A storm in southern Alberta has set back a local gardening business.
Noble Gardens is operated between Lethbridge and Nobleford, and has a share based business where customers can buy into the garden at the beginning of the year.
Marble and pea sized hail covered all 14 acres of plants here at Noble Gardens.
A hail storm rolled though Thursday night, covering the ground like snow.
“Now all these nice plants we had are all beaten down,” says Brenda Vrieselaar, one of the owners of Noble Gardens.
The Vrieselaar family has almost every vegetable you can think of planted here in there market garden, supplying fresh produce to share holders through out the growing season, but after the hail damaged almost all of the plants, there will be some setback for customers.
“Some of the plants are shredded, and broken. Because the roots are covered most of it should be ok, but we will be pushed back a few weeks,” says co owner Tim Vrieselaar, the other co owner of Noble Gardens.
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The market garden can produce enough vegetable for 400 share holders, but now because of the hail, that number will have to be cut in half.
“We have already sold 250 and we will cap it at that to make sure our customers that have already bought still get their vegetables,” says Brenda.
Clients buy into the garden shares at the beginning of the season, and with the business dependent on mother nature, those customers consume some of the risk.
“with the shares, they have already bought in, it’s a real taste of how the industry works and they help cover some of the loss by paying before hand and we really appreciate that,” adds Brenda.
For the Vrieselaar’s the exact economic impact of this storm won’t be seen until the vegetables that survived are picked.
Just the strawberry patch alone, saw 30 thousand plants damaged.
“We won’t know how much produce is actually lost until the numbers are in after harvest,” says Tim.
But the couple says, hail is part of the business and the agriculture industry they love. All they can do is make the best of it.
“It’s always a risk, your up against the weather and you don’t control the weather so…” says Brenda.
The 250 shares that have already been sold translates into 480 families receiving fresh produce though out the growing season.
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