Taste the Wild Instructor – Dora Fitzgerald
Ever since childhood, the concept of plants as healers has captivated Dora Fitzgerald. Dora has been a Galiano resident for 24 years and has focused her energies on learning about our native plants, and healing plants used in other cultures and locales as well. A self-taught herbalist, she has facilitated the Food Program’s monthly herbal collective for the last three years. Her goal is to deepen the connection we feel towards the natural world and understanding the role of plants in helping us to maintain our own well being.
Cedana Bourne is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and has completed the Wild Seed School of Herbal Studies intermediate program. She is a wild food medicine forager, a gardener, a baker, a brewer and a fermenter who has spent the last few years immersed in learning rural rhythms on Galiano Island. She has been working with the Galiano Food Program developing community food sustainability, and has had the delicious pleasure of growing and preserving much of her own food. Since completing her studies she has had the opportunity to study online with herbal teachers such as Sean Donaghue, and 7song. Cedana has trained and worked as a baker at Wild Fire Bread and Pastry in Victoria, True Grain Bread in Cowichan Bay, and Radha Yoga and Eatery in Vancouver. She has been teaching workshops on food and plant medicine for five years.
If I told you that there was a fantastically tasty, nutritious and absolutely free foodstuff growing probably meters, and certainly no more than five minutes’ walk, from where you now sit, would I pique your interest? If I said it was easy to cook and very versatile, might I be whetting your appetite? And if I mentioned that it beats both spinach and broccoli for vitamins and minerals and protein, would that seal the deal?
Renowned local food gardener Linda Gilkeson will be returning for a workshop on Saturday, March 29th, 10:00am-4:00pm at the South Hall.
This event is a great opportunity to get geared up for the start of the growing season, and get started on your seed shopping. The main hall will be full of tables from seed suppliers, nurseries, local farms, community organizations and other garden-related product vendors. There will also be local food vendors offering their wares. The main attraction is the seed exchange, where you can swap and share regionally-adapted seeds and help ensure genetic diversity. There will also be a roster of presentations from gardening experts. This year’s program includes workshops on pruning, soil health, seed saving, GE Free BC, and Salt Spring’s new Seed Library.
On Friday Feb 21st we are going to be screening two food/farm related documentaries:
Happy New Year, everyone! It’s time to start thinking about this year’s garden.
Traditionally on the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, people stayed awake all night, keeping a bonfire burning, in an effort to call the sun back.
This Sunday, December 8th at 1:00pm at the South Hall, we’ll meet to prepare, cook and divide up the Giant pumpkin donated to the Food Program by Glenn Bellhouse.