Athabasca Grown: One Year and Beyond
Almost one year after the first Athabasca Grown community engagement Connect for Food was held, over 70 excited Athabascans returned to the Athabasca Seniors Centre for the Feasibility Study Launch - Athabasca Grown: One Year and Beyond!
The Athabasca Grown team, Dr. Mike Gismondi, Athabasca University researcher Cara Shan, and communications specialist Lisa Allan, with input from professionals, academics, technicians, business leaders, a Circle of Champions and the community, gathered info into an informative and comprehensive feasibility report on an “upside-down”, deep-winter, passive solar greenhouse that could produce fresh food for the community during the winter months. This 1+ year study confirmed that a deep winter greenhouse could be feasible, with community support, as a social benefit and full-circle economic opportunity.
As everyone settled in, the aroma of hearty beef and vegetarian stews and fresh-baked bread filled the centre. Rustic Farm Girls cooked up a delicious meal, from mostly local ingredients! The beef was from RFG Farms, the vegetables from Olomero Farm, bread flour from Ramsum Farm, and the crisp was made with local haskap berries. Thanks to Rustic Farm Girls for the great meal!
Hello, Welcome!
Mike and Cara thanked the crowd for coming and encouraged them to read the full report online. They explained the transition from the SCOP grant (Small Community Opportunity Program) work into the next phase of building the organization and doing the work to take the greenhouse project forward.
Then they asked the crowd to shuffle into groups with the plan to use the Executive Summary as a guide through 4 questions using the 1-2-4 method.
“This is a positive community initiative to develop & apply local expertise and foster healthy rural communities with fresh food and food security.”
1-2-4 Exercise
The 1-2-4 method helps gather information from a crowd by asking participants to break into groups of 4. They were asked to think about the questions on their own (1), then discuss with another person at their table (2), and then all 4 to discuss, using the 4 pages of the Executive Summary as a guide.
Here are the 4 questions asked and some of the answers (click on the box to show the answers):
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Will be good to have a source of fresh, local produce; everyone can take ownership; no shipping.
Athabasca’s aging in place population is on a strict budget – will benefit them to have locally available, lower-cost produce.
Food safety, taste, quality – ‘local’ checks all these boxes.
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Seniors with growing experience and teenagers with technology knowledge working together would be excellent!
Not everyone has transportation – consideration for location; potential for eco/agritourism.
The climate battery is cool. Like idea of greenhouse as a public good – unique in North America?
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Nourishing community values, heal and grow communities cradle to grave, nourishing, growing families, keeping seniors here.
“Get in now, at ground level!” We see this expanding around the province.
The best way to convince people is to get involved yourself and tell them about it; plan to be part of creating it, not just a consumer of it.
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Figure out what next steps are and get people to join groups (including marketing and spreading the word).
Get out to community groups, e.g., Lions Club, Rotary, etc. and keep connected.
Expanding networks and asking other service groups what they do, sharing successful strategies. Ask people what they’re good at and they might be more likely to pitch in with what they’re good at.
How Can You Help?
The discussion ended with a feasibility report collaborator Lisa Allan describing some “bucket lists” that the Circle of Champions (the organizing committee formed in June 2025) had created to help move the project forward. This is what will be needed over the next few months to take this project from feasibility study to construction and then to operations:
Governance
Apply for incorporation as a not-for-profit company in Alberta (Part Nine Company)
Develop principles for how we want to govern ourselves and imagine how we want to design the roles of board members
Turn these ideas into bylaws and whole group agreements
Balance and distribute control between a small group doing the heavy lifting and the larger group of supporters, working together to achieve our purpose
Fundraising
Make a list of funding sources for the construction stage (grants, in-kind contributions, corporate and other sponsorship)
Develop a longer-term operations fundraising strategy (casino, crowdfunding, innovative fundraising, online platforms)
Identify supporters who might enthusiastically approach family, friends, community members for in-kind donations of equipment or materials, or skilled trades help, when we get to the building stage
Events, Marketing & PR
Help to plan 2 or 3 community events to keep supporters abreast of developments and attract new folks to the project
Looking for event organizing and assistance
Media contacts, presenting to partners
Article writing, content creation
Business Model
Refine the operational budget, help to integrate the social business canvas; looking for business minds to help us break even!
Sales model - how will we sell and to whom? First choice for members?
Help build spreadsheets for construction and operations budgets
Looking for a bookkeeper who likes gardening : )
Design & Planning
Legal help to develop partnership agreements and land leases
Skilled professional help with construction drawings, technical and engineering aspects, such as air handling and climate battery or just construction management or estimating costs
Partnerships
Lobbying and partnership building with Aspen View School Board/EPC leadership, recruiting teachers interested in AG; friends of the Agricultural Society, connecting with AU executives and researchers, inroads with County and Town local governments, etc.
Assist with presentations
Growing
Refine what will be grown (relates to pro forma and plans for greenhouse systems)
Greenhouse processes, looking for a horticulturalist or greenhouse manager
List tools and materials needed to operate. Think about donations of new and used
Supporters of the Project
Continue to support the project and inform others, helping grow the base
Read the report over. Talk it up
Refer folks to the Athabasca Grown website for updates and signup
Direct hard questions to members of the Circle of Champions
Smile. Keep the mood uplifting and positive. Encourage others to join us. And consider how they might help us advance the work above
“Building community resilience and independence – can be positive regardless of the way you interpret it politically.”
What’s Next?
The evening wrapped up with Mike and Cara encouraging the participants to think of ways they could help in any of the categories above, and asked them to share the report and the request for volunteers amongst their networks.
A suggestion emerged that a “roster” form be added to the website, allowing individuals to consider how they could contribute and then add their names to the roster. Watch upcoming newsletters and social media to learn more about signing up to volunteer.
During the course of the evening, some Circle of Champions folks and gardening-friendly participants thought that having a seed-exchanging event would be a great way to keep the excitement rolling. An Athabasca Grown “Seedy Saturday” event will happen on March 14, 2026, at the Athabasca Seniors Centre. Watch our media for details.
The Circle of Champions will continue meeting monthly or more to progress plans on how to work together, do a workshop on strategic decision making and develop a volunteer contribution framework.
If you are interested in being part of the organizing committee, please contact us at info@athabascagrown.ca. We would benefit from people with business planning, construction and fundraising experience, so if that’s you, contact us to get in on the ground floor of this exciting technology and community-building project!
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