Wayne Gienow paddled a canoe across his farmland April 27, looking for an empty fuel tank that had floated away in the flood water.
“It’s stuck in the trees,” he said by cellphone after he reached dry land.
The operator of Lincoln Gardens in the Qu’Appelle River Valley between Lumsden and Craven, Sask., said the water was over his head in some places.
“I’ve seen it like this when I was a kid,” he said. “It was a lot of fun back then.”
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However, it’s not so much fun now that he operates a market garden.
About 90 acres of his prime vegetable- growing land is under water, as is the strawberry crop.
Water overflowed dikes set up around Gienow’s yard site and flooded the office. Secondary dikes couldn’t be built fast enough to stop the flow.
It will be at least another week or two before the water disappears and the land dries up enough to get on it, Gienow said.
However, that will be only to clean it up, not to plant it.
“It’s a write-off for this year,” he said.
Fortunately, he had secured land a little further up the valley when he heard about the flood predictions. He also has land west of Lumsden that doesn’t flood.
He has to move all his irrigation equipment, once he can reach it, but at least he will plant his vegetables and customers will be able to buy produce later this summer.
“Everything’s under control,” Gie- now said.
Or at least as much as the uncontrollable weather allows.
Betty-Lou Anticknap at Frontier Gardens answers the phone with a cheery “howdy-doo” and follows up with an optimistic assessment of the situation.
The water will go down, the vegetables will be sown and grow, and customers will be satisfied. But there is one caveat.
“Everything is going to be late,” she said.
Shawn Hansen, who runs a commercial potato operation in the valley, said 400 acres of his land is under water.
Ninety acres were supposed to be potatoes and the rest Canadian Prairie Spring wheat.
Hansen has land elsewhere and also contracted with other growers to ensure enough potato production for the year.
“It’s not as devastating as it could be,” he said of the worst flooding to hit the valley since 1974.
He hopes he can plant wheat once the water runs off and turn it back under as a sort of green manure.
All the land under water will require repair from erosion, ruts and ridges.
“The biggest setback to flooding in the valley here is it packs the soil,” Hansen said. “It makes it so hard it takes all the oxygen out of it.”
The water presents other challenges.
Hansen’s operation is along Russell Hill Road, a grid that connects Craven with Highway 6 on the other side of the valley to the east. The road is built low in the valley and is also flooded.
“A big challenge for us is getting trucks in and out of here,” he said.
Easter is like Christmas in terms of the potato business, he added.
Saskatchewan Watershed Authority said last week the worst was over in terms of water flow, but the return to normal is expected to be long and slow.
Large numbers of acres are under water near rivers and creeks throughout southern Saskatchewan.
