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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
The smell of earth permeates the air as they run their fingers through the soil, searching for golden treasures.

Teresa Chilkowich, vice-chair of the Fort Simpson Community Garden Society, digs in the dirt for potatoes. Over the weekend the society members harvested cabbages, cauliflower, pumpkins and other squashes. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

Beatrice Antoine finds one, dusts it off and tosses it in the pile with the other potatoes.

It’s been a good year for growing, said Antoine, who joined the Fort Simpson Community Garden Society for the first time this year.

"It went really well for me," she said. "I’ve learned that you have to be on it all the time, like watering and weeding."

Fall harvest

The community garden held its final fall harvest over the weekend, allowing members to take home a variety of vegetables, including potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, pumpkins and other squashes. This is the society’s second year running the garden, with locations on the island, in the Wild Rose Acres subdivision and in Four Mile.

For Antoine, gardening was a whole new experience. Up until this year she had only seen it done by other people. She decided to try it out because it seemed better than buying all her produce at the store, she said.

Throughout the growing season she took home peas, carrots and potatoes. There would have been more, she said, if it hadn't been for some uninvited guests who pulled apart her garden in Wild Rose Acres three weeks ago. Someone also broke into the shed stationed there and vandalized it.

The society is planning on moving the Wild Rose garden elsewhere for this reason but Antoine said she still would rather plant her vegetation at the downtown location next year.

Despite these difficulties, it’s been a great season for the society, said Teresa Chilkowich, vice-chair of the society.

"It’s been awesome what people have been able to do," said Chilkowich. "It’s neat to see how people made different choices and how things turned out and the success people had with those choices and the challenges. You can learn from all of it."

This was an expansion year for the community garden, with about 30 boxes added to the downtown site. The society also saw its membership balloon to 30 from about 12. Members pay between $10 and $30 a year depending on their level of activity and whether they want a single or family membership.

Chilkowich said the society's growth has increased the social aspect of the group and allowed for more information sharing amongst the members. Next year, she said she hopes to encourage more of it by getting experienced gardeners to mentor members with less knowledge about gardening.

"That could be a way for some of the information to be shared and for those people not to be left in the dark," she said, adding those who want to get a jump start on preparing a box for next spring can get in touch with the society.

Also, residents interested in the pastime shouldn’t be afraid to give it a go, said Chilkowich.

"Just get out and try it, talk with your neighbours or come down and connect with folks at the garden because there is a wealth of knowledge here."

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