SHAUNAVON — A bumper crop and the desire to help others led a local family to area food banks to share their locally grown farm-to-table produce.
Link Lingenfelter and Claire Audette, along with their young daughters Solie and Luella, have been loading up truck and trailer and delivering their varieties of squash, zucchini and pumpkins to food banks in Shaunavon, Swift Current and Medicine Hat.
The Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub in Medicine Hat also distributes to other centres in Alberta and will take thousands of pounds at a time. The couple recently dropped off 3,325 pounds of squash and zucchini at the facility.
The rain that began falling in the region in mid to late July resulted in an unusually plentiful crop of more than 15,000 pounds of butternut and spaghetti squash, zucchini and pumpkins on their one-acre of land that they planted. Their seedlings were locally grown and purchased from Shaunavon Greenhouse and no pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used in their operation.
Claire says, “With all this extra rain, it exploded. We’ve always been a farming family, even if we weren’t directly in the tractor every season. From 2017 to 2019, we spent time in Colombia for family matters, and since then, we’ve been actively farming through co-management with our renters. Coming back home after COVID, we focused on starting our own family, and this year we decided to get back into the dirt ourselves. Planting a garden of this size was a test run to see if we could do it hands-on, and it’s been so special to involve our girls, too. We had planned to do farmer’s markets and sell locally, but honestly, every person in Shaunavon could have ten squash from our crop and we’d still have some leftover.”
With the bountiful harvest, the couple started to brainstorm as to what they could do with all of the squash. Link explains, “We wanted to put it to good use rather than watching it go to waste. So, we started reaching out to food banks. Their operations are amazing to see. Medicine Hat’s is set up like a grocery store; you don’t feel like you’re at a food bank. Grocery prices have gone up considerably since last year, and the number of Canadians working pay cheque to pay cheque is quite a lot. It only takes one situation, maybe losing your job or a big car bill, to fall behind. We are so fortunate to have food banks to support people right now. It’s a blessing to be able to share our crop with them.”
Claire emphasizes the many uses of what they produce. “Zucchini is great for baking, grilling, and putting into stews, soups or stock. You can bake spaghetti squash, stuff it with ground beef, turkey or chicken, put it in soup or use it as noodles. Butternut squash can be roasted in chunks or made into soup-it’s just sweet and good. The kids love pumpkins for Halloween, but it’s also for pies and soups, too. Squash can be put in anything and it takes on the flavours. You should try it because it’s so versatile, very healthy and can be a good substitution for carbs.”
She suggests keeping it on your counter, out of the sun, or in a cool, dark place and it will keep for months. The family will have produce available for sale into the fall and early winter, with pumpkins currently ripening on the vine in time for Halloween.
Link says, “The girls love being out there, playing in the dirt. It’s important to learn where your food comes from. It’s a fun hobby and hard work, but it is very rewarding. It’s been such an experience for us to learn and to share and to teach the girls where their food comes from: being in the dirt, everything from planting to picking weeds to chucking them in the trailer. The rain was such a blessing this year and we are so blessed that we can share with others.”
