Partners hope to create convivial space

urban agriculture Follow the progress of Convivium Urban Farmstead (the former Hopper's Greenhouse, 2813 Jackson St.), launched by Leslie Shalabi and Mike Muench, of Dubuque, on Facebook.Two Dubuque entrepreneurs, Leslie Shalabi and Mike Muench, plan to inject new life into an almost century-old greenhouse complex in the city's North End.

Called Convivium Urban Farmstead, the complex consists of two long greenhouses covering a little more than 11,000 square feet, currently in need of a lot of work, and 2,600 square feet of enclosed area. Shalabi and Muench plan to offer a variety of opportunities that focus on gardening, local foods, urban agriculture, using food as a community builder and engaging the community in sustainable practices.

Muench said the timeline for the project's completion still is two to three years.

Shalabi notes convivium is the Latin word for banquet. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines convivial as "enjoying companionship and the pleasures of feasting and drinking."

The plan is to divide the greenhouse into four quadrants, each with a different purpose: events, an indoor orchard and educational and production spaces.

"We want to create a welcoming, cool place to be," Shalabi, marketing director at Platinum Supplemental Insurance, said of the event area that could include farm-to-table dinners and music.

She emphasizes the event space will not be open commercially.

"We are not in the restaurant business," she said.

The vision for the orchard includes avocado, mango and olive plants, for example.

"Something you won't see anywhere else," Muench said.

Community outreach will be the primary focus of the educational space, including teaching children how to grow their own food and sustainable organic gardening, according to Shalabi. Plans for the production space include hydroponics (a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil), possibly aquaponics (raising aquatic animals in tanks for food) and vegetable plant starts from seeds. Composting will be emphasized.

There's an outdoor lot that could be converted into a garden. Inside, a kitchen could be used for educational cooking classes.

"It's nice to grow, prepare, cook and eat food all in one place," Shalabi said.

The overall possibilities are endless, all community-connected.

"Exposing people in the city to things they might not normally be exposed to," said Muench, who has been with Platinum since 1996.

The partners' inspiration is Will Allen, director of Growing Power, an urban farming project in Milwaukee. They hope to be able to demonstrate his concepts in Dubuque.

"Our passion is connecting the community through food, doing things you normally might not do," Shalabi said, "having an urban orchard and a network of everyone in the backyard."

Shalabi explained she's always had a passion for cooking, especially cooking for others.

"Somewhere deep down, I have always had a desire to produce food," she said. "My mother likes to tell a funny story about when I was little and she asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her that I wanted to live in a yellow house and sell vegetables."