Local Delicious

Join Vancouver Farmers Markets on September 11, 2010 for their annual Tomato Festival.

Tomatoes are at their peak of ripeness and deliciousness in September and vendors will be bringing out their best varieties – roma, beefsteak, cherry…the list goes on.

Always wanted to try an heirloom tomato but intimidated by all the different colours and strange names? Try something new at the sampling tables.

Tomatoes don’t just taste great – they look great too! Check out the Tomato Beauty Contest where tomato growers will bring out their biggest, best, and most beautiful tomatoes for judging.

Kids will love the Tomato Scavenger Hunt where they will meet local farmers and learn about — as well as taste — many different kinds of tomatoes.

Related posts:

Food Labels: Heirloom or Heritage
Why Quality Seeds Matter

Foxglove Farm is a 120-acre organic farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada. The farm is located on one of the original homesteads on the island, surrounded by hundreds of acres of protected forest and agricultural fields.

The farm produces a wide variety of produce and fruit that is  sold weekly at the Salt Spring Island farmers market, at local stores and select restaurants on Salt Spring Island, and in Vancouver and Victoria.

Foxglove Farm provides a variety of workshops throughout the year, below are the workshops available this month.

Register online or call 250-388-6800 for more information:

August 24 – 27 Small Scale Grain Production
This workshop is intended for anyone wishing to grow grains for their own consumption or for supplying small-scale regional users such as bakers, maltsters, or livestock producers.

August 29, 10-4pm Preserving the Harvest with David Mincey (Camille’s Restaurant)
There is nothing like cracking open a jar of tomato sauce, pickles or jam in the peak of winter and being instantly transported back to the flavours and smells of summer.

August 31 – September 3 Growing Tree Crops for Home & Market
Join orchardists Harry Burton, Bob Duncan, and Michael Ableman to learn about site selection, fruit varieties, orchard establishment, soil fertility, grafting, pruning, pest and disease control, harvest, post harvest, and marketing of fruit.

A full list of other delicious-sounding upcoming programs is available online.

There are no end of good things going on around our community when it comes to eating local. Here’s another organization I just learned about at the Kitsilano Growers Market last week.

The World in a Garden Project was established in 2007 by nutritionist, Tricia Sedgwick in collaboration with the Jewish Family Service Agency. The project’s goal is to teach participants about the seed-to-table process of food, as well as promote cross cultural acceptance.

In addition to the many events — from educational programs to community festivals — food from the gardens is donated to the food bank and local food programs.

The program is self-funded via plant and flower sales, market sales, responsible entrepreneurship programs, garden tours, food and gardening workshops, The World in a Garden products (greeting cards, t-shirts and seeds), community partnerships and an annual film screening.

How Backyard Farming Is Changing the Way We Eat

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) has partnered with Farm Folk/City Folk to explore Vancouver’s passion for backyard farming and local food. The large-scale photographic exhibit captures the current momentum behind local food production and urban agriculture.

The exhibit Home Grown: Local Sustainable Food, is a visual feast of 39 Brian Harris photographs set across four seasons, running August 26, 2010 through January 2, 2011.

“With harvest season in full swing and farmers markets bursting with tomatoes, we felt it was the perfect time for MOV to celebrate the city’s backyard farmers,” says Museum of Vancouver’s Director of Audience Engagement, Amanda Gibbs.

Using large-scale photographs Home Grown introduces visitors to the people behind local food. The photos range from proud inner city gardeners to an aerial view of an industrial scale sustainable hothouse. Visitors will gain insight into alternate styles of growing food like house-lot farming and farming co-ops.

“This series of photos is dedicated to those who see the beauty in small scale sustainable farming. Urban agriculture is about how we relate to the physical world and strive to develop a deeper connection to our food. The industrial world doesn’t seem to want people to know how their food is being produced,” says featured photojournalist, Brian Harris.

Harris’ images take MOV visitors to the city’s rooftops where a beekeeper tentatively lifts a tray of bees from a hive atop of the Vancouver Convention Centre’s living grassland roof.

“The living roof is 20 acres of grassland – it’s like a prairie up there – smack bang in the middle of a city, a powerful juxtaposition to the cityscape behind it,” remarks Harris.

The exhibit will also include a Communal Wall of Preserves which will grow with public participation, as MOV hopes patrons will donate jars of home-preserved fruits and vegetables. Jars of all shapes with a maximum height of 11inches or 28cm can be dropped off at the Museum’s front desk.

