(rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti and Josh Hall

come grow with us

Passive solar greenhouse to open at Normandeau School

Oct 1, 2022 | 12:40 PM

A brand new $200,000 passive solar greenhouse is set to go up at Normandeau School in north Red Deer.

Part of the Come Grow With Us project, the greenhouse will utilize the latest in building technologies and is part of a growing change to how Alberta’s greenhouse industry works.

Funding comes from a number of corporate sponsors.

“There are so many ways the curriculum connects to what this greenhouse can do, even financial literacy. Our hope is we can grow succulents right away because plants are more hardy, and we can sell those at markets,” says Lindsay Henley, the teacher at Normandeau who spearheaded this project.

“”We won’t know what it can really do until it gets warmer next spring, but we’ll be in there this winter. We also want to open it up to the community, which is why the partnership with ReThink Red Deer is so important. We need to figure out who’ll tend it in the evenings and on weekends. Maybe we can welcome in newcomers to assist with it.”

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Henley says the goal is to make it a place students can learn in year-round.

“We want them take pride and ownership in learning within a new environment,” she says. “To start, we’re going to do data collection, with seeing how plants do inside the greenhouse compared to outside. The kids are extremely excited and they know we’re fortunate to have this here. They’ll also of course learn about where their food comes from.”

Henley has been mimicking a greenhouse scenario on a smaller scale within the classroom with grow lights and plants.

The greenhouse is expected to be fully operational as of this November.