Local Delicious

The Earthwise Society has brought Gaia College’s popular Organic Master Gardener Certification Course to its beautiful campus at Earthwise Garden and Farm in Boundary Bay, Tsawwassen. The session starts this Monday — quick, there’s still time if you’re interested.

Everyone is welcome. No previous experience required. Just come, learn and have fun. It is a practical experience-based course consisting of lectures and hands-on exercises. To receive a Certificate of Completion students must attend all sessions and complete and present a satisfactory assignment.

The sessions run Mondays and Thursdays starting Monday, January 25th. For more information about the course, contact the Earthwise Society directly.

Hey folks, it’s time to whip out a fresh sheet of paper and start organizing your life. Better yet, use the Farm Folk / City Folk 2010 calendar.

On the practical side I love the big squares for adding notes, but it’s the beautiful images of life on the farm from award-winning photographer Brian Harris that make me feel refreshed when the schedule gets jam-packed. There’s nothing quite like farming — or on my scale, community gardening — to reconnect with the earth as our food source. Oh, and don’t forget the delicious, monthly, local food recipes!

Remembering and connecting to the the rhythm of nature is it’s own reward, but for those who want more it’s also good to know that all proceeds from the calendar go to supporting community initiatives at Farm Folk / City Folk.

Note: You can find the Farm Folk / City Folk 2010 calendar at select retailers or order it online. Do the latter and tell them you heard about it here at LocalDelicious.com and you’ll also receive a pair of complimentary Farm Folk City Folk greeting cards.

Langara College, in concert with Village Vancouver, is hosting Fork in the Road, Cultivating Food and Community in Local Neighbourhoods this weekend, November 13 & 14. Participants to this workshop walk away with practical tools and ideas for involving friends and neighbours in local food issues and the inspiration to become involved in a neighbourhood food network.

Theatrical games and exercise are used to facilitate dialogue and personal change. Past participants have called these sessions, “Energizing”, “Fun”, “Mind-opening”, and “Empowering”.

Friday, November 13, 6:30 – 9:30pm and
Saturday, November 14, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm (workshop includes both sessions)
Langara College
100 West 49 Avenue, Vancouver
$50 admission fee
Register: 604.323.5322
Bring your own lunch and food to share

For further information, contact Leslie Kemp at 604.323.5981

Do you plan to attend? Please leave a comment and let us know how it goes.

Learn more about food issues, both locally and internationally, at this year’s Stone Soup Film Festival. Presented by the East End Food Co-op and the Grandview Woodland Food Connection, the festival will explore health and nutrition, food economics, agricultural worker rights, and urban agriculture over two days of great films.

October 17 & 18, 2009
Britannia Community Services Centre
1661 Napier Street, Vancouver
Purchase a pass for $15: 604.718.5800

The film festival is a part of the Stone Soup Fall Food Gathering, also taking place at Britannia Centre. Events will include:

• “DIY” Food Day on October 3, a day of sessions where participants learn the art of making and preserving food
• Community Potluck on October 15 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm
• Food Justice Forum & Discussion on October 8 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm

More information (pdf)

Planning to attend? Leave a comment and let us know how it went.

For the 10th year, Greater Victoria residents can have their fruit trees picked by volunteers and donate a portion of the harvest to community groups, thanks to the LifeCycles Project Society.

The Fruit Tree Project links people who have surplus produce in their yards with others who have the willingness and ability to harvest it, and then supplies that fruit to people and community groups without access to fresh produce. Volunteers harvest fruit from private trees that would otherwise go to waste.

Fresh cherries, plums, apples, pears and other fruit (or sometimes vegetables) are then distributed through Community Centers and Food Banks, and shared among volunteer pickers, tree owners and the Fruit Tree Project. Produce is generally picked from July through October.

To schedule your tree for harvesting, simply fill in the online form.

Have questions? Contact Danielle Stevenson, Project Coordinator

Have you participated in the Fruit Tree Project? Leave a comment.

I view access to a variety of local and “more local” food sources as an important part of building and strengthening our food systems at a grass roots level. (Like any product, if you don’t know it exists or where to get it, you can’t buy it. That means you can’t support the farmer, who may have to stop producing it, so now your only option is to get it from far away places… It’s a downward spiral.)

When my fellow community gardener Daryl told me about NOW BC, a member-owned food co-operative that operates within Metro Vancouver, BC, I asked him how he got involved.

“My initial reason for joining NOW BC was that I know the guy who started it. But besides that, there are several other strong reasons:

1. It’s a co-op where members have a say in how it’s run and share in its success. This means that profit isn’t a primary motive like other businesses.
2. Delivery ‘clubs’ allow fellow members within neighbourhoods to meet and form ‘community’ around the important topic of local and organic food. Individual delivery can’t do this. One club has started a ‘two-block diet’ network where they all grow food in their yards to share with each other.
3. And, prices are cheaper than other organic delivery services.

Plus, I think it’s important to support local organic farmers so they can continue to make a good living.”

If you want to be a part of the NOW BC network, find a delivery depot in your neighbourhood or start your own.