Imagine growing food crops in Newfoundland and Labrador year-round at minimal cost. That’s one of a number of projects the Food Producers Forum is involved in to help community-based food cultivation.

The pandemic has created renewed interest among Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in growing their own food.

That prompted a new non-profit society to form, dedicated to help strengthen community-based food production right across the province. The Food Producers Forum launched its website in November and now has more than 170 pages of content for gardeners, growers, hunters, fish harvesters and foragers.

Dan Rubin of Pouch Cove says they’ve been involved in a number of exciting projects including the construction of an earth-sheltered greenhouse at the site of O’Brien’s Farm which has already proven to be a great success.

The structure, which will be built into the side of a hill is what Rubin describes as the marriage between a greenhouse and a root cellar.

That allows the greenhouse to retain enough heat in the wintertime that little to no additional heat needs to be provided. There’s one currently operating in Flatrock designed by David Jason Goodyear, which produced rounds of vegetables throughout Snowmageddon last year at a cost of just $5 a month for heat.