SEEDS will be moving from Lakeside Park to Seventh Street Park in Fairview. They will take the portable GroMor greenhouse with them as a gift from the city.
The move comes after both SEEDS and the city decided they want to expand, and there was not enough room for both.
The city owns the land and greenhouses in Lakeside Park in which the non-profit organization SEEDS has been growing food while creating a welcoming space for isolated seniors in the community to gather and work together with children and youth to produce vegetables which were then donated to food groups in the community.
The city will re-occupy the new greenhouse that was built last year after the original was destroyed by a fallen tree. The GroMor, which SEEDS will take to Seventh St. Park, is the older and more portable greenhouse located beside it.
Seventh St. Park is located in Fairview in the vicinity of Lake View Village seniors housing.
Recently the city decided it needs more room to grow trees and sod in the Lakeside location.
The city’s tree farm is no longer able to supply the city with the trees they need, so they plan to expand it, says the city’s Chris Gainham. He said they also plan to expand their sod-growing area.
“The growing conditions are also good for the type of sod that we grow for the sports fields,” he said.
“In an active year that sod gets kicked up pretty quickly and that location, that footprint down at Lakeside, is perfect for growing that sod.”
Gainham said Seventh St. Park is a good location because many seniors live in nearby housing developments.
“We thought the park was underutilized and it fit in nicely with the SEEDS mandate,” he said.
Terry Brennan, a board member at SEEDS, agrees.
“It’s a good compromise. Upon looking at Seventh St. Park, it has better exposure, and looking at the community of seniors that is down there, we felt it was a good option.”
About the GroMor greenhouse, Brennan said, “It’s in fine shape, a little beat up, so we are going to re-skin it with new material and it will be bright and shiny and new.”
SEEDS has just published its 2018 Homes of Nelson fundraising calendar featuring photography by Lynn Brousson as well and art by Lainey Benson, Jeremy Herndl and Bruce Martin. There are only a few copies left, on sale at the Kootenay Co-op.