You might expect to find a dairy farm in Lister, a sleepy hamlet in the pastoral Creston Valley. It seems fitting that Mountain Valley Dairy uses a centuries old method of cheese making that evokes “taste of place”. As with chocolate and good wine, you can almost taste the Kootenay […] Read More
In the spirit of summer finally beginning on the west coast, I dug this little kayaking piece out of my archives. Probably no surprise that I’m no longer with Adventure Boy. The last time I’d been camping I was eight; that was 35 years ago in my best friend’s back […] Read More
We got some funding through United Way to do a series of pocket markets this season. It is an interesting juggling act trying to support local farmers and still make the food affordable to seniors on fixed incomes. We had our first market a week ago and bought way too […] Read More
Can urban agriculture save the world? My friend David Tracey (Guerilla Gardening, A Manualfesto, New Society, 2007) and I did a series of podcasts that attempted to answer that question. All of our guests (there have only been three to date – a roof top farmer , an urban farmer, […] Read More
Wed. July 7, 6 to 8pm Join me on this delicious walking tour of coffee and chocolate – my two favourite food groups. And thankfully, we have plenty of both on the west side of Vancouver. We’ll visit Buen Café, a fair trade coffee shop and Capers/Whole Foods Market, to […] Read More
A few years ago, I was the keynote speaker at the American Community Garden Association annual conference, held in Toronto. The organizers put together a fabulous event. One of the activities was a tour of FoodShare with Executive Dynamo Debbie Field. That was really my first introduction to this amazing […] Read More
Many years ago I made the choice to buy local and organic. But I do buy BC Hot House cucumbers, peppers and even tomatoes. But the greenhouse debate is on-going. Here are some of the pros and cons. The pros are that greenhouses use only .01 % of BC’s total […] Read More
Wed. June 23rd, 6pm to 8pm A food hub is the emerging concept coming out of food security circles. It is a center of food activity and might include a farmers’ market, community gardens, commercial kitchen where small producers can process their foods or where people can gather to prepare […] Read More
It is interesting to look back at the history of the organic egg industry here in light of the current struggle organic milk producers are having. More persecution of the small. Fred Reid was an organic egg producer, the largest in BC, with a healthy customer base. His operation, Olera […] Read More
Mole Hill is one of my favourite Vancouver neighbourhoods. It’s a David and Goliath story of how residents and many groups battled for years against all odds (and the City) to make this happen. They won. It is still a great model of sustainable development. The City agrees. In fact […] Read More