Upcoming Events

MOV will host a series of food-based events throughout the fall, including a free outdoor summer film, a Food & Beers speaker series, and Talks & Tours.

MOV-ie in the Park August 23, 9pm
Presented by Potluck Café and Catering and Horizon Distributors
Attention all foodies! Roll out a blanket and enjoy Eat Drink Man Woman, a food-themed movie on a giant outdoor screen in Vanier Park, just behind MOV. Free event.

Opening Night August 25, 7pm
Presented by MOV and Farm Folk/City Folk
Join us to celebrate the launch of the new feature exhibition Home Grown: Local Sustainable Food. Event is open to the public. Tickets are $15 and available at www.museumofvancouver.ca or at the door. Members will receive an invitation postcard in the mail valid for themselves and one guest.

Food and Beers Speaker Series
Hosted by David Beers, presented by Tides Canada

• Can The City Feed Itself? October 14, 7pm
  A panel of local food corporate knights from growers & chefs to manufacturers discuss what still needs to be done to ensure a sustainable local food industry in Vancouver.
• How Do We Compare to Other Cities? November 25, 7pm
  Renowned authors of The 100 Mile Diet, James McKinnon and Alisa Smith, return from their travels to share ten local food ideas being trialed in other North American cities.
• Vancouver’s New Food Writing December 8, 7pm
  Meet Vancouver’s food writers as they discuss the current passion for food writing and how urban kitchens are linking their food to the planet.

Talks and Tours with Growers, Activists, and Chefs
Hosted by Farm Folk/City Folk,  held the first Thursday of the month at 7pm. Free with admission.

• September 2 - Chris Bodnar, Glen Valley Organic Farm Cooperative. Topic: A farmer’s direct relationship with his customer through CSA, farmers markets & restaurant delivery.
• October 7 – Karen Howbolt, Salt Spring Seeds and The Haliburton Community Organic Farm
  Society. Topic: The politics of seeds and our local food system with a global view.
• November 4 – Chris Hergesheimer, The Flour Peddler with Jim Grieshaber-Otto, Cedar Isle Farm.
  Topic: Growing local grain and the first grain CSA in the Lower Mainland.
• December 2 - Chef Andrea Carlson, Bishops with Heather Pritchard, Glorious Organics Farmer.
  Topic: Co-creation of our local food cuisine.
  

Village Vancouver, Vancouver Food Policy Council, Grandview Woodland Food Connection, and Langara College Continuing Studies presents, Building Neighbourhood Food Networks.

Join with other groups and individuals who are involved in neighbourhood and city-wide food security and food system activities in looking at networking opportunities in and between different Vancouver neighbourhoods.

We invite individuals and groups who are engaged around food, food security, food justice, and building sustainable and resilient food systems to learn what local Neighbourhood Food Networks are doing, and to meet colleagues, share ideas, and explore ways to work together toward common food security goals.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010
1:00 – 4:00 pm
Langara College, 100 W. 49th Avenue
Room C509

FREE

To register: Please RSVP by calling Langara College Continuing Studies at 604-323-5322. Be sure to quote course number CRN 60916 and include your email address when registering.

Whoa Nellie! Only 2 weeks left…

You have a mere 2 weeks to submit your best farming/gardening photos in the Home Grown! Photo Contest hosted by FarmFolk/CityFolk Society and the Museum of Vancouver. Your entry gives you a chance to win the grand prize of $500 worth of BC Farmers Markets products, your photo included in the upcoming Home Grown! art exhibition, as well as tickets to the Opening Party.

The Home Grown! exhibition opens August 26, 2010 and  features international award-winning photographer Brian Harris. (Thankfully, you won’t be competing with him. Instead, contest winning photos will be judged separately and may be exhibited alongside his.)

For the past 3 years  Brian Harris has focused his camera on local sustainable farming and Vancouver’s urban agriculture scene. The 40 images on display at the Home Grown! exhibition  will portray local farms, farmers and urban growers with Brian’s characteristic hopeful and intimate cultural style of portraiture.

Learn more about the contest, check out the photos submitted thus far (not many so you still have a chance!) and enter today. Then be sure to attend the Home Grown! exhibition and be inspired by what many local farmers, urban growers and locavores are doing to return our society to a more sustainable and healthy relationship with our earth and food.