The Nazko First Nation’s first Potato Harvest Festival produced an impressive first yield of almost 2000 potatoes and fresh vegetables.
Twenty-five community members braved the Autumn rain in what used to be the Community Garden of Nazko to pick rows of potatoes and freshly grown produce.
A 16-foot by 4-foot potato patch was built right beside the former garden and the Nazkos’ two big greenhouses.
“My dad is the one who got the potato patch ready for us,” said Nazko Chief Leah Stump, saying it was a whole community effort to plant and organize the potato patch.
“He had some help from our three summer students, and one of our community members, Melissa Jack, who’s leading it all. One of our nurses, Andrea Rickey, has been the big lead and one of the biggest helps on this project so far.”
“We have a big storage area where we can store the potatoes for winter. We host many community events, that we can now use our homegrown potatoes and produce. We also have about 60 families in the community, who are free to also come and get what we’ve grown when they need it.”
Chief Stump says Nazko has also hosted canning and pickling events within the community. During the summer, the Nazko community canned 20 cases of salmon and filled their smokehouse. Coming up, Nazko will be doing a community canning of deer and moose meat.
Next week, the Nazko First Nation is having a Truth and Reconciliation Healing Week at Chuntezni’ai Hall, starting on September 19 and going until October 3.
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