WINTER 2020 | VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04

CONTROLLING CANADA THISTLE IN

MACKENZIE COUNTY... PAGE 3

GROWING PULSES IN CROP

ROTATIONS... PAGE 6

WEED SUPPRESSION USING COVER

CROPS... PAGE 10

2020 CONFERENCE: REGENERATIVE

TOOLS TO HELP YOUR FARM... PAGE 12

GROWING VEGETABLES IN A CHANGING

CLIMATE AT SUNDOG FARM... PAGE 16
 WINTER 2020 VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04

Mission: To represent and support EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

Alberta's entire organic industry.
Vision: A strong, sustainable and united across the prairies to speak on
organic community in Alberta.
regenerative and organic agriculture.
Editor/Submissions
Cari Hartt With over 450 attendees, a large
587-521-2400 tradeshow, opportunities for business
cari.hartt@organicalberta.org sessions, and space to exhibit
Advertising
equipment, if you’re a company
Cari Hartt
587-521-2400 looking to connect with producers, this
cari.hartt@organicalberta.org is an event you cannot afford to miss.
Graphic Designer  If you would like to sponsor the
Cari Hartt conference or book booth space,
587-521-2400
please contact
cari.hartt@organicalberta.org
lindsey@organicalberta.org.
Executive Director
Marilynn Boehm Last issue, I mentioned that Organic
587-521-2400  Alberta received grant funding to roll
marilynn.boehm@organicalberta.org
out a consumer education campaign
Board Members
Representatives elected by region: that addresses the confusion, or lack
(N) North (S) South (C) Central of understanding, surrounding organic
(M) Member at Large production and food. We’ve been
• President: Charles Newell (AB federal By Marilynn Boehm, Executive Director working hard to create new
level):
780-809-2247
information, articles, and videos that
Organic Alberta’s Central Conference address these misconceptions and
newellsfarm@gmail.com
• Vice President: Dawn Boileau (C): will be held on January 31 - February 2, educate consumers on all things
780-218-2430 2020 at the Camrose Regional organic. Check out the Get the Facts
dawnboileau@gmail.com Exhibition grounds. The conference will section on our website to see all the
• Treasurer: Heather Kerschbaumer (N):
be three days of inspiration, insight and content!  
780-835--4508
information. Be prepared to take home
gaseeds@kerbagroup.com
• Secretary: Andrew Mans (S): new ideas, practices, and regenerative We have some excellent sponsorship
403-360-5663 tools to help your farm. opportunities that we believe could
mail@mansorganics.ca
help you and your business extend
• James Thiessen (N):
The annual conference is the largest your reach to a large group of engaged
306-480-1158
gathering of Alberta’s amazing consumers who have a desire to
jkthie@telusplanet.net
• Arnold Van Os (C): community of farm families. This is the learn more about organic food and its
780-312-1052 place to meet other farmers who are production. For more information on
vanosdairy@xplornet.com exploring new practices, ways of this exciting sponsorship opportunity,
• Abbie Stein-MacLean (M):
thinking, and supporting the paradigm please contact me at (587) 521-2400 or
780-984-3068
shift in our agriculture and food marilynn.boehm@organicalberta.org.
asteinmaclean@gmail.com
• Bernie Ehnes (S): systems. This year we’re partnering
403-666-2157 with Holistic Management Canada to I look forward to seeing you in
behnes@gmail.com attract an even more diverse crowd of Camrose and spending three days
• Frank Maddock (M):
attendees and industry experts from immersed in our inspiring community.
780-727-2333
jaspersprings@live.com
• Tracey Smith (M):
northcookinglake@gmail.com

Spring 2020 deadline is Friday, February

28th. Please send comments,
suggestions, ads, and/or articles to
cari.hartt@organicalberta.org 

