Hanging in the balance of the Alberta teachers’ vote and potential strike is the future of not only educators, children and their parents — but also small local businesses who rely on field trips every fall.

Tam Andersen is the director of Prairie Gardens in Sturgeon County, just north of Edmonton.

“We might expect 5,000 to 10,000 students over the course of the season, so it’s a very big part of our core business,” she said.

On Monday, the farm was crawling with children — many of them on field trips that have been rescheduled in an attempt to avoid potential strike dates.

At Prairie Gardens, each child not only learns where food comes from, but they also bring home a pumpkin.

At #PrairieGardens north of #yeg – they see 5-10 THOUSAND kids come through each fall. They all lear

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