Mmm.....delicious!

August has been a flurry of gardening, collecting, cooking, and EATING. Looking at some of the photos from the spring, it's hard to imagine how it could ever have looked so bare! It's hard to know what to do with all the produce sometimes...the expression "feast or famine" must have originated from a farmer. The youth team has been busy picking black currants, red currants, and cherries to make preserves. The first attempts at making jam were somewhat mixed, but oh so tasty! A good friend of ours told us to label the jam that hasn't jelled "compote" and pretend that we have taste in fine french cuisine.

I am really going to miss working here. It has been wonderful to watch the youth team develop confidence as gardeners, and to see how passionate and caring they are about their community. I have had so much fun dropping by the Garden Challenge participants to check on their plants, answer questions, and talk about the summer. How are the tomatoes doing? Did you figure out what's eating your cauliflower? What do you do with so much zuchini?

I am moving on to new adventures, most likely involving gardens somehow. I can't wait to visit during the next growing season!

Sparks of Curiosity

Summer is flying by so quickly it's overwhelming to reflect on all of the incredible things that the youth team (aka Garden Support Squad) has been doing. Our demonstration garden has undergone a such a transformation. In the last few weeks it seems like everything has been bursting with new growth. If you can get past the dirt and withstand the mosquitoes, gardening opens the door to a world of tranquility, curiosity, and fulfillment. It is such a rich learning experience to watch a plant develop from a tiny seed into something as huge as a pumpkin or as complex as a broccoli. The highlight for me so far has been watching the participants, their kids, and the youth team develop a sense of curiosity in how our food grows. Some plants grow effortlessly, like kale, lettuce, and potatoes. While others threaten to wilt if you look at them sideways. We're so used to seeing our food come in uniform shapes, and our tastebuds are used to the same flavours. Gardening challenges people to try new things, and to appreciate how beautiful and diverse the plant world can be. We are creatures of habit that it's easy to forget that at some point most things we eat started out as a little speck in a pile of dirt.

I can't wait for everything to ripen so we can share our garden successes with friends and family!

A Garden of Dreams

Hello! My name is Erica Mah, and I am the incredibly fortunate person who gets to run this summer's Hazelton Garden Challenge. I grew up in Smithers, and as a kid spent every minute I could in the garden alongside my mom, picking weeds, naming flowers, and planting seeds. I completed a degree in sustainable agriculture at UBC, and just completed a teaching degree at the University of Toronto. I believe that gardens make the best classrooms!