Food Program

20 09, 2016

★ Stock Up! Market ★

By |2018-06-20T16:44:46-07:00September 20th, 2016|Categories: Food Program, Growing (Garlic Co-op, Greenhouse, Gleaning Project)|0 Comments

4th annual on Sat Oct 15, 10:00am-1:00pm at the South Hall

Shop for winter storage crops directly from LOCAL farmers IN BULK to fill your pantry for the winter. Load up on local root veggies, greens, cabbage, squash, apples, tomatoes, peppers, meats, fish, preserves and pickles. Last market of the season! Volunteers needed to help with set up and clean up.

CABLE BAY FARM, Retreat Cove

Galiano organically grown produce: Green‎ and Red Peppers; bunches of Hakurei White Salad Turnips, Merlin & Cylindra Beets and Beet Greens

CLEARSKY FARMS

Garlic, winter squash, tomatillos, kale, bulk tomatoes, pole beans, black beans, and apples.

COUNTRY WOOLS, SIDNEY

Olde country sheep with pasture perfect lamb, including sausages. Eggs, squash, cascade berry vinaigrette.

DAISY HILL FARM, Galiano Island

Preserves, salsa, tomatoes.

DONNA MARBEN

Preserves, dried fruit, and fresh fruit and vegetables.

GALIANO COMMUNITY FOOD PROGRAM

Organic applesauce.

LAURIE MACCALLUM, Therah valley, Galiano Island

IOPA certified garlic.

SCHNARE, HYNICK, CROUSE & SONS {OCEANWISE SEAFOOD} – Captain Thomas Schnare

Fresh frozen Sockeye fillets; cold-smoked Albacore Tuna loins; Smoked Sockeye half-fillets; pre-sliced goldboard cold-smoked sockeye; thick-sliced ‘pounder’ smoked salmon bellies.

GALIANO SUNSHINE FARMS

Squash, potatoes, storage onions, hot peppers, broccoli, kale, apples, garlic and chard.

HOPE HILL FARM, Salt Spring Island

Whole frozen chicken, beef, winter squash, garlic, and sweet onions.

BECKY’S HOT FOOD available while you shop.

Spicy Jamaican patties (beef and veg.) samosas (beef, chicken, veg., and spinach), chicken wraps (with coconut milk base and spices), homemade Jamaican ginger beer, and ginger cookies. These products are available at wholesale, on order.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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20 09, 2016

Gleaning Report by Emma Luna Davis

By |2018-06-20T16:42:11-07:00September 20th, 2016|Categories: Food Program, Growing (Garlic Co-op, Greenhouse, Gleaning Project)|0 Comments

Another fruitful season of the Gleaning Project is drawing to a close. Every year I’m amazed at the generosity of this island, and the incredible bounty that we share. I feel so lucky to have this job since picking fruit outside with friends and neighbours is one of my all-time favourite activities. There really is nothing more beautiful than the sunlight coming through the leaves of an apple tree, and there is a special kind of zen to picking ripe fruit. And always the promise that the next one will be the biggest or the most perfect or the sweetest.

This year so far, the Gleaning Project has brought 65 volunteers together to pick over 8,500 lbs of produce, including assorted varieties of plums, figs, hazelnuts, crabapples, apples, pears, quinces, corn and kale. The volunteers who come out find all kinds of creative ways to use the harvest for their families: drying, pickling, canning, and of course just fresh eating. This year, one picker is using an upcycled washing machine to make cider! The Food Program’s share was distributed to families in need, as well as used for workshops and community kitchens and events.

This year it seems the word about this project really got around, as we had double the number of landowners and farmers who reached out and invited us to come pick. We are very grateful for their generosity – without it there would be no Gleaning Project. Thank you everyone, and see you next year!

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20 09, 2016

The 7th Annual Community Potluck Picnic

By |2018-06-20T16:37:14-07:00September 20th, 2016|Categories: Community Picnic, Food Program|0 Comments

The Galiano Community School & Activity Centre, Sep 11, 12-4pm, rain or shine

Come join your neighbours, bring a friend, meet someone new. Share a favourite dish, stories, games and live music. Last year was a blast! Celebrate the end of a great summer. Everyone, young and old, is welcome.

Pie-baking contest! Zucchini Races! Soccer game! New this year: Tug-o-war at 12:30!

Zucchini races!

Two categories: kids and adults. Each category is divided into two vehicle types: Integral (i.e. the vehicle would collapse if the zucchini was removed) and modified. There is also an award for the most creative vehicle design. Vehicles can be no more than 13” wide, and to win a prize, all the power must be supplied by the incline ramp. However, in the words of the judges:

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

Allotment Society Garden Contest categories:

*Best basket of fruit

*Best basket of vegetables

*Biggest Pumpkin

*Tallest Sunflower

*Best bunch of flowers (wild or grown)

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20 07, 2016

Galiano Gastronomic Book Club

By |2018-06-20T16:35:22-07:00July 20th, 2016|Categories: Book Club, Food Program|0 Comments

Want to read and discuss writing on food, agriculture, sustainability, politics? Share insights, critