Getting ready for growing season

April 29th, 2012

Sunrise: 5:53 am

Sunset: 11:51 pm

Temps (last 24 hrs): -12'C - -7'C

It's official; I'm a "plotter." (Sounds like I am conspiring and up to no good, doesn't it?)

The Inuvik Community Greenhouse is getting ready to open. This past week I registered, checked out my plot, took part in a new member orientation and selected seeds at "Seedy Saturday." My plot might be small, and still frozen solid, but I have big plans!

You might be surprised to read that Inuvik has a community greenhouse and that people are able to grow vegetables, berries and flowers north of the Arctic Circle. I know gardening might not be first on the list of things you associate with the Arctic, but apparently it is a very successful activity.

Why?

2 months of 24-hour sunlight. Things grow!

At the orientation I learned that, squished into mid-May to mid-September, Inuvik has two and a half growing seasons. (Truth be told, I don't really know how a growing season is measured or who calculated this, but it sure sounds like a lot of growing.) Last year, one plotter grew $900 worth of produce!

A group of motivated citizens converted the old hockey arena into the greenhouse in the late 1990s. The main space has been divided into 74 "plots," raised beds measuring approximately 10 feet by 4 feet each. Tools and wheelbarrows are available for members to use, and plotters make their own areas unique by putting up climbing trellises, garden gnomes, scarecrows and other decorations.

Apparently the greenhouse becomes quite a popular gathering place during the growing season. Plotters socialize while working and watering, sit at the picnic benches to have lunch and participate in garden markets where surpluses of vegetables and other goodies are sold. With temperatures climbing above 30'C, it is sure to be a little tropical haven, regardless of what the weather is doing outside!

For more info, check out: http://www.inuvikgreenhouse.com/

Over the next few months, I'll keep you posted as to my little plot's progress. For now, I am looking for tips to make the most of my small growing space. What can you suggest?

Groceries in Inuvik

Arctic Foods

April 22nd, 2012

Sunrise: 6:26 am. Sunset: 11:21 pm.

Temps: -10'C - 0'C.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the food situation when I prepared to move to Inuvik. I wondered, could I find decent vegetables? Would the prices for fruit be through the roof? Would I find the variety of foods I liked to eat? However, after being here for over a month, I am happy to say: "Things aren't that bad, actually!"

There are 3 grocery stores in Inuvik, as well as the local "Fruitman" who travels to Vancouver and back every 3 weeks or so to bring back fresh fruit, veggies, dairy and other goodies. The result is that you can find a good variety of items in town, and prices aren't always as bad as you might expect for Canada's northernmost road-access town.

Bananas: $5.39 per kilo

While I suspect that my grocery bill is on average 25% to 50% more than it would be in Terrace, I have noticed a few tricky things. First, the prices vary widely between stores - as an example, I noticed that a 6-pack of Mott's fruit cups cost $6.99 in one store, $3.99 in another, and $4.59 in the third. However, no store appears cheaper than the others overall, and I think the locals know which stores have the better prices on specific items, so if you put in the effort, you could save quite a bit of money.



Fruit tray with dip: $9.13



Another tricky thing is that price labelling is notoriously awful. At times, things are mislabelled or there are no price tags to be found at all! However, I have heard more than transplanted southerner say that they don't even bother to look at prices anymore - "if you want it, you buy it."

I have noticed some prices that are comparable to those in Terrace, such as for Alpen muesli, eggs, frozen berries, pasta, some condiments. However, for the foods I normally eat, I find the prices on dairy tough to swallow. A 4L jug of milk runs you about $9.00-$10.00, a container of yogurt is likely to be about $6.00, and cheese is around $15 for 750 g. These prices will soon get much higher, when the "road is out" for about a month in May. Other things are absolutely ridiculous even now, like the beverages pictured below:

(Over $7.00 for 1.36L of SunRype fruit juice, and $9.65 for a litre of Rice Dream)

 

In a few months, I should be able to report on my average monthly food bill, but with care and planning, I hope it won't be too bad.  I say that now though, as a newbie in town, who is not yet used to the food prices and is not yet feeling deprived of anything. I wonder if I too will eventually stop looking at food prices and just buy whatever? (Somehow with my thrifty phenotype, I doubt it!) 

Snow, ice and light

Yesterday marked 4 weeks since I arrived in Inuvik. Already so much has changed! The sun rises before 7 am and sets just before 11 pm. It has warmed up dramatically, with temperatures now hovering around 0'C.

On Saturday, I went for a snowshoe with Genevieve, another freshly imported allied health professional, a physiotherapist from Quebec. We went across the ice road to one of  the innumerable lakes around town, apply named, "Big Lake." You could go forever! We made good progress on the wind-pressed snow on the lake, but attempts at snowshoeing near the trees were foiled by the dry, dry snow - even with snowshoes I sunk in up to my knees! Coming from a coastal snowpack, I thought this weird, but the snow that falls here stays dry and accumulates throughout the cold winter. That same cold is what allows the ice roads to exist.

Because of the cold, we also have permafrost, the deeper layers of soil that stay frozen all year round. This has presented a challenge in the buildings of structures in Inuvik, as the heat from the buildings risks melting the ice beneath it and compromising the integrity of the construction. The result is that everything is built on pilings driven deep into the ground in the permafrost layer, and buildings sit off the ground to allow cool air to flow beneath them. Here is a particularly dramatic example of an apartment building near my own:

Obviously people have adapted well to the challenges of northern living. Of note, I think that there must be as many snowmobiles as regular vehicles in this town, and with the longer, warmer days, this is the mode of transportation of choice that allows you to explore in any direction that you desire. Soon things will start melting in earnest, the town will become quite soggy, the ice roads to Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik will close, and the ice bridges over the Mackenzie and Peel Rivers will soon be impassable. The Dempster highway will be closed for about a month in May and we too will (temporarily) be a Northern, fly-in community. But for now, it's a wonderful time to be in Inuvik!