2 WWW.ORGANICALBERTA.ORG
 WINTER 2020
CONTROLLING CANADA THISTLE IN
MACKENZIE COUNTY: A NEW APPROACH
By Julie Bernier, Agronomist Consultant,
Organic Alberta
Canada thistle is listed as a “noxious”
weed under the Alberta Weed Control
Act and therefore, must be controlled.
The weed is difficult to deal with
because of its ability to propagate
through regrowth from its extensive
creeping root system. Proper tillage
practices, cover crops, and perennial
plant cover are common forms of weed
control, but extra help is always
needed.
The Canada thistle stem-mining weevil
is a biological pest control agent that
was first introduced in Canada in 1965.
Since the insect feeds exclusively on
Canada Thistle, it can be a useful tool
to manage the weed’s increasing
expansion in the region.
On September 19th, 2019, a shipment
of weevils crossed the border from the
US and made their way to Mackenzie
County. A total of 14 containers were
delivered to five local organic
producers in the hope that the small
insect would establish in the Region.
Each container consisted of
approximately 100 insects which were
purchased by the producers and
Organic Alberta. The insects were  creating holes in the thistle stem,
released at five different locations; on
the way to High Level, near Fort
Vermillion, north-east and south-east
of La Crete, and all the way down to
Paddle Prairie.
As adults, the weevils will overwinter
in the soil, emerging with the thistle
the following spring. The cold hardy
insect will lay its eggs in the mid-vein
of the rosette leaves of the thistle in
the spring, and the larvae will develop
inside the elongating plant shoot
during the summer. The larvae will
exit the plant at the root, enter the
soil, and pupate. They will emerge as
adults in late summer, feed, and
hibernate. The larvae damage the
plants by consuming plant tissue and
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04
while the adults feed on leaves.
Our participating producers will have
to maintain some surveillance over
the establishment sites. It is
paramount that the sites remain
undisturbed for at least one year to
prevent killing the insects. Mowing of
top growth to prevent seed set will be
required. The sites will be monitored
in the spring to determine insect
survival and later in the summer to
detect the presence of adults and
plant damage.
It is important to mention that this
biocontrol approach is a long-term
form of weed control, and its effects
may not be noticed until the third
year. The hope is that the weevils will
migrate away from the establishment
sites to look for more food, as food
sources are depleted. It may also be
beneficial to release additional
insects in future years at different
location to ensure build-up of
the insect population.
Organic Alberta would like to thank
the five organic producers who are
participating in this project. For more
information, contact Julie Bernier at
julie.bernier@organicalberta.org or
call 780-266-9590.
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 WINTER 2020
GROWING PULSES IN CROP ROTATIONS
By Neil Whatley, Alberta Ag-Info Centre
Abundant research results and grower
experience reveal that the inclusion
of pulse crops in agro-ecosystems
creates more crop diversity and overall
farm resiliency. Among benefits
currently known, pulses contribute to
soil quality, soil nitrogen, soil moisture
conservation, yield boost of
subsequent crop, protein content boost
of subsequent wheat crop, improved
overall disease management, and
expanded market opportunities.
A critical component of a sustainable
cropping system is to plan an
appropriate cropping sequence,
alternating between crops of various
plant families. Pulses are broadleaf
crops from the legume plant family
referred to as grain legumes or annual
legumes that include field pea, lentil,
chickpea and faba bean, largely grown
on dryland, and dry bean grown mostly
on irrigation.
Pea, and especially lentil, are shallow
rooted. While cereals and oilseeds are
intermediate, perennial forages are
generally deep rooting. Therefore,
while pea and lentil extract water from
higher in the soil profile, roots of
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several other crops in a sustainable
cropping system occupy lower
soil depths leading to soil water
conservation over successive years.
Pea and lentil are generally harvested
earlier, providing more fall soil
moisture recharge, and, due to their
roots decomposing early, root
channels are created for fall rain
infiltration into the soil profile.
Apart from dry bean, the pulse crops
previously mentioned have a
germination process called hypogeal
germination. Hypogeal literally
means “below ground” germination
and is an extremely advantageous
characteristic for tolerance to spring
frost and other environmental
influences, which consequently allows
earlier spring seeding. Early seeding
is important for pea and lentil
production because it helps them
grow past their flowering stage prior
to high air temperatures in July when
flower blasting and consequent seed
yield reduction can occur.
The food source for a germinating
seed is its cotyledon, which originates
within the seed. Pulses are dicots,
meaning they have two cotyledons.
During hypogeal germination, the
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04
cotyledons or food source emerge
from the seed and remain below
ground as the shoot grows towards
the soil surface eventually developing
an above-ground stem and leaves.
In pulse crops, nodes are growing
