Deprived of her own garden for part of this summer, France Benoit found an unexpected opportunity.
During the wildfire evacuation, she stayed with friends in rural southern Alberta. While there, she visited local farms and helped with the harvest.
“I needed to do that. I needed to help with harvest and touch soil,” said Benoit, the owner-operator of Le Refuge Garden in Yellowknife.
She also visited farmers markets in Cochrane and Millarville.
“I went to farmers markets, going to visit farms, going to visit a cheese-making factory in Alberta because I made cheese myself,” she added.
The evacuation was not just a displacement for Benoit but an opportunity to learn. However, she acknowledged the unsettling nature of being forced out of her Northern home and the difficulty of letting go. She emphasized that during that time she had no control over her garden, her business, her volunteer work as president of the farmers market or her involvement with the Yellowknife Car Share Co-op.
Despite these challenges, Benoit chose to turn this unplanned excursion into a learning opportunity and a time to unwind.
“I slept a lot the first week,” she admitted. “I consider my experience to be very privileged… my situation was very different than people in hotel rooms with young children.”
She drove out herself. She mentioned that the $750 in support from the territorial government should cover some of her expenses since she didn’t have to pay for accommodations. But she bought some food for her friends where she was staying.
“Food is important. It’s about the sharing of food, the cooking together,” she said.
Benoit believes that these tragic events that the community goes through can, in some ways, be priceless experiences.
“There’s no way you can repay people for what they did,” she said.
Instead, she believes in paying it forward and being there for others when they need it.
“It’s not only saying it’s your friend, it’s like firefighters or everybody who’s doing contributions to the community. Like, it’s hard to actually define a price,” she said of the value of the work and favours done.
When she left Yellowknife in August, Benoit was preparing for the next farmers market. She had a list of tasks to do every day, but everything changed when she had to evacuate. She departed with the thought that she might come back to no house or a damaged home, and that her garden would die without being watered.
However, some people stayed behind, including essential workers and various residents. Quite a number of people got in touch with her and offered to water her crops. In return, she allowed those people to harvest goods.
Upon returning to the NWT capital, she found her garden healthier than expected. She noticed that when she waited to pick vegetables, they grew bigger and often sweeter.