The askîy project

The purpose of The askîy project is to demonstrate urban agriculture by educating and empowering the Saskatoon community with the knowledge and skills needed to create a self-sustainable food economy. Urban agriculture is the practice of growing, maintaining, and distributing healthy food products within city limits. The possibilities of urban agriculture are endless as more creative minds band together to reach this common goal! The Initiative

Each summer, we hire interns to join our coordinator in learning and building community through growing good food. The askîy project (pronounced uh-SKI), which in Cree means “Earth,” is an initiative of CHEP Good Food Inc. Since 2015, our project has showcased innovative urban agriculture in Saskatoon. Our current growing sites are kiscikânis (garden in Cree) which is a brownfield vacant lot site on the corner 19th Street and Ave L S. kiscikânis uses only containers to grow as the ground soil is contaminated by the former use of the site as an industrial fuel storage centre. In 2021, we added an additional site in Victoria Park at 720 Ave H. This is a large in ground garden which is called ketayak community kistikana (Elders' Community Garden in Northern Michif). We have partnered with CUMFI (Central Urban Metis Federation Inc.) at this site to help grow vegetables for their programs and Elders. Much of our produce goes directly into CHEP's food security programming, such as the Good Food Box and Community Markets. We make partnerships to sell to local restaurants, which generates income through our social enterprise model. Donations to other community organizations are also one of the ways we help support our community.