points where leaves attach to the
plant stem. The first two nodes of a
pea, lentil, faba bean and chickpea
seedling develop below or at the soil
surface and are known as scale
leaves. It is the third node that
develops into the first true leaf.
Scale leaves appear as tiny bumps
along the shoot and can be scarcely
noticeable. These scale leaves have
buds at their base where regrowth is
possible. If the above-ground
vegetative material of the seedling is
damaged by stressful conditions such
as early frost, insects, heat canker or
wind erosion, a new shoot emerges
from the scale leaves. Given that
the cotyledons remain below ground,
the seedling’s food source also
remains intact. Therefore, there is
less risk associated with planting
these crops earlier in the spring
because of their ability to regrow
after environmental stressors like a
spring frost.
 WINTER 2020
Scientific research and farmer
experience confirm that soil health
is greatly improved by growing legume
crops. Due to their ability to create
plant available nitrogen (N) through
biological fixation of atmospheric N
from soil air pockets, pulses are a good
option when rotations become
depleted of N.
Pulse crops, properly inoculated with
beneficial bacteria called rhizobia,
are well known to produce a significant
amount of their own N requirement.
While faba bean fixes approximately 90
percent of its own N requirement, field
pea and lentil fix 80 percent, chickpea
fixes 70 percent and dry bean fixes 40
to 50 percent (Saskatchewan
Agriculture and Food, adapted from R.J.
Rennie, formerly at Agriculture Canada
Research Station, Lethbridge, AB). The
balance of N requirement comes from
soil residual N.
Given that pulse crop residue (straw,
chaff, and root material) contains
a high amount of N, as leftover pulse
residue decomposes over the next
couple of years after a crop is
harvested, this N becomes available to
non-legume crops grown in rotation.
Wheat grown after a pulse crop has
more likelihood of achieving high
protein due to a slow release of N from
residue over the whole growing season.
On the Canadian Prairies, soil microbial
research has mostly been carried out
on crops grown on pea and lentil
stubble. While studies prove that
higher yields of non-legume crops
grown on pulse stubble can be
somewhat attributed to N increase
from decomposing pulse residue, the
research confirms that yield increase is
not entirely due to N increase,
suggesting positive results are due to
other factors. Therefore, pulses also
provide non-N benefits to succeeding
crops.
While much of these non-N benefits are
not yet fully understood, it is known
that pulses build up soil organic
matter, enhance soil biological health
by promoting diverse soil microbial
communities and improve soil structure
or tilth that facilitates soil water and air
movement within the soil. It is also
known that pulses help break down
rock phosphate into the plant usable
form of phosphorus, an asset to
organic farming where phosphorus
sources can be challenging.
Diversification of crop types in a
rotation also helps break disease
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cycles. Crops from the same plant
family host similar diseases. When
similar crops are grown back-to-back,
these diseases build up and multiply.
Given that disease spores can persist
in soil or on decomposing crop
residue for several years, inclusion of
pulses promotes a greater diversity
of plant families in a crop rotation,
reducing disease build-up of other
crops.
As the highest nitrogen fixing pulse
crop, faba bean performs well as a
green manure crop. While most
pulses fix nitrogen until the flowering
period, faba bean fixes nitrogen
throughout its growing season. Faba
bean prefers wetter regions and
grows well under cooler
temperatures. Under these
conditions, faba bean produces much
biomass, which is advantageous as a
green manure. Selection of smaller
seeded faba bean varieties permits a
lower seeding rate, which reduces
overall cost of the green manure
operation.
As grain legumes, pulse crops
incorporated into crop rotations
provide a major contribution to
healthy, sustainable cropping
systems.
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 WINTER 2020
WEED SUPPRESSION USING COVER CROPS
By Kevin R. Elmy, Friendly Acres Seed
Farm. Photos courtesy of Laura Telford.
Weeds – Everyone has them, everyone
tries to kill them, and they just keep
coming back. Why are we not winning
the battle against weeds?
Mother Nature has been growing
plants a lot longer than humans and
has figured out that she wants her soil
covered by growing plants. But
Humans started farming to grow crops
– historically, monocultures of annual
crops for grain production, and
perennials in simple mixtures for
livestock.
Annual crops start out with low weed
pressure but as the rotation extends,
weeds start showing up because there
is an issue in the soil, and the weed
prefers to grow in those particular soil
conditions. The issue could be
compaction, salinity, anaerobic, low
calcium, high nitrate, bacterial
dominated, and the list continues.
Weeds are telling us what is out of
balance in our soils, but we don’t want
to listen.
Let’s take a look at what some of our
most infamous prairie weeds are trying
to tell us.
10
Canadian thistle is an ugly, nasty
weed that people spend much of the
growing season trying to get rid of.
Cultivate, deep rip, mow, clip –
nothing can consistently kill it. What
is Canadian Thistle telling you about
your soil? It is saying you have
