Garden helps feed needy

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During the hot days that September provided, about 30 people spent their time digging potatoes, pulling carrots, onions, beets and garlic, and picking cucumbers and peas. Only the corn remained untouched.

"We leave the corn for the deer, always, out of respect for our intrusion," said Harley Bastien. "It's their home down here. It's part of the harmony and balance we believe in."

"Down here" is at the extreme northeast corner of the Peigan reserve on the north side of the Old Man River in southern Alberta. The garden that was harvested is a community garden planted by volunteers of the non-profit Peigan Friends Along the River Conservation Society.

Bastien, a board member, explained that last year was the first time the garden was planted.

It started as a "feed the children" campaign, said Bastien. Other spots along the river are used for planting seedlings.

Last year, a total of 49 hampers, 20 pounds each, were provided to families with children in need on the Peigan Reserve.

"People were flabbergasted," said Bastien. "They were very pleased. They were looking forward to this year's distribution."

With the garden at half an acre this season, twice as many hampers were put together.

"We won't say no to anybody in need," said Bastien, "but we like to see the families who have children. That's our priority. We're doing it for the children."

The garden is in keeping with one of the two mottoes the Peigan Friends Along the River Conservation Society have adopted: Working with nature to better the community.

When the group is not caring for the garden and planting seedlings, it's busy with other conservation efforts. This year alone, said Bastien, landowners asked them to wrap 1,000 trees to protect them from beavers.

In October, the group will be doing its regular fish rescue, saving and relocating fish that are stranded in the irrigation canals when the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation Region closes its canals for the season. This work, said Bastien, takes two or three days, with the fish caught, weighed, identified, put in holding tanks and transported to the Old Man River where they are released. Last year, 12,000 fish were saved in this manner.

In all, said Bastien, members of the Friends average 3,500 to 4,000 volunteer hours per year.