By Mat Barrett

Feb 06, 2020

FRESH PRODUCE IN HUDSON BAY

The old Stewart Hawke School in Hudson Bay is getting some good use.

The town asked for bids for the building in late 2018, and in early 2019, they awarded it to ‘Let-Us Grow Hydroponics’. The company is run by Jan and June Nel who grow fresh lettuce, herbs, and radishes under LED lights with no pesticides or herbicides. Jan said when the town was looking for bids, he and his wife started to think.

“We started looking for ideas, and we went and proposed doing this,” Jan said. “And they loved it.”

At the time, Jan was – and still is – working full-time with Nutrien, while June was working at the Pharmasave. June said they took their family and started preparing the building in January, with the hope of helping Hudson Bay.

“And do something that can add to the community,” she said. “So, hopefully in the future, create jobs, expand and maybe do a few other things within the school. There’s a thousand ideas we have.”

By late February, Let-Us Grow Hydroponics was planting its first seeds. Currently, there are two rooms being used, and the gymnasium as well but Jan hopes that can be used for something else later on.

Jan said through their year of growing fresh produce in Hudson Bay, it’s been a huge learning curve.

“We learned lots,” he said. “Things we thought were going to be easy, were challenging. Things we thought were going to be challenging were simple.”

He said while working at Nutrien, he’s had to adjust how he thinks when it comes to growing now compared to how he’d think at his full-time job.

“Growing in an environment where there’s no soil, there’s no buffering capacity,” Jan told northeast now. “The plants react so much quicker to any deficiencies, and getting those recipes and formulas worked out took a bit of trial and error. And we’re still working on it, it’s not perfect, but it’s way better than it was.”

With Hudson Bay being so far off the beaten path, it can be hard to find fresh produce, or local produce. June said one thing with theirs is it is local.

“It’s not two weeks old, it hasn’t traveled across the country or across the world,” she said. “It actually tastes like lettuce. Lots of people have commented on our herbs, it actually still tastes fresh when you get it, and there’s nothing sprayed on it.”

Jan added the carbon footprint on the regular produce bought at the store is massive compared to this.

As for the future of Let-Us-Grow Hydroponics, they’ve got a lot of building to work with and the Nel’s said soon they hope to be producing enough to provide fresh produce for Hudson Bay. Then in a few years, they hope to expand and grow enough where all of northeast Saskatchewan can have this fresh produce.

Right now, Let-Us Grow is only selling out of the school right now, but they hope to expand the retail side a little bit more soon. June said for anyone who wants to get in touch with them to get some produce, they can contact via phone, or their Facebook page.

Both June and Jan praised community support of Hudson Bay, as well as the help and support they have received from the town itself.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6