anaerobic conditions in the root zone.
The thistle can grow through it and
cover the soil. How do we get rid of it?
Aerate the soil. If the anaerobic area
is close to the surface and the thistles
are young, tillage might get rid of
them. If the anaerobic area is deeper
and the thistles are larger, we need to
open the soil deeper, which can be
done with a deep-rooted annual like
radish. Some spring tillage may have
to be done to knock the thistle back,
then seed radish in the spring. The
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radish will drill its root down taking
nutrients away from the thistle,while
the tops will help smother the thistle.
If the thistles start getting taller than
the radish, or if the radish start to
bolt, clip the area above the basal
leaves of the radish. Radishes will
regrow quicker, and still be pushing
their root down. In the fall, keep the
radish leaves on the surface, and the
plant will die. When the root starts to
dehydrate and rot in the soil, there
will be a macropore that will allow air
and water to enter the soil. If the
thistles are well established, a second
year of radish may be necessary.
Wild oats. The scourge of grain crops.
Wild oats like high nitrates in the soil
and bacteria dominated soil. If a
productive hay field was broken up,
oats are usually the go-to crop. Why?
Because there are no wild oats. After
two to three crops, wild oats are
back. Where did they come from?
When land is in a hay or pasture
stand, there is no tillage, so fungi can
grow and multiply in the soil. This
causes the fungal bacterial ratio to
increase over 0.5:1. The carbon to
nitrogen ratio is usually over 11:1.
Tillage reduces the fungal numbers
and increases the bacteria
populations. Once the ratio drops
WINTER 2020
below 0.2:1 fungal to bacteria, wild
oats get the signal to start growing.
As the carbon to nitrogen ratio gets
closer to 11:1, this fosters more
bacteria. Without a cover crop
cycling the nitrogen, nitrate levels
increase, and wild oats appear.
Kochia and foxtail barley both like
low calcium soils with high sodium
and free nitrates, dominated by
bacteria. In these areas, soils are
hard with poor water infiltration. The
soil requires some annual plants
with deep tap roots to create
micropores and bring up calcium.
Biennials in the mix will create
continuous cover, using spring
moisture to keep the salts from
creeping back up. Once the area has
been identified as potentially saline,
it should be managed for its salinity.
We need to transpire water, not
evaporate it.
Many other weeds thrive in soils with
free nitrates. The key to combatting
them is to have a growing cover crop
adsorbing the nitrogen. As a result,
the free nitrate will not accumulate
in the soil. How quickly a plant
decays is determined by the amount
of slowly degradable plant tissues
produced by the plant, like lignin. As
the plant matures, more lignin is
produced. A young, green plant that
rots quickly will release the nutrients
back to the soil biology and other
plants more quickly than a mature
plant, which will rot slowly and tie up
nutrients for the next crop. This is
where managing plant maturing to
meet nutrient cycling rates is
important. This is also known as the
carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N ratio).
There should be a mix of both wide
C:N ratio residue and narrow C:N. The
wide C:N residue, like cereal straw,
will create soil armor, provide food
for fungi, help with soil structure, and
act as a sponge in the soil. The tight
C:N residue, or green vegetative plant
material will feed bacteria and cycle
nutrients quickly. If too much tight
C:N material is turned into the soil at
one time, there will be a large release
of nutrients when the bacteria start
to break the material down. The big
concern here is the large nitrogen
release. When consuming the
nitrogen, microbes will require
carbon to consume. If there is not
enough carbon in the plant material,
the microbes will start consuming
carbon being held in the soil’s organic
matter.
Soil is much like a cow’s rumen – it
requires a balance of what is going
into it. If a cow is fed nothing but
straw or grain, she will not be
healthy. She has evolved to eat a
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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04
balance of green plants and
roughage. When a grazing animal
is walking with its head to the
ground but not eating, it is
“hunting” for a plant with certain
nutritional attributes such as
protein, sugar, and roughage.
Grazing animals are attracted to
energy, as humans are attracted to
salt and sugar. A little is good, and
too much will cause health issues.
This principle stands for soil as
well. Traditionally we return straw
to the soil, but we need to start
adding green plant material in
also. It is important to keep a green
vegetative plant growing for as
many days as possible, so it can
leak out root exudates into the soil.
Managing free nitrates and keeping
the fungal bacteria ratio high
enough to give the crops the
advantage over weeds are the two
ways to minimize weeds. Tillage
promotes bacterial growth and
causes a flush of nitrogen release,
which then stimulates weed
growth. We need to listen more
closely to weeds to understand why
they are growing and address
the underlying soil issues which aid
in their growth. Let’s work with
nature and quit giving weeds the
advantage.
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 WINTER 2020 VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04