The little town of Inuvik

It wasn't like I was looking for a job in the Arctic. It just sort of ... happened. And thanks to some creative juggling and a supportive husband, here I am in little Inuvik.

(Google maps, 2012)

Inuvik's not big, but it's little, and that's sort of nice. With only about 3500 people, it does have a lot to offer, and I am thrilled that the hospital, the rec center, the cross-country ski club, the grocery stores and the greenhouse are all within a 5 - 10 minute walk from my apartment building. If you prefer, you could take a taxi - it's a flat rate of $5.00 anywhere in town. Or you could hitch a ride on a passing snowmobile - even young kids are driving those things around town.

(My apartment building)

(Map of Inuvik, showing my apartment in pink, and points of interest to me in yellow. Adapted from http://inuvik.ca/wp-content/gallery/maps/map-of-inuvik.jpg)

It's only early April but the days are long already, with sunrise before 8 am and sunset around 10 pm. That said, the days seem even longer than that, given that the light lingers longer in this flat land. Coming from the South, the combination of abundant daylight and cold temperatures seems strange to me. While it's been as cold as minus 33'C since I've been here, today's temperature of 0 'C is thrilling, and I'm happy to take my solar-powered energy outside!

(Muskrat Jamboree activities on the East arm of the Mackenzie River)

With an inaugural skate ski around the local cross-country ski trails, I enjoyed an extended period of time outside today. Prior to this weekend, I've been skuttling from one overheated indoor space to another. That said, there's lots of indoor fun: there is a 24-hour fitness center (finally! I can scratch that 3:00 am fitness itch!), several yoga classes, and regular dinner parties. I also look forward to playing squash, getting my hands dirty in the community greenhouse, joining one of the local ladies' bookclubs, and taking part in more community events. The Muskrat Jamboree last weekend involved a big community feast at the rec center, lots of funny games, drum dancing and jigging, TV bingo, and many raffles. The highlight for me was the two and a half year old boy from Tuktoyuktuk who was drum dancing. ADORABLE!!

(aww... this little toddler stole the show. He would go shake people's hands after his dances, too.)

Stay tuned for more Arctic fun! I'm aiming to post about once per week or so.

A visit to Ulukhaktok

"Say that again?"

"U-lu-khak-tok."

Less than 72 hours after I first landed in Inuvik, NWT, I'm on Aklak Air's Beechcraft King Air 100 on route to Ulukhaktok, also known as "Holman," a small Inuvialuit community on the West coast of Victoria Island. This is  part of my orientation with outgoing dietitian Diana Trang, who has been in the position 2 years. While this is first of many trips I will make in my year in the NWT, it is also likely the last of the season, as travel to communities is best done in the winter months. Warmer weather means that locals are "out on the land" and communities serviced by ice roads, such as Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik, only become accessible by air or water. Today, we step off the plane to find the air calm and the skies sunny. "Oh, it's warm," says Diana, basking in the sunshine as we trudge from the plane to the tiny airport building. It's spring equinox and it's -20 degrees Celcius - I guess I have some aclimatizing to do.

We can't believe our luck. There's a group from Ottawa in town tonight, and the community is having a big feast at the school gymnasium. After a bit of work and a quick walk around the community, Diana and I join in. There's lots of food on two long rows of tables, running the length of the room, and people are already digging in. Oh - a treat - frozen rheindeer meat. (Rudolph doesn't taste too bad - it's sort of like sushi.) After we've grubbed up, it's time for some games. We see some young men demonstrate the Alaska high kick, the knuckle hop (ouch!) and the musk-ox wrestle. We also see demonstrations of print making, seal skin mitt sewing, and fish filtetting using the "ulu," the local women's cooper knife after which the community is named. Next, the locals display the beautiful crafts they've selling: mukluks, mitts, and prints, and it's a frenzy - the Ottawaiians are having a hayday. Finally, we are treated to "drum dancing" and "jigging," two regional specialties. What a night!

We spend a few days in Ulukhaktok, and I get a feel for the two small grocery stores in town: a "Northmart" and a "Co-op." Of course things aren't cheap, but thanks to "Nutrition North," a federal program that subsizes the cost of healthy foods in fly-in communities, some food costs are not as high as I would expect. In fact, a bottle of olive oil is cheaper here than in Inuvik. Other things, like accommodation and transportation, however, are very expensive. A night at the 8-room hotel will cost you $225 per person for a shared room. Yowza! The five minute taxi ride to the airport? $15 per person, one way. These are just a few of the little things I am noting, and I am quickly realizing that visiting these Arctic communities as a tourist would be an expensive proposition indeed. Life's not cheap up here.

We walk up a hill south of the community to take in a view of the frozen Beaufort Sea and the community, and while the light lingers long into the evening already, we don't stay out too long for the cold. We walk back to the hotel, pass a team of dogs chained on the ice, and hear the snowmobiles cruising through the hamlet. Our room is too hot again - that seems to be the norm around here - too cold outside, too hot inside. We wake up dehydrated and enjoy our last few sunny hours in Ulukhaktok. Familys in colourful parkas and seal skin mukluks cruise by on their snowmobiles as they pick-up their kids at lunchtime, and we are off to the airport. Bye-bye Ulukhaktok - thanks for the warm welcome!

I inadvertently chose a seat on the plane right next to a heater. I sweat the entire 2-hours back to Inuvik.