Prairie Gardens rushing to finish harvest before frost

Prairie Gardens Adventure Farm just North of Edmonton is rushing to save its crops before the first frost. The farm usually runs on a U-pick model but is relying on volunteers to help out, after receiving a Stop Order by Sturgeon County last fall.

The county says they placed new limits on occupancy and the hours of operation to better support public safety and regulatory compliance.

However, Prairie Gardens says it was unattainable to run under those new limitations, and had to close to the public until they are able to operate fully again. They’ve since been relying on volunteers to help save their crops.

“We’ve been forbidden to do any agri-tourism activities, so no hay rides, no corn mazes, we aren’t even allowed to have a farmer’s market so we can’t even have a market to sell our pumpkins. So you would have to order your pumpkins or come in and let us help you,” says Tam Andersen, who operates Prairie Gardens.

Over the past few days, volunteers at Prairie Gardens picked more than a tonne of potatoes and 32 thousand pounds of pumpkins. But they still hardly made a dent, says Andersen.

“If we’re not able to get the harvest in, it’ll be devastating for us, so everything is tied up in what we have in the field. Absolutely heartbreaking if we can’t get it.”

Nora Nykipilo is usually an employee at Prairie Gardens, but due to the farm’s constraints, she is volunteering her time.

“I grew up on a farm as well myself, so I know how important it is to harvest and get everything out of the fields, its been heartbreaking seeing what’s happening here and we are a little concerned about the upcoming frost this week,” she says.

Sturgeon County says they have received several complaints and received witness videos of the vehicle and pedestrian traffic safety issues, as well as breach of the occupancy limits the County and Prairie Gardens, had agreed to in the legal agreement.

As a result, they restricted operations until the farm come into compliance and addresses ongoing public safety.

“We do know it is a land-use issue, and we are doing everything we can to ensure people are safe while on site. They’ve asked us for a traffic impact study, we’ve done that. We have a safety plan, we have a traffic accommodation plan, we are hiring staff parking attendants because we understand safety is very important on our farm, and it always has been. There’s never been an incident, there are no safety issues,” says Tam Andersen who is optimistic they will be able to come to an agreement soon with the county.

“It’s our livelihood and it truly has been a lifetime in the making.”

Andersen is hoping the farm will be up and running at full capacity by the weekend. In the meantime, she is grateful for all of the volunteers who have stepped forward to harvest her crops before frost hits. “It takes a village to save a pumpkin farm at this point.”

Sturgeon County says they are continuing to work closely with Prairie Gardens and say they will provide a public update in the near future.