Facing the enormous task of trying to harvest thousands of pounds of produce for local food banks before it rotted in the ground, Jas Singh instead was overwhelmed by something else: goodwill.
Less than a week after asking for help taking care of his crops, Singh, the operator of South Surrey’s God’s Little Acre farm, saw 580 people descend on his farm plot Saturday morning.
Through the course of the day, the team of volunteers pulled more than 18,000 pounds of squash from the ground.
“It really was just great – just some amazing people, and probably double (the volunteers) from what I expected,” Singh said Monday. “We were just totally overwhelmed – the energy that everyone brought was just remarkable. These people just came to work.”
God’s Little Acre, at 16582 40 Ave., has been supplying produce to charitable organizations and local food banks for two years, and has expanded from an original eight acres to 34.
Singh said Saturday’s work – which also included weeding – puts the farm back on a regular harvesting and maintenance schedule.
“It’s not very often a farmer can stand in the middle of his fields and not see a single area that needs weeding,” he said. “But that’s what has happened. We’re all caught up now, so we can get back to a regular schedule.”
Volunteer days are set to continue throughout the summer.