Cultivate Cochrane is seeking new volunteers and board members

Cultivate Cochrane is a local non-profit organization that specializes in educating people about food sustainability, and is currently seeking out new volunteers and board members.

"There's lots more that we would like to do. But we really need volunteers,” Volunteer coordinator Blanche Chymycz said.

Their organization was originally started in 2019 by a group of people in Cochrane who had a vision for teaching people to grow their own food, and showing them the importance of food sustainability.

According to Chymycz, Cultivate Cochrane’s mission to educate people originally sprung from the Calgary area's unique climate and land conditions, which often causes many food growing challenges.

“In this climate, it is particularly difficult, being next to the Rockies and then with the constant Chinooks,” said Chymycz, “Then it's not just the temperature and the warming and cold trends, but it’s also the soil.”

These difficult conditions are what led the passionate founders of Cultivate Cochrane to create the group, and after extensive learning and research, they started pushing to grow bigger.

After getting their initial grant, Cultivate Cochrane was then able to build their ‘solar roller,' an educational solar greenhouse on wheels. Since then, the solar roller has been used as their primary tool to teach people about food sustainability and growing food. 

“So we can move it around to all these different events and wherever we're offering education,” said Chymycz, “We attend all sorts of events to put ourselves out there and continue to build momentum and excitement, and use it to teach people.” 

This is why Cultivate Cochrane is looking to recruit new members, so that they can take their unique solar roller greenhouse to more local events, and continue educating more people about food sustainability.

Volunteers would be the ones who go to events with the solar roller and educate people about growing food and sustainability, helping Cultivate Cochrane attend more events and reach more people. Or, they can also become board members who help out wit the logistics side of things.

“So we will work with peoples schedules and what their interests are,” said Chymycz, “Our ultimate goal is to build a permanent large scale greenhouse somewhere in Cochrane and then not only have a greenhouse but also have workshop space, and community space.”

If you or anyone you know in Cochrane has an interest in science, growing food, sustainable farming, or solar energy, volunteering for Cultivate Cochrane would be a great option for furthering your passion.

Due to the non-profit nature of the organization, Cultivate Cochrane relies on the help of inspired volunteers in order to continue teaching people how to grow and harvest food sustainably. If you are interested, check out cultivatecochrane.com to learn more or join their mission today.