Photo: Abby Zieverink / EverythingGP staff

By Abby Zieverink

Co-op New Horizon Local Garden

Fresh produce to be grown year-round at New Horizon CO-OP’s Local Garden

Oct 30, 2021 | 1:12 AM

Some produce will soon be grown in Grande Prairie year-round at New Horizon CO-OP’s Local Garden, which residents will soon see on store shelves.

New Horizon CO-OP Director of Operations Karen Flateger says the Local Garden uses hydroponic greenhouse technology and is temperature-controlled, which she says allows for produce to be grown 365 days a year, right here in Grande Prairie.

“Some of the crops take four to six weeks, and some of the crops take six to eight weeks, so different crops are growing at different rates,” she explained.

“The seeding process is actually constant, so as one is getting harvested and then out to sell, there’s another crop getting seeded.”

The garden travelled 1,778 kilometres from Winkler, Manitoba to be stationed in Grande Prairie. Flateger says they decided to bring it all the way to Northern Alberta because of the endless opportunity it will bring to the community.

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“It was the opportunity to bring fresh products to our members and customers, support local, and make sure we’re here for our community,” she said.

“We’re really community-minded, and we really want to focus on supporting local and our members on what they want and what they need.”

She says one of the main top-offs is the fact the Local Garden allows them to bring fresh produce to local residents year-round.

“We really want to make sure we have fresh produce for our customers and what better way than to grow it yourself and you know it’s fresh for our customers. So fresh coming into our food stores is fantastic.”

Flateger tells EverythingGP although they can’t share the specific products they will be growing just yet, she suggests it will be a line of different herbs grown.

She says with the first seeds being planted within the next week or so, residents should keep their eyes peeled on their social media pages on what will specifically be grown.

Once the first crops are harvested, residents can purchase the locally grown produce at the CO-OP’s downtown location and Trader Ridge location in the Swan City.

“We have a logo just for the New Horizon Local Garden and anything that’s produced in our local garden has a sticker seal showing that it is produced locally.”

Both store locations will also have a separate section for the products produced at the local garden.

In the future, Flateger says they are planning on also selling the locally grown produce out of the Co-op stores in Rycroft, Beaverlodge, Hythe, LaGlace, Valleyview, Falher, and Grande Cache.