Traditional Territories of the Stellat’en First Nation and Nadleh Whut’en (Fraser Lake).
This initiative is led by School District 91 and the Fraser Lake Elementary and Secondary School. The FLESS school-community farm provides the essential space, environment, and infrastructure for local food production, food education, and intergenerational knowledge sharing in Fraser Lake. It serves as a space to enhance food security and food sovereignty within the school community, expand training and employment opportunities for students and community members, and advance food systems in the North.
The farm has established a one-acre school-community site with a nursery, in-ground food plots, a year-round 100-foot geothermal greenhouse, raised garden beds, Indigenous gardens, and an orchard. It also features professional-grade equipment and tools for growing, harvesting, and cleaning food, which are available for use by the school, students, and community. The farm is integrated into FLESS education as an outdoor classroom, incorporating curriculum elements and credit-bearing courses for high school students.
Summer students will be employed to work alongside the farm manager and gain hands-on training in farming. Food produced on the farm supplies FLESS meal programs, with surplus produce distributed to regional schools and the community, while community garden plots serve local residents and food service organizations.
You can read more about the FLESS Farm and view the Farm layout map here.
Story of Impact
The story below was shared by this initiative as their Most Significant Transformation Story, submitted as part of their final report. It reflects the perspectives and experiences of individuals involved in each initiative.
The Fraser Lake Elementary and Secondary School (FLESS) Farm and community garden is situated on the lands of the Nadleh Whut’en and Stellat’en First Nations and serves as a gathering ground for community, where the act of nurturing soil and cultivating food transforms a school field into a vibrant hub of collective action. FLESS Farm is not just growing produce; it is actively nurturing the long-term food sovereignty and security of the community. At its core, the Farm facilitates intergenerational knowledge transfer, where Elders, educators, and youth share space for meaningful exchange and transformation.
By growing a diverse ecosystem, from seed starting to the final harvest, students engage in hands-on learning that weaves math, science, and art into the fabric of culture, the local economy, and community collaboration. Students participate in setting up gardens, planting and seeding, caring for plants, soil, and farm ecosystems, studying and monitoring, harvesting, cooking and eating, and building farm structures in the FLESS woodshop.
The addition of the year-round geothermal greenhouse further allows the school and community to extend seasonal limitations in growing and learning, while helping to insulate them from the interrupted access to fresh foods that winter conditions and transportation disruptions can create.
The year-round greenhouse also provides a climate to experiment with and expand plant and tree diversity for abundance in the summer and fresh greens and cold-hardy crops during the snowy winter months. The greenhouse will sustain fruit trees and bushes, including figs, bananas, and other warm-climate varieties that the students and community members are excited to grow.
The Farm is valued as a seed of inspiration to other schools and communities within School District 91 and across the North to envision the opportunity of a school-community farm model as an investment in food literacy, food security, food sovereignty, future economic opportunities, and community culture.
Project Poster
All posters are downloadable in print format. Original posters were designed at 3ft by 4ft; as such, we advise you to print at a similar ratio to ensure text and images are as accessible as possible.
Fraser Lake Elementary and Secondary School Farm: The FLESS Farm will establish a year-round 100’ greenhouse, over an acre of in-ground food…
Interactive Map
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