A wonderful group came out to our second work party at Ntampqen Community Garden on syilx territory (near Cawston, BC) last weekend in April. We shared a lot of laughs, got a ton of work done, and enjoyed some incredible food together. We are grateful to everyone who contributed their time and energy, and to Dixon and Hannah for hosting us. Read on for more details and photos from the day.
Updates to the Farm
A lot has happened at the garden since our last work party six months ago. For starters, the project has a new name! Ntamtqen means “putting more than one house together”. Here is some history of the word from the Ntamtqen community band school website:
The farm is located just down the hill from the school, and students will have their own gardens to look after this year.
Other changes to the site include a nearly complete office building, a large deer (and cow) fence, a new orchard site, and the dining room transformed into a seedling nursery.
Look how much Sp’ic’in grew since October! She’s an excellent farm dog. One of her specialties is protecting the farm from wayward cows.
Read more about the garden’s beginnings in our last work party recap.
Day One
We had an excellent turnout on Saturday with 25 people joining from as far as Vancouver and Kelowna. Although the forecast called for rain, the temperature was great for working, and we stayed relatively dry. The rain brought out the scent of sagebrush in the fields, and the moody clouds made a great backdrop.
First we had an introduction circle to meet each other, and then Dixon showed us around the site while people split off to start tackling jobs.
The first stop was the garden beside the house. About half the garden contains vegetables and herbs, and the other half contains over 600 young apple, crabapple, nectarine, and peach trees. These trees are standard (large) size and will be planted around the perimeter deer fence. Several volunteers stayed here to start weeding and till the pathways.
Then we went to look at the new orchard site. The weekend before a group co-organised by United Way, with volunteers from the Okanagan Fruit Tree Project and Community Foundation had planted 1400 apple rootstock, as well as several rows of potatoes. Diane from the Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) health department helped organize food for volunteers and helped chop seed potatoes. Today, a group split off to plant another 1400 rootstock, and install drip irrigation for the young trees.
Next, Connie and Paul started building large accessible raised beds for the entryway to the garden. Joseph and Trevor started preparing the propagation house for plastic.
Sabrina, Michi, Jesse, and Jake got a quick lesson from Dixon on building split-rail fences, and got to work building a fence around the truck turnaround area. Netting will be put up behind the fence to block deer and serve as a trellis for climbing vegetables and flowers.
Darian and another couple untangled hundreds of feet of drip line!
Then we breaked for a delicious lunch of moose soup and sandwiches. Thank you Hannah for cooking delicious meals! She also generously shared some special soapberry and elderberry cordials with the group.
After lunch everyone finished up their jobs, and a group started on rolling out the wire for the deer fence and loosely attaching it to the posts. The fencers would come on Monday to tighten up the fence.
For dinner we had a delicious meal of frybread and chilli with all the fixings. Thank you to Diane from the LSIB Health Department for organizing the meal and Debbie for cooking it. We all stuffed ourselves and then had chocolate cupcakes for dessert.
In the evening, Dixon showed Hannah and Michi how to make the best roasted strawberry marshmallows for dessert!
Day Two
On Sunday a small but hardworking group transplanted strawberries and prepped the large greenhouse for plastic.
We went to Dixon’s mom’s house for lunch on Sunday, and had a lovely meal with his family.
In the afternoon, Dixon taught Michi how to use the tractor, and she got some practice filling in an irrigation trench.
Thank you!
It was so wonderful to pitch in at the garden again, and to feel the energy of such a happy and hardworking group of volunteers. This truly is a project by and for the community. Big hugs to Hannah and Dixon for welcoming us into your home for the weekend. We will be back!
Keep Up to Date on the Ntamtqen Community Garden
Instagram: @ntamtqencommunitygarden
Facebook: @Ntamtqencommunitygarden
Newsletter: Sign up by emailing Hannah at hannah.field@lsib.net
They always welcome volunteers at the garden. They are hosting regular work parties throughout the summer. Email Hannah at hannah.field@lsib.net to express interest and learn about upcoming dates.
If you’d like to hear about future Young Agrarians events and work parties like this, sign up for our Thompson Okanagan newsletter.
Thank you to United Way, Local Food Infrastructure Fund and New Relationship Trust for their support to Ntamtqen Community Garden and Food Hub.
Young Agrarians is grateful to the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia for funding this event.