A large group of North Slave youth spent some sunny days learning lessons about gardening this week as the Youth Gardening Camp ran in Yellowknife August 9-11. 

The camp was held at he Yellowknife Community Garden Site #1, where there are more than 100 gardens at full production and a public area with Raspberries and Saskatoon Berries. 

The camp is designed to give children, youth and their leaders and hands-on educational and fun experience, where they can learn about where food comes from, and taste fresh, locally grown vegetables and berries. 

More than 150 youth from Yellowknife, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and Behchokǫ̀ took part alongside leaders as they learned about topics like composting, plant identification, taste testing, bees, and berries.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) coordinated and funded the workshop alongside their partners at the Yellowknife Community Garden Collective and Ecology North. 

Investment by ITI came as part of its mandate to support local food production and small-scale agriculture as laid out in the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly.