ST. ALBERT, Alta. – It is Laural Iseke’s last week of gardening. This weekend she’ll dig the rest of her vegetables, pick the last corn and strawberries and spend the day pulling vines and heaping the garden into a giant compost pile.
For Iseke, it is a satisfying end to a long gardening season, but it’s not a solitary experience. A dozen other families who joined Iseke’s Community-Shared Agriculture project will drive to the family farm for the final harvest and cleanup. With a garden full of vegetables, the project members will take them home for free in exchange for cleaning the garden.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
It’s the third year of Laural and Emile Iseke’s community agriculture project on their E.L.K.S. Berry and Vegetable farm north of St. Albert, and it keeps getting bigger.
Three years ago, only three families paid the $250 fee for an overflowing tub of fresh vegetables each week for almost four months. This year there were a dozen families and next year more than 30 families are signed up for vegetables from the co-operative-style garden.
Community-shared agriculture isn’t a new concept, but it doesn’t seem to be an idea people easily understand and adopt until they see their neighbors bringing home overflowing baskets of vegetables each week.
“We tried advertising the first couple years, but it didn’t seem to come across,” said Iseke. “As soon as they see the baskets, that changes.”
Advertisement is through word of mouth and on the bulletin board in the Round River General Store, an internet site set up as a virtual co-op store. The general store showcases Alberta-made producers who use environmentally sustainable resource practices.
At the request of her customers, Iseke added a U-pick berry farm, which attracted customers to the shared agriculture project.
Along with the membership fee, each family volunteers a couple of hours of their time to help weed, plant or harvest to ease the workload and make them feel connected to the garden.
“A lot of people are very busy. They don’t have time to maintain a garden, but they do like to give two or three hours of their time to play in the garden,” Iseke said.
Heather Hemphill of St. Albert has been with the project since the beginning. She had a small, shady backyard plot at home that didn’t grow great vegetables. Now her two refrigerators are overflowing with vegetables from her weekly produce baskets.
“I really love fresh vegetables,” she said, adding it was important the garden is organic. One romaine lettuce from E.L.K.S. is the size of three from the grocery store, she said.
“It’s a little intimidating to get as many vegetables as we get.”
On the flip side, the family of five eats more vegetables than they did before. Hemphill gives away some and still has plenty left over to dehydrate or freeze for the winter.
“My friends love it.”
Hemphill gives her friends the turnips and the beet roots that she doesn’t like. Still, there are more than 25 other kinds of vegetables to choose from throughout the season.
Angela Croutze, of St. Albert, said the project has been a good experience for her children. They still talk about the time they sunk into the deep, rich black soil while helping to weed. And they have acquired a taste for the fresh vegetables.
“I wished it went on all year round. I’m disappointed to go back to the store,” said Croutze.
It’s that kind of response that keeps Iseke happy.
“I can see this growing. People are positive. It makes me feel good.”
Even Iseke’s two daughters, Kathy, 18, and Sandy, 16, pitch in to help weed and pick berries and vegetables.
“It’s wonderful for the girls. They hear all sorts of positive comments and that usually keeps them going,” Iseke said.
“The kids have been phenomenal. I’ve been pleased with their service because weeding is not a positive job for a lot of children.”
The garden is a sideline for Emile and Laurel’s off-farm jobs. Emile works for a trucking company and Laural is a teacher’s aide at Sturgeon Heights Composite High School in nearby Namao. In a few more years Laural hopes the garden will be large enough to replace her job.
The couple bought the farm from Emile’s uncle 11 years ago. Emile’s grandfather, Henry, homesteaded the farm in 1894. When the opportunity arose to buy 80 acres of the family farm, they were ready to make the move.
“My husband always wanted to get back to the farm.”
Emile spends weekends and evenings cultivating and doing the larger machinery work. They rent the rest of the farm.
It was Emile’s enthusiasm that got the couple involved in the project. He had heard a speaker talk about community-shared agriculture and thought it a good idea.
In their third year, they still think it’s a good project. With a goal of 40 to 50 families to bring in more than $12,000, it could be a way of staying on the farm.
“It could be my income,” she said.
