New Stuyahok, AK Builds Their Own Growing Dome Greenhouse

A Step in the Green Direction…

The townspeople of New Stuyahok, Alaska “New Stu or Stu” as the red headed Casey in Dillingham called it, made the first step in what hopes to be a healthy, long journey of green. The road to this day has stretched adult’s imagination to that of a child’s and the bureaucracy of our times challenged the most steadfast of personality types. But one thing about life, change has a way of showing up. And show up it did!

On June 1st, 2010, myself and Janet Miller, my wife and Growing Dome guru, arrived in New Stu to help the town erect a 33′ diameter Growing Dome Greenhouse near the newly completed ” Chief ” Ivan Blunka school in Alaska. The site, a knoll above and at the edge of this Yupik village of 500 folks with backgrounds from “Charlie-man”, a Samoan to descendants of traditional Alaskan residents, is a great place to start a journey.

The opportunity to grow organic, fresh, local greens, root crops, herbs, fruits and flowers is an adventure many communities are taking in becoming close to their food source and aware of what it takes to sustain us.

No, a 33′ diameter Growing Dome will not feed the entire community, but it can provide an educational tool for teaching organic gardening, a place for community seedlings ahead of the outside planting curve to flourish until time to plant outside, and a center for “inter-generational” time.

The community garden is a place, like the Nushagak River in town, where old and new hands work together to help feed, educate and inspire.