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Remember When: Celebrating the hard workers of then Alberta Hospital

Here the garden crew display their fall harvest
Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye
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Remember When? In the very early years at the Provincial Mental Hospital just north east of Ponoka the rapidly growing facility strived to become self sustaining, planting acres of gardens, erecting green houses and root-cellars, and eventually operating its own farm. Here the ‘gentleman Irishman’ Dave Hourigan and members of the ‘Garden Gang’ proudly display their massive fall harvest of carrots. In the winter season this energetic crew of patients and staff were also known as the ‘The Snow Gang’ and the ‘Ice Harvesters’ spending countless hours cleaning up after the many snow-storms, or cutting blocks from the river to keep the ice-house filled. Photo from a History of Dedication and Caring

By Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye

Here the garden crew display their fall harvest