U-Pick opens at Bannockland
Weekend picking gives veggie lovers their fix
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, September 8, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
For gardeners who love home-grown produce, a Sunday afternoon spent selecting fresh vegetables at Bannockland was just the ticket.
Tanisha Kelly-Harris hauls a box of carrots, virtually splitting at the seams, to her family's truck. She and her family spent some time in the afternoon on Sept. 3 picking vegetables at Bannockland. - April Hudson/NNSL photos
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On Sept. 4, Randy Sibbeston opened up his three-acre farm to anyone wanting a pound or two of carrots, potatoes, lettuce and more.
Sibbeston has been selling his carrots in bundles at the Unity Convenience store this summer but decided to try something new as well. From noon to 5 p.m., a steady stream of people trickled into his farm for Bannockland's first U-Pick Sunday.
Sibbeston and his children were on-hand to help elders and anyone who needed assistance.
This year, Sibbeston planted 106 rows of carrots, each one 110 to 120 metres long. He also planted what he estimates to be a little more than 11,000 kilograms of potatoes - twice the amount he produced in 2015. Those include Alaskan Bloom, Yukon Gold and Burbank Russet.
Lettuce and turnips are also staples in his farm.
He has also been cultivating buckwheat so he can collect its seeds which he plans to save.
Aside from a source of income, he uses the farm to teach his children about business.
"They learn counting and value, and they've started asking me questions," he said.
"They're asking about forest ecology, how plants work together."
The children joined him this summer in hand-weeding the farm, a process he said involved much toil.
A well-known artist in the Deh Cho, Sibbeston branched out into gardening in recent years.
Learning to work the land has been a spiritual journey of sorts as much as a physical one, considering the role the land plays in his indigenous heritage.
"We're establishing a relationship with those plants - this is one of the biggest parts of our culture that people lost," Sibbeston said.
"Being indigenous involves a real relationship with the land. It's part of my heritage and I want to bring it back."
One of the many motivations behind his farm is the desire to provide a source of nutrition to the community.
"People are used to shopping at (grocery stores), and that becomes a habitual thing," he said.
"(Farming) is an undeveloped market, so whatever happens is because I do it. A lot of people are malnourished and don't know it."
Next year, Sibbeston hopes to grow a half-acre of raspberries and strawberries.
He also hopes to install a root cellar at some point, to extend the length of his selling season.
"I want to feed people here - I just have to find the means to do that," he said.
