The Galiano Club

RS: When you were a child how did you get your food?

GO: I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan. We raised cows, pigs, turkeys and chickens for meat. We also got eggs from the chickens and milk from the cows. In the summer we had a big garden with a lot of potatoes and carrots because they had to last all winter. Also, there were many other vegetables such as peas, beans, corn, radishes, turnips, beets, cabbage, pumpkins and cucumbers and tomatoes. In the summer we picked Saskatoon berries and chokecherries. We bought a lot of fruit, too - apples, oranges and bananas in winter and cherries, peaches, pears and crab apples in summer.

RS: When you were young how did you store your food?

GO: We had no electricity so no fridges or freezers in our community. The potatoes would keep all winter in a cellar under their house. Most of the other vegetables were canned . The summer fruits like pears, peaches and berries were canned, too. The eggs were fresh everyday and there was fresh milk – a few gallons in the morning and evening. When I turned 11 it was my job to milk the cows. In summer when it was really hot, we filled a one gallon metal syrup pail with milk, tied a long rope to the handle and lowered it down the well about 20 feet to keep it cold all day. In the summer many farmers in our community formed a “beef-ring”. Each week a different farmer donated a steer. My Dad was the butcher. He would cut the meat into enough pieces for every family and delivered it to them so all the families could have fresh meat all summer.

RS: How was getting food different when you were a kid?

GO: Most of our food came from our farm, not from a store. The closest store was 12 miles away.
We kids had to churn butter. That was an awful way to spend a Saturday.

RS: What is your favorite local food?

GO: Blackberries.

RS: Tell me about a food memory from your childhood?

GO: My mother liked to take us kids Saskatoon berry picking . The best place was along creek where there were lots of bushes to pick from but the banks were quite steep and none of them us knew how to swim. My little brother was only a few months old so my mother put him in a little seat on the ground and told me to watch him. I got distracted picking and eating berries and when I looked, he had tipped over and was rolling down the creek bank. I screamed and ran to try to save him. Fortunately there was a log which stopped him before he reached the water.

RS: What seasonal foods do you eat?

GO: Spring - nettles, miners lettuce
Summer - fresh fruit and vegetables, fish
Fall- fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, chicken, mushrooms
Winter- tropical fruits

RS: How do you overwinter your food?

GO: In my deep freeze. Mostly I buy groceries regularly so don't need to preserve.

RS: How and where do you shop for your food?

GO: I shop a few times a week. I buy from local farms, local stores and from Mitchell Farms in Saanich.