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Community gardening is a popular Canadian pastime, but only the Iqaluit Community Greenhouse Society can stake a claim as the most northern society-driven greenhouse above the treeline.

The greenhouse was built in 2007 with partial funding from the government of Nunavut. Constructed of polycarbonate over a steel frame, the greenhouse covers about 90 square metres. From June to September, society members grow and harvest lettuce, spinach, kale, beans, peas, radishes, carrots, cherry tomatoes, peppers and herbs.

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“We rely exclusively on solar heat,” says society treasurer Suzanne Etheridge, who moved to Iqaluit from Ontario in 2010. “We also employ passive heating techniques, by filling large garbage cans with water. They heat up during the day and moderate cooler temperatures overnight.”

The greenhouse initially operated with members assigned to specific tasks and crops, but recently switched to a community-oriented approach. The society’s 30 members and volunteers now share work and harvests equally. This year’s harvest has been particularly successful and the society carefully records each detail of its operation to help replicate success in Iqaluit, or in other greenhouses across the territory.