Nathan’s Urban Farm: Growing Food and Opportunities
Nathan's Urban Farm is all about growing food and opportunities. In January 2021, Hutton House established Nathan’s Urban Farm in partnership with the Nathan T. Deslippe Memorial Fund as Phase One of an ongoing initiative to promote food security while providing training opportunities for community members. Nathan’s Urban Farm is guided by three principle ideas; to provide a sustainable local food source for our vulnerable population, to enable education and employability training for people with disabilities, and to support food education and nutrition programs to sustain our future.
Nathan’s Urban Farm is a small, indoor, hydroponic farm where community members can learn to grow nutritious food. Hutton House has partnered with Nathan’s Urban Farm to support food education and nutrition programs meant to sustain our futures. Our general population has been bombarded with advertising for convenient, tasty food which is not always healthy. There is a lack of understanding about our food sources and healthy nutritious meals. Sources for fresh healthy vegetables in Canada during the winter are limited. Covid-19 has highlighted the issues in relying on imported food sources. Improving the health and food education of our general population will improve everyone’s ability to stay healthier. Utilizing the hydroponic tower gardens at Nathan’s Urban Farm, fresh greens can be grown year round no matter the weather or global food system.
What is a hydroponic tower garden? Simply put, it is a gardening method of growing plants without using soil. The water does the work of delivering the nutrients to the plant roots by raining down from the inside of the tower and artificial grow lights help mimic natural sun. In the 12 tower gardens we have 336 growing baskets that can hold at least three plants per basket. It can take as little as two weeks between leafy greens being planted and when they can be harvested. This method allows for 3x faster growth rates while using 98% less water with the essential benefit of growing year round.
Check out Nathans Urban Farm on mozaik to learn more about how they are helping improve food security.