Compost plans keep sprouting
Iqaluit’s Bill Mackenzie Humanitarian Society plans to build a greenhouse this summer.
The metal frame of the structure already stands on an abandoned lot on Federal Road that’s strewn with garbage.
That’s no deterrent for Jim Little, who plans to turn the lot into a garden.
Little said he hopes to transform the lot into a place where elders can sip tea and watch plants blossom in soil enriched by compost he’s produced with rotting vegetables he’s collected from homes.
By comparing plants grown with compost to plants grown without the stuff, Little hopes to demonstrate how potent his product is, and whether growing food in the Arctic is feasible.
“People have told me for years you can’t compost here. We may discover the same thing with [growing] food,” he said.
The project has no connection with the multi-million dollar plans of the Iqaluit Greenhouse Society, which appear to be on hold.
Little’s group has leased the site, owned by Nunavut Power Corp., for three years. Before that it was used by the city of Iqaluit.
“The city just used it as a dump,” Little said.
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