Alison Colwell

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So far Alison Colwell has created 284 blog entries.
30 09, 2014

Cheese Club – Friday – October 24th at 7pm

By |2018-05-30T20:38:52-07:00September 30th, 2014|Categories: Cheese Club, Food Program|0 Comments

Our next cheese making Adventure will be on Friday October 24th for – Mozzarella!! See you all at 7pm.

Here’s the link to David’s 30 minute mozza recipe:

http://thewayofcheese.com/2013/02/12/mozzarella/

The Cheese Club is an informal group of cheese enthusiasts and is open to anyone – But you MUST RSVP if you want to come so that I have enough supplies for everyone.

30 09, 2014

Canning Homemade Tomato Sauce

By |2018-05-30T20:36:10-07:00September 30th, 2014|Categories: Workshops|0 Comments

Are you afraid of your Pressure Canner?

It’s the safest way to can tomatoes – let us teach you how to use it!

This is a hands on class for beginners (and everyone else).

You’ll get to take home a jar of tomato sauce

Thursday – September 25th – 12 noon till 4pm at the S. Hall

Sliding scale $10-$20

30 09, 2014

Cheese Club – Thursday – Sept 11th at 7pm

By |2018-05-30T20:33:35-07:00September 30th, 2014|Categories: Cheese Club, Food Program|0 Comments

If you’ve been to one of David’s Cheese workshops – and left inspired – but then been unsure where to start – then this club is for you.

We’re going to start an informal group to share experiences, equipment, make some easy cheese together and inspire each other to be bold and make new cheese!

We’ll be experimenting with yogurt cheese on Thursday night. And then decide what we want to try next.

 

30 08, 2014

Zucchini Races at the 5th Annual Community Picnic

By |2018-05-30T20:31:21-07:00August 30th, 2014|Categories: Community Picnic, Food Program|0 Comments

Everyone is invited to Galiano’s Fourth annual Zany Zucchini Races that will be held at the Community Picnic on September 7th at the School/Activity Centre. Races will start at aprox. 2:00pm

“No Zucchini, no matter how outrageous, will be refused!!!”

Race Rules: There will be two age categories (kids and adults) and the rules are that:

1) “Cars” must be constructed with a zucchini, the width of the Zucchini “car” at its fattest point can be no more than 13 inches wide. Length, wheel sizes and weight are not restricted.

2) All power will be supplied by an incline ramp.

3) Vehicles are divided into integral and modified in each age class.

4) Award for the most creative vehicle.

(Photo by henny.ca – And it’s important to note this brilliant vehicle was disqualified for being too large!)

30 08, 2014

5th Annual Galiano Community Picnic

By |2018-05-30T20:26:26-07:00August 30th, 2014|Categories: Food Program|0 Comments

There will be Zucchini races again this year (start planning now!), and a pie baking competition. This year the Garden Club is organizing 11 different competitions, and the annual Adults vs. Kids Soccer game will be on.

The Picnic is a collaborative celebration, and last year over 20 different organizations participated to make it a fun event for everyone. If you’d like to get involved contact us to see where you can help.

30 06, 2014

Cooking with kids -Alison Colwell

By |2018-05-30T20:23:31-07:00June 30th, 2014|Categories: Food Program, School Projects|0 Comments

I thought I’d use this article to talk about some of the ways to get kids cooking. Kids that learn how to cook, are much more likely to try new foods and be less picky eaters when they’ve made the food themselves. I’m lucky enough to get to cook with the kids at the school on a regular basis – and I have two kids of my own, who also have lots of friends, that like to play in the kitchen – so whether you’ve got your own kids home for the summer, or grand kids visiting – here are some ideas.

I have a few basic kitchen rules – wash your hands (can’t repeat this one enough) and when you are cooking with younger kids it also means no wearing bowls on heads and no licking measuring spoons (I’ve seen it all!) – while you are cooking – once you are done bowl helmets are just fine. I also try to keep long hair up – off the shoulders – use a hair band, or bandana.

Get the kids involved in planning? Ask them what they’d like to make. When I’ve done this with small groups at the school, the answers have ranged from crepes to burgers, pizza to apple pie. I have yet to meet a kid with nothing they wanted to learn how to cook. So start there.

What I do have kids say, is “I couldn’t do that”. But they can. I teach 5 year olds how to bake bread. They can do it – with help and support, but measuring, mixing, are all things they do in play – this is just doing it for real. When cooking with kids it helps to have all the ingredients you are going to need out on the counter before you begin, plus the measuring cups and spoons and any other equipment you will need.