7:30 - 8:15 am Registration 7:30 - 8:15 am Registration

8:30 - 8:40 am Opening Remarks 8:30 - 8:40 am Opening Remarks

From Confusion to Convergence: Finding Common Ground RR2CS: Regenerative Ag. – The Frontier of Environmental
8:50 - 9:30 am
8:40 - 9:20 am Between Farmers and Consumers Stewardship and Climate Change Mitigation, TBD
with Laura Rance, Glacier Farm Media
9:30 - 10:20 am Indigenous Session, TBD
9:20 - 9:50 am Break & Trade Show
10:20 - 10:50 am Break & Trade Show
Value of Legumes and Forages in Building Soil Productivity
10:00 - 10:50 am
with Jeff Schoenau, U of S Caring for the Farmer so They can Care for the Land:
10:50 - 11:50 am
Exploring Mental Health in Agriculture with Neil Harris, AHS
Soil Testing on Organic and Ecological Farms
11:00 - 11:50 am
with Rob Dunn, Agrologist 11:50 - 12:20 pm Lunch

12:00 - 12:50 pm Lunch Guardians

Organic Alberta
12:20 - 1:50 pm of the Grassland:
Annual General Meeting
Made in Alberta: Livestock Film Screening
Composting
Organic Agronomy Marketing
with Bernice Prairie
1:00 - 1:50 pm Research with with Bryce Lebrau, Nutrient-Dense
Kadatz, Organic 2:00 - 2:50 pm Farm Dreamers: TBD
Agriculture & Prairie Pristine Food, TBD
Soil Specialist Exploring, TBD
Agri-Food Canada Organics
Regenerating
2:00 - 2:30 pm Break & Trade Show
Regenerative Tools The Benefits of Your Land &
to Help Your Farm: Grazing Technology Growing Your
Organic Vermicomposting Managing 3:00 - 3:50 pm
Producer Panel - with Col Fielen, Profits with Dana
Grain Marketing with Dan Animal Health in
2:30 - 3:20 pm Grains, TBD Maia Grazing Penrice, Holistic
with Brenda Tjaden, Rollingson, Organic Systems,
Management
Sustainable Grain Earthly Matters TBD
3:50 - 4:20 pm Break & Trade Show
RR2CS: An Example
of Chinese Style RR2CS: Introduction
Passive Solar Perennial Cereals – to Organic Podcasting
3:30 - 4:30 pm Weed Management TBD
Greenhouses in Plant Productivity Production & Session
4:30 - 5:20 pm
Alberta and Environmental Transition: What with Katelyn Duban
with Jianyi Dong Performance with You Need to Know, & Kelly Sidoryk
Erin Daly, U of A TBD
4:30 - 5:30 pm Grain Buyer Networking
Regenerative Farm Clubs: Building
4:30 - 5:30 pm Farm Transition / Succession Café with Young Agrarians Soil Health Tools to Help Your a Community of
5:30 - 6:20 pm
with Kris Nichols Farm: Producer Practice with Holistic
Panel - Livestock Management
*Please note that all sessions and times listed are tentative and subject to change.

