After four months of carefully tending to an assortment of vegetables in Moose Jaw’s community garden, the Wakamow Valley Authority and its partners will soon harvest the bounty that has been growing.
The fifth annual Mosaic Community Food Farm Harvest takes place on Friday, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The garden is located off First Avenue Southeast.
The vegetables at the food farm are ripe for harvest and will be distributed to the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank, Hunger in Moose Jaw, Souls Harbour Rescue Mission (Riverside Mission) and the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council. These groups are dedicated to ensuring the community’s less fortunate have food security in their lives.
Anyone associated with those organizations — or anyone who simply to volunteer — is encouraged to help for an hour. You should bring water, gloves, a spade, a hat, work boots and bug spray.
The main garden is about 0.4 hectares (one acre) in size, while there are orchards on the north and south ends of the property that total one acre. Last year organizers harvested more than 1,700 pounds of produce.
Todd Johnson, general manager of the Wakamow Valley Authority (WVA), thought it was interesting to watch the garden grow especially since this was his first year participating in the project. He pointed out the garden is large, so it’s a balancing act to take care of it and ensure the vegetables receive just enough water to grow.
“I think it’s excellent and I can’t wait to see people’s faces … ,” he said, especially those people who have never grown anything before. “For them to see the top of the carrot and pull it out and say, ‘Oh, this is where carrots come from,’ it’s pretty exciting.
“I’m looking forward to getting out there and just being with the community and seeing how much we grew this year.”
The Wakamow Valley Authority and its partners have been slowly harvesting during the last four months since some of the vegetables were planted at different times. Some of this produce has then been given to those organizations throughout the spring and summer.
Although small amounts of produce have been plucked during the last 16 weeks, the upcoming community garden event will be the biggest harvest of the season, Johnson said. From there, the organizations will distribute the food to their clients and residents in need.
“It should be a real exciting day,” he added.
For more information call 306-692-2717.
