by Mary Bailey
Photos Edgar Farms
“I can’t tell you how weather dependant this crop is,” says Elna Edgar. “One second it’s peeking up, then there’s frost, then it’s hot and it grows in one day. Ba-boom is a good way to describe it. One day you are sitting there thinking ‘will we pick next week?’ And then, you’re picking the next day.”
The Edgar family farm near Innisfail has 28 acres of asparagus along with a cow/calf operation; wheat, barley and canola; 15 acres in peas, broad beans, rhubarb and green and yellow beans—all hand-picked—and they produce several delicious relishes, pickles and pie.
“We have a foot of snow still (April 20), but there is not much frost in the ground—our soil is sandy, so it warms up quickly. One year we had snow on the ground on April 30 and we were picking on May 7. The latest we’ve had asparagus come up is May 24.”
Elna expects to be at the farmers’ market with fresh asparagus sometime in May. “Edmonton is huge for us. We’ve been standing at that booth for 20 years. People are so appreciative of our asparagus, so happy.”
It wasn’t always like this. “In 1986 we started looking into growing asparagus on our farm. They were testing it at the government station in Brooks. Their verdict? It wasn’t a commercially viable crop in Alberta. And, really it isn’t.”
Peru is the world leader in asparagus, where they pick twice in a season. “Our climate doesn’t allow that. We pick for six weeks. We have to stop picking at the end of June as the plants have to go to fern stage and have at least eight frost-free weeks developing ferns to get through the winter. But our climate also means the asparagus tastes better. Our cool nights produce asparagus that is jam packed with flavour.”
After being told it wasn’t commercially viable, the Edgars developed an acre in asparagus, which they sold at central Alberta markets.
“We had 250 pounds of surplus that we wanted to sell. We didn’t know what to do with it, so we thought: let’s try Edmonton. People threw money at us. At the end of the day I went to the manager of the market, and said; ‘We’re going home to plant more asparagus. We’ll be back in five years with enough to supply this market.’
“Really, if it wasn’t for Edmonton, we would not be growing asparagus. Our daughter Keri and her husband Randy were able to come back to the farm in 2007 due to the asparagus.”
It’s a fast and furious season. “We go over the field every day, and pick by height. Fat asparagus isn’t older, it’s just fat,” she says. “The same crown will have fat spears and skinny spears, we pick both. Last year though, we had a hailstorm on July 10, so that will mean less asparagus this year. It might crash a little sooner.
“Asparagus keeps perfectly well in the fridge for a good week or so, standing up in some water,” says Elna. “It does not freeze well, gets kind of stringy and mushy. You are better off to puree a big bag of perfectly ugly asparagus and freeze that for soup in the winter.”
What does life on the farm look like during this time of social isolation? “We’re busy calving and are kind of out here on our own, so haven’t changed too many things yet. We’re making a few less trips to town and being more efficient when we go.”
The market stands will look very different. “We’ll be wearing masks and will have shields up; we’ll be putting the stalks into plastic bags and have a separate area for cash.”
Farmers are perhaps best suited to dealing with an extraordinary thing like Covid. They work with whatever nature gives them, year in year out. “We roll with the punches,” says Elna. “You never know what’s going to happen. If you can’t fix it with money or work, it’s not worth worrying about.”
Find Edgar Asparagus at Bountiful, the Downtown Farmers’ Market and Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market.
