I’ve never visited Crystal Spring in the summer, so I was excited to experience colony life during this season of nice weather. 68 and breezy in late July? I’ll take it!
My sweet friend Anita was kind enough to let me tag along with her when the ladies worked in the garden.
First up was cucumbers. The ladies pick every other day and we’ve been eating fresh cukes for lunch – so good!
Anita showed me how to gently stir the cucumbers while picking so they’d produce more.
The dirt in this part of Manitoba is dark and rich. Black earth, they call it.
I love pickles, but these cucumbers are for eating fresh. Stay away from the dill!
I had never picked a carrot before, so Anita showed me which ones were the best.
They’ve had problems with stubby carrots the past year or two, but they tasted great!
Last were raspberries. Anita said I could eat as many as I want..I may have eaten a lot.
Alannah came out to help for a while.
Only pick the red red reddest ones, Alannah (age 7) admonished me.
She’s a good helper.
My little garden buddy.
Curious… What kind of colony is this?
Hutterite. They’re anabaptist like Amish or Mennonite, but live in community, without individual ownership of anything. They live out some rather traditional values including eating meals all together, the way they dress and gender roles. Crystal Spring colony manufactures hog feeders, and Gro Master (Chad’s family business) is the U.S. distributor, so we’ve gotten close with a few families we work closely with. Love them! 🙂
Wikipedia has more if you’re interested 🙂 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutterite