Squamish Nation: Strengthening food sovereignty and community food programs

Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services collaborated with Growcer to bring a 40-foot container garden (pictured above) on site.

Project at a Glance

• Installed in May 2021 and located in Squamish Nation.
• Project goal: Increase access to healthy food and strengthen the region’s food sovereignty.
• Distribution model: The fresh greens are shared with Squamish Nation families and used in programming by Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services, such as their youth centre, Smeḵw'ú7ts (Food Sharing) Community Kitchen and S7ílhen (Food) Pantry.
• Impact: The container garden unlocks year-round growing for Ayás Méńmen and builds on their medicine garden and community kitchen.
• Operator: Operated by its own team made up of one team leader and four food program assistants.

“Creating a sustainable healthy source of produce and increasing food sovereignty has long been a goal for the Squamish Nation, and Growcer is another piece of the puzzle.”

— Kelley McReynolds, director of Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services.

THE NEED FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

Since 2014, Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services has 19 garden boxes set up outside of their office where they grow fruit and vegetables and a traditional medicine garden. The garden also serves as a site for traditional teaching.

All these projects tie into building the food sovereignty of the community, but the coronavirus pandemic coupled with the California wildfires sounded the alarms for longer term solutions among the community.

With limited space on site, they had to get creative.

ADDING A CONTAINER GARDEN

Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services collaborated with Growcer to bring a 40-foot container garden on site. The space-efficient container garden unlocks year-round growing and is automated to provide full environmental control.

Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services’s Growcer container garden on its way.

“So, when we looked at this option of the hydroponic farm and saw that it's the size of a shipping container, we thought, ‘that's pretty cool.’ It comes with all the equipment you need inside there. And, you can get it set up and within five to six weeks you are ready to make your first harvest and it yields approximately 450 heads of produce per week. That's a lot,” Kelley McReynolds, director of Ayás Méńmen Child and Family Services, told North Shore News during their project launch.

Produce from the new farm is shared with families in Squamish Nation. Produce is also used in programming by Ayás Méńmen, such as their youth centre, the Smeḵw'ú7ts (Food Sharing) Community Kitchen and S7ílhen (Food) Pantry. The community kitchen will be a space where families can come together and cook meals once a week, and the pantry allows community members to access any food supplies they need.