A growing business: Yukon retiree's northern greenhouses a hot seller
'Being able to grow your own food is really important for us,' says Bob Sharp
On a brisk, -38 C day on the Cowley Lake Road outside Whitehorse, Bob Sharp is already thinking of the upcoming growing season.
"January, February is the time to start thinking what kind of plants do I want to have," he said, warming up inside his workshop.
He's also thinking about his fledgling greenhouse business, and what's in store for the second year of production.
"Now's the time to start thinking about this — for us anyhow, to have this stuff done ahead of time."
After refining a prototype, Sharp and his son started building greenhouse kits this year, for sale. They're specially designed for a cold climate, and they ended up being a hot seller.
"We had anticipated we might sell a dozen of them, we ended up selling 40," Sharp said.
He figures it takes about six hours to make the parts for one unit, and he says a standard eight-by-eight greenhouse, with assembly, costs around $3,000.
Sharp, who's in his mid-70s, says despite the demand for units, he tries to pace himself.
"A working day has got to be less than six hours. I don't want to kill myself. I want to go at a more reasonable rate."
So what drives him?
'I've got a fire in my belly'
Sharp is the kind of person who always has numerous projects going. He retired from Yukon's department of education just last year, and says the greenhouse work is close to his heart.
"I've got a fire in my belly, you know. I really like this sort of stuff," he said, but added that he's guided by a "bigger principle."
"Being able to grow your own food is really important for us, I think, so that's always driven me."
Sharp's greenhouses features a south-facing glaze surface and a double wall that holds heat. It also includes a heat sink system that stores daytime warmth so that it can be re-emitted at night — essential for prolonging the northern growing season.
"At the very start of the season [in April], my soil is 12 degrees Celsius," he said.
Requests from all over
Word of his design sparked interest across the North and beyond, but he figures it's not feasible to transport a greenhouse long distance.
"We had requests from Iqaluit, 'can you send us a greenhouse over?' And we had requests from Yellowknife, and we had emails, all across the country. Basically any place that gets cold."
He says he's suggested sending his plans to interested growers, so they could build their own greenhouses.
"I mean, this is not rocket science. What's really unique is the way I put this whole thing together, but really, the notion of storing heat and warming soil ahead of time are pretty understood principles."
His greenhouses are found throughout Yukon, including at several First Nations and a number of schools.
The 2017 growing season is still a few months away, and Sharp says he already has a dozen greenhouse kits ready to be assembled.
