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End of an era for Elks After many years of serving the community, the remaining members of the Biggar Elks Lodge have decided to call it a day. It was September of 1957 when officers from the Saskatoon lodge drove to Biggar and held an initiation ceremony which formed the Biggar Elks Lodge. The 50th anniversary was held in 2007. During those years members volunteered at fundraisers and various community service p r o j e c t s. T h e m o n i e s raised from fundraising events helped pay for a number of projects in the community -- cement floor for the rink, playground equipment, donations
for hospital equipment, among others. It was not only the local community that benefitted from having such an organization in town but the Elks were active on a provincial level as well participating in walk-athons, conferences, curling, bowling and other events. B i k e R o d e o s, $ 1 , 0 0 0 D a n c e, s c h o l a r s h i p s, Cubs and Scouts, New Horizons, Biggar Museum -- all these and more are just some examples of the activities this group was involved in. For complete details and more about the 50+ years in the life of the Elks Lodge see pages 12 and 13.
Lilies, poppies and more . . . Lilies are at their best at this time of the year. This colourful garden belonging to
Anne Young in Kinley is filled with beautiful and unusual lilies. (Independent photo by Delta Fay Cruickshank)
How does his garden grow? by Delta Fay Cruickshank of The Independent There is a table at the Farmer’s Market. At that table there is man from Biggar who sells his garden produce. He has been selling b u t t e r c r u n ch l e t t u c e, mesclun mix (also known as field greens) and corn salad. The lettuce is just like its name, crunchy and buttery, the mesclun is clean and sweet, and the corn salad, so delicious mixed with the others in a salad. This man’s name is Ted Engel, his wife’s name is Gloria. They live and garden on the west side of our town. He reminds me a bit of Mr. McGregor, from the Peter Cottontail tale. Like Mr. McGregor, Ted lovingly tends his vegetable patch behind their home. Ted calls himself a ‘true gardener’. “The aim of a gardener is to improve the soil and that I do!” When they first moved to this lot, it was just grass in back, and now, well, that has really changed! He promises that the soil will be better when he is done, and judging by the produce and growth coming out this little
backyard, he has fulfilled his promise. Another thing about gardeners that I always admire is their inventiveness and the power to use the resources at hand to tend the earth. Ted does this in every way. His greenhouse is constructed from salvaged windows and a demolished
deck neighbours. From this little greenhouse, he harvested lettuces in early May. He uses a recycled car heater on the days when the temperatures drop. Now it is filled with tomatoes, but he is not pleased with his crop in there, “too much foliage”. Then he showed me his tomato crop that he is very
proud of. Along an east facing wall he had washing machine tubs filled with tomato plants that were as tall or taller then himself and filled with a promise of a sun ripened crop! He collects rainwater in barrels at every eavestrough. He had problems last year with algae growing in the
No space wasted . . . Ted Engel of Biggar stands inside his ‘teepee’ created with salvaged poles. This structure will soon have pole beans growing up along the poles. As the beans grow up, the shade from the foliage will keep his crops below cool and moist. Pride and joy is reflected in every corner of the garden that Ted and Gloria grow, right here in town. (Independent photo by Delta Fay Cruickshank)
water, so this year he has fashioned covers for each barrel, all neatly painted to match the barrel. He makes all his own compost with garden and kitchen waste. He said he was very proud of his compost, and so he should be! He must believe, as many do, what we take from Mother Earth, we must return, and a little bit more! The straight paths between the rows of vegetables are mulched with bark mulch from the town’s dump site, there are no weeds in these paths! With salvaged lengths of pipe and thin slats of wood he has created a “teepee” over his lettuces and carrots. Pole beans are planted at the base. Each pole will grow up to create a shady place for more lettuces, no space is wasted here. Except for the lovely volunteer hollyhock he has allowed to grow in amongst the carrots, beans and lettuces! He grows Jerusalem A r t i c h o k e s t o o. T h i s perennial plant resembles a sunflower and produces tasty little “potato-like” tubers. The first time I ever
tried them myself was in a very posh restaurant, very good! They can be roasted, boiled, or eaten raw. The first homesteaders relied on this hardy Canadian native plant to provide them with the sweetness and vitamin C they needed in their diets. Ted’s is growing carrots for the adventurous, “parisian” carrots. They are not long like we are used to, but round! And let me tell you, very sweet and tasty! The Engel garden is full of life and beneficial insects. Ladybugs and their larvae were visible, they will eat any aphid that will appear! Ted said he even has small frogs! They will make short order of any slugs that dare show up! Unlike the coast, where the Engels came from, slugs are not too bad a problem here. Born in East Germany, Ted chose Horticulture as his vocation and earned his journeymen papers in Horticulture. Years later in Canada, Ted retired from teaching linguistics at Trinity Western University in Langley and they moved here. And for this we are very grateful!