Loads Of Crop: The Family Powered Garden Growing For Fergus Falls
Collin and Lindsay Auwater of Fergus Falls weren’t kidding when they named their gardening operation “Loads of Crop.”
Their tables at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market are loaded with vegetables at the Saturday market at Spies Pavilion in Fergus Falls.
Depending on the season, you can find their favorites: peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and pole beans along with snap peas, carrots, beets, summer and winter squash, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, potatoes, sweet corn, onions, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins and asparagus.
Whew!
Joining their venture this year is Collin’s sister, Jackie Larson of Pelican Rapids.
Every year is different and we didn’t plant any leafy greens or celery this year like we have in years past,” Collin said. “Maybe next year…We also have some grape vines and apple trees and they planted rhubarb this year. “
The gardening journey started when the Auwaters traded in their swimming pool for a garden plot. Actually, Collin said he got permission from Lindsay to remove the family’s swimming pool to start a garden in 2022. That plot is 100-feet by 20-feet. Green beans climb on several trellises in the garden as Somerset seedless grapes grow on a nearby fence. Next to teh garden is a 12-foot by 20-foot high tunnel.
Collin has cut a path through their grove to the second garden. The quarter-acre plot is surrounded by high fence and is electrified to keep deer out. Although their property borders Unnamed Lake (that is it’s actual name) they do not draw irrigation water for it. Their gardens are watered using drip line with solar powered well pump.
A third garden is located at Lindsay’s parents’ farm near Foxhome. Her dad makes sure the plants have water.
”With the amount we wanted to do, we needed more land,” said Collin of the Foxhome garden.
There is no spraying of the gardens for pests or weeds.
“There is a handful of people who will ask if I use spray,” he said. “I told them there might be some bugs and they were fine with that. I don’t spray.”
Seeds are started in the high tunnel and, once the ground and air temperature are warm enough, the transplanting into the garden beds starts.
Irrigation drip tape is placed in the rows before seeds and transplants are put in the ground. Fertilizer is also applied to the planting rows. Plastic is put down for the tomato plants for weed suppression and also to conserve moisture. Since they don’t spray, they pick weeds by hand.
The gardens are lush and the vegetables ready for picking, but not everything goes as intended. Critters try to get into the garden and taste the luscious tomatoes. And sometimes some plantings just don’t work. Take this spring’s attempt at hydroponic strawberries.
Collin had grown hydroponically in the house in the past. Care was taken that for the water to not go on the floor and plants grew. The plan was for a larger hydroponic set up in the high tunnel using a solar powered motor to move the nutrient water amongst the plant roots.
Mother Nature, however, wreaked havoc with the plan. Warmer April weather caused the high tunnel to warm up more than anticipated. Plants burned and so did the solar-powered pump.
He abandoned plans for hydroponics for now. His researchers mindset is working through the production system as he considers his next possible moves for hydroponics and the high tunnel beyond starting plants.
Besides the work of tending to the gardens, harvesting and preparing vegetables for the market, they all work full-time.
Collin has been a research specialist at North Dakota State University in Fargo for 22 years. His work with the high value crops project focuses on fruits and vegetables lead by a college professor.
Lindsay is a registered nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge and Jackie is a dietician.
They each have a connection to growing plants, farming and gardening. Growing up on her family’s Foxhome farm, Lindsay helped in the field and picked rocks as her father raised sugar beets among other crops.
Collin and Jackie grew up in Breckenridge where their dad worked for Sigco Research. Collin recalls working summers for his dad helping in the sunflower research fields. Their parents were gardeners and their dad grew and maintained fruit trees. Vegetables and fruits were preserved through canning and freezing, he said.
He admits that he didn’t have the passion when he was younger like he has now. And joined by the helping hands of Lindsay and Jackie, the three nurture the gardens and truly provide “loads of crop.”
To learn more of Loads of Crop’s activities, check them out on Facebook and look for them Saturdays at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market at Spies Pavilion in Fergus Falls, MN
