the planting of other vegetables not suited for indoor gardening, again for community sharing or those in need. The whole project will be overseen by the co-chairs and managed by all the members through additional volunteer hours agreed to in the membership application to keep the property in good shape and operating efficiently.

The goal of this project is to inject into Bear River a shared vision of an organic gardening community, and a chance to reclaim and beautify the waterfront for all to enjoy. So far the initiative has been met with a great deal of enthusiasm and is generating a tremendous deal of interest from far and wide. A community garden greenhouse and waterfront garden project of this scale and scope is quite a rarity and hasn’t been tried in very many places we are aware of except a few in northern Canada. We hope to be a model and inspiration for others who wish to venture into similar projects in their own communities as producing food locally becomes an ever increasing high priority due to climate change and an unpredictable economy.