There are lots of recipe books designed for kids, or find a simple recipe online – print it out so that you can read through it together. When cooking, start at the beginning at go through slowly, step at a time. And sometimes you don’t need a recipe. One of my kids likes to “create” their own recipes. When the twins were four they learned how to melt chocolate chips in the microwave. Then they tried adding all kinds of things until they hit upon pecans – and “invented” chocolate covered nuts!

Nothing beats the satisfaction of being able to bring your own food to the table, or your own plate of brownies to guests.

30 05, 2014

2015 Garlic Co-op Kickoff Lunch Potluck

By |2018-05-30T20:16:16-07:00May 30th, 2014|Categories: Food Program, Growing (Garlic Co-op, Greenhouse, Gleaning Project)|0 Comments

Want to learn to grow garlic? The Garlic Co-op is a great way to get started. We’re a friendly group who grow organic hard neck, with scapes, at a sunny southend site. Monthly work parties are approximately 1.5 hours. Membership is $30, to cover seed and amendment costs.

Join us on Sunday, June 8th, at 11:30am at the end of Morgan Road, as we get started on our upcoming season. We’ll break bread and then break ground on our new bed!

30 05, 2014

Getting Ready for Winter by Emma Luna Davis

By |2018-05-30T20:11:22-07:00May 30th, 2014|Categories: Food Program|0 Comments

No doubt about it, this past winter was a tough one for many Canadians. And even our mild west coast climate had a few surprises for us. This wet spring has seemed later than usual to arrive, so it may be hard to believe it’s time to start thinking about preparing for next winter. But when it comes to food security, living on an island makes us even more vulnerable than most North Americans. Not only does most of our food come from our centralized food production system, we’re dependent on the ferry service to access it.

Filling your pantry, especially for the winter with its unpredictable weather, is a way to make sure you will have enough nutritious food if the power goes out and ferry service is down. It can be very reassuring to know that you have enough on hand to feed your family for a few days, or longer, if need be.

Here are some tips to help you make sure you’re in good shape by the time the cold weather returns:

  • Stock up on extra fresh local produce all summer long. Fresh ripe local food is at its peak nutrition, and buying it in season and preserving it yourself is more affordable than buying canned or frozen mid-winter. Many producers have ways you can buy direct from the grower or fisher, including farm gate sales and farmers’ markets. Galiano’s Saturday market is a great source, as are other local farmers’ markets and grocery stores. The Food Program’s Gleaning Program is a also fantastic way to access local excess produce—contact Emma for more info. And don’t forget all the bounty that Galiano has to offer industrious foragers—nettles, berries and seafood.
  • Attend one of the Food Program’s Community Kitchens to learn more about pickling, preserving and cooking local ingredients. The Food Program has a dehydrator and vacuum sealer available to borrow—contact Alison.
  • Start your winter garden now. Linda Gilkeson says that in our mild climate, most vegetables store better in the garden than in a root cellar. Linda Gilkeson’s Year-Round Harvest, Winter Gardening on the Coast is one of our favourite resources, and it and others are available from the Food Program’s lending library.
  • Now is the time to think about where in your house you can squirrel away potatoes, garlic, grains, storage apples etc. in cool, pest- free storage.
  • A great tip from Root Cellaring, Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables, by Mike and Nancy Bubel: While you’re starting seedlings for this year’s garden, stash away a bucket or two of garden soil and compost so that early next spring, you have some available that isn’t soaked with rain.
30 05, 2014

Two Islands United – Community Celebration

By |2018-05-30T20:08:04-07:00May 30th, 2014|Categories: Food Program|0 Comments

On Sunday, May 25th from 3pm till 5pm, Come join us for a celebration of the Two Islands United project.

This project has been a joint effort between the Galiano Community Food Program, and AMES (Access to Media Education)

Over the past two years we’ve been organizing gatherings between the elders of Galiano and Penelakut to discuss Wild Food Foraging and food sustainability on both our islands.

The AMES production team, led by Richard Wilson, Deblekha Guin and a number of local youth (Arthur Georgeson, Tina Basarab, Rowan Oakley and Sophia Kontu) have been recording the wisdom of the elders and creating a series of short films for “SalishHarvest.com”, an interactive website that will be ‘going public’ on the 25th.

We are holding a community gathering to screen some of these shorts and to launch this site.

Please join us.

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