Imagine a year-round greenhouse

Do you dream of having your own year-round greenhouse? Imagine walking into a warm greenhouse in the cold month of February to harvest fresh vegetables.

NewRoots Construction and Landscaping is turning that dream into a reality. The Saskatoon-based company specializes in three- and four-season geodesic grow dome greenhouses. The spherical structures are built from triangular, triple-wall polycarbonate panels and utilize passive solar heating systems.

Owners Garret Fisher and Oxana Ossiptchouk ship their greenhouse kits across Canada. (They also have an installation crew, but exclusively for customers who live in Saskatchewan.)

Demand for the grow domes is high, Fisher says, especially in the past two years. “We design and manufacture the grow dome greenhouses and make the kits right in our shop. Now we are building another bigger shop because the manufacturing side is getting quite large.”

Fisher and Ossiptchouk believe that year-round greenhouses are not only a viable solution for homeowners who want to grow food year-round, but are also the future of agriculture in Canada.

“It’s exactly what we need,” Fisher says.

“A year-round greenhouse could have a significant impact for remote communities, where it’s not easy to obtain fresh produce year-round such as lettuce, corn or fresh herbs,” Ossiptchouk says.

Partners in business and life, Fisher and Ossiptchouk have a geodesic dome greenhouse in their backyard, where they grow strawberries, banana plants, and tomatoes year-round.

“Inside the greenhouse in the coldest part of the winter, the temperature is between 20 and 23 degrees Celsius, even when it’s minus 45 outside,” Fisher says. “It’s a backyard escape.”

The geodesic dome kits come in a range of sizes and prices. The 12-foot and 15-foot models cost between $5,000 to $10,000 for the kits.

“We designed the 12-foot greenhouse so that it’s less than 100 square feet,” says Fisher. “Most cities in Canada don’t require a building permit for a structure that is less than 100 square feet.”

The City of Winnipeg, for example, does not require a building permit for a detached structure that is less than 10 square metres (about 108 square feet).

Larger sizes — up to 800 square feet — are also available. Features such as solar forced-air intakes, stack stone ponds, ground-to-air heating and cooling systems, and double-door airlocks are extras.

While homeowners and homesteaders are the most common customers for NewRoots’ geodesic domes, schools are also showing interest.

When students at Clavet Composite School return to classes next month, they will have access to a newly built spacious geodesic grow dome greenhouse from NewRoots Construction. Located southeast of Saskatoon, Clavet School is part of Prairie Spirit School Division. The student body consists of about 750 students from pre-kindergarten to Grade 12.

The year-round greenhouse is a dream come to fruition for Brian Matisz, principal of Clavet School.

“We’re a bedroom community just outside Saskatoon. Only about 80 of our students come from the village of Clavet. The rest are from acreages surrounding Saskatoon. Our school is a centre for a lot of things,” Matisz says.

“We’ve got a pretty active food program at our school, and all our kids have access to busing. When they get on the bus, they’re not hungry but by the time they get to school, now they’re hungry.”

Matisz and his staff began looking at ways to grow food for their breakfast program rather than relying solely on donations. Clavet School also has a lunch program and runs the fall supper for the community.

“Typically, the fall supper serves about 500 people, so we began looking at how we could produce some of the food that we need for our fall supper and our food programs. That was some of the impetus behind the whole greenhouse idea,” Matisz says.

Matisz worked on a greenhouse proposal for about 10 years. Initial drawings were created by an architectural firm and sponsors were sought.

“But then Nutrien stepped up and said this is a fantastic idea and wrote a cheque for the project,” he says. Saskatchewan-based Nutrien Ltd. is the world’s largest potash producer.

“There’s a potash mine about 15 kilometres north of Clavet School and another one about 20 km to the east of us, so it’s within our catchment area, with a lot of connections. But then COVID happened and the project was delayed. By the time COVID ended, the cost of building the design we originally planned became too expensive.

“We paired up with NewRoots and Nutrien paid for the greenhouse,” Matisz says. “It opened in January and we started growing food in February — carrots, peas, radishes. This kind of innovation, entrepreneurship and self-reliance is what we were looking at for our students. It’s a great opportunity but also a very soothing space.”

The greenhouse project at Clavet School means a great deal to Ossiptchouk, who was educated in Russia. A teacher at heart, she is an accomplished violinist who has taught violin at the University of Regina Conservatory of Music and at the University of Saskatchewan. Ossiptchouk works closely with Fisher in running NewRoots but is also the principal second violinist of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and founder and director of the Saskatoon Conservatory of Music.

The school’s greenhouse includes an indoor pond. There are raised beds on the outside of the greenhouse as well as a garden plot and fruit trees.

“Our next goal is to add beehives. A solar system is also being installed,” Matisz says.

This fall, Kate Heincke, who teaches special education at Clavet School, plans to start a gardening club.

“Students will be able to be active participants in growing food for our school breakfast program,” Heincke says. “We’ll make carrot muffins from the carrots we are growing. We also have a banana tree and a pineapple plant. Next year we hope to grow potatoes.”

Heincke does not have her own garden.

“A lot of my students have farming knowledge so they’re actually teaching me a lot,” she says. “They’re excited to share their knowledge with others. It’s great to have the greenhouse so accessible and to see how they are flourishing in this new environment.”

Students were encouraged to research vermicomposting.

“We put their knowledge directly into action so that they have hands-on skills,” Heincke says. “They are able to get outdoors, get their hands dirty and see the literal fruits of their labour.”

Parent volunteers have been assisting this summer by monitoring the automated watering system and checking to see if any of the crops in the greenhouse are ready for harvest.

“It can get quite warm in the greenhouse on days when outdoor temperatures are 30 degrees or more,” Fisher says “So, you need to plan accordingly for the types of plants you are growing in the summer. But the passive heating system is one of the benefits of a geodesic dome greenhouse — its efficient and cost-effective in our cold climate.”

Another benefit, Fisher says, is the inherently strong shape of a geodesic dome. “For snow-loading and wind, you can’t beat it. And the triangles are at the optimal angle to collect solar energy.”

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