6:30 - 7:30 pm Banquet Dinner

SAVE THE DATE: 2020 ORGANIC ALBERTA

L AConference
CRETE
APRIL 2 & 3 | LA CRETE HERITAGE CENTER

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 WINTER 2020
GROWING VEGETABLES IN A CHANGING CLIMATE AT SUNDOG FARM
Reprinted with permission of the Tomato
Food & Drink | thetomato.ca
Kaelin Whittaker from the Ruby Apron
and I spent a morning with Jenny and
James Berkenbosch at their farm north
of Edmonton. What we saw and heard
was disheartening—a rude reminder
that farming is always risky, this year
more than ever.
James and Jenny are a decade into
growing organic vegetables at Sundog
Farm. James was a cabinet-maker and
Jenny an art and English teacher when
they decided that growing food was
what they wanted to do as a family.
James’ parents are Ruth and Dennis
Vriend, who operated an organic farm
south of the city and sold the
vegetables at the Old Strathcona
Farmers’ Market for decades. James
and Jenny relied on their 30 years of
experience and knowledge, especially
in the beginning.
But nothing could have prepared them
for this season. “This is top of the line
soil, sandy loam,” says James. But even
with that, the weather has spelled
disaster.
“This is not a fun story,” says Jenny, as
we start to walk around the fields.
16
Today, everything looks different.
Fields of carrots lie ruined by
flooding. Water pooling where it has
never pooled before. There are
yellowing leaves in some fields,
stunted plants in others and crops
several weeks behind where they
need to be. The corn has just started
to tassel out.
Jenny and James planted onions and
leeks, several varieties of carrots,
potatoes and beans, corn, all the
brassicas, radishes, spinaches, garlic,
fennel, herbs, lettuces, beets, summer
turnips, mustard, kohlrabi, rutabaga,
parsnips, celery and celeriac, summer
and winter squash, field cucumbers,
kales, Swiss chard and other greens.
The strawberries and rhubarb are
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perennial and the sunchokes come
back every year. This is their 11th
season growing vegetables and the
ninth at this usually lovely farm on a
dead-end road near the Sturgeon
River.
“It’s like we had this continuous
source of water.” says Jenny. “When it
did heat up, the moisture would go
into the clouds and come right back
down again. We know hail, one year
we had hail eight times. We have
never seen this much rain; never
experienced this sort of flooding. We
weren’t able to plant successive
crops this year as the fields were too
wet to get into. We won’t have any
more lettuces or baby greens,” she
says.
“The brassicas are hit, the potatoes
are doing ok,” says James. “The fall
crop is an issue, if we don’t get the
heat.”
Walking through the wet and flooded
fields is sobering. It’s the side of
farming nobody wants to see or talk
about. We worry about extra weeds
and having to mow the lawn more
often. They worry about how to pay
the bills. “All told, we’ll be down
about 50 per cent this year,” says
WINTER 2020
Jenny. “We were able to send one of
our workers to an apiary, but the
other we may have to send home.”
As we think about that, Jenny breaks
down. All the bright and sunny
feelings we associate with farming
and farmers markets have been
drowned.
Along with a lousy crop the markets
are slow. “We took on the Old
Strathcona Market this year,” says
Jenny. “The plan was to take over
Dan and Christine’s booth.”
(The long stand on the east wall
where two generations of Vriends
have sold vegetables.) “But that
didn’t happen. And downtown, we’re
not sure if it’s because of the flip
flop about the location or that there
is fewer vendors there or because
it’s too cold and rainy, but numbers
are way way down.”
Jenny has been remarkably open
about their situation, something
they think many farmers are in, even
they are not talking about it. They
are not your stoic grandfather-type
farmer. “I feel like we were one of
the first to say, hey, we are taking a
hit here.
"We have been transparent about it.
And, we have had some support.
People are saying, “Ok, today we’ll
buy what you have,” says Jenny. “A
friend said; ‘people get the
opportunity to really know what
supporting your local farmer
means. To be connected to your
source of food on every level.'"
“This is reality.” says Kaelin. “You buy
what’s there. It’s not always going to
be what you thought you came for.”
Of course, this leads off into a
conversation about how people don’t
cook anymore.
“We’re wrestling with, do we keep
going?” says Jenny. “Last year was not
good, our product was fine, but
people don’t show up in September
due to the smoke and the snow. Do
we limp out the season? Seems
illogical to keep on going.”
There is still beauty in the desolation.
Fields of leeks are a variation on a
blue green theme. The buckwheat is
blooming between the rows.
Sunchoke blossoms, like tiny
sunflowers, wink among the leaves.
Jenny shows us the delicate flowers
from purple carrots sown in that
WWW.ORGANICALBERTA.ORG
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 04
patch last year.
Jenny uses this inspiration in her
other vocation. She is a painter and
often works with agricultural ideas.
Her studio is up a set of colourful
stairs and looks out on the fields.
We wander among a few paintings
in different stages of completion.” I
love it up here, gives me joy,” says
Jenny.
I am writing this a few weeks after
the visit, on a sunny breezy day in
August, one of the few sunny days
we’ve had this season. If we had
had more of these this story would
be vastly different. I check in with
Jenny.
“We’ve made peace I think,” she
says. “We mowed what looked
really depressing. We lowered our
expectations for the year. We’ll cut
back on a few things. We’ll adjust
and do what it takes.
“And we are feeling good about the
support we’ve been shown.”
The Tomato food & drink celebrates
Edmonton's food and wine scene. Visit
their website at thetomato.ca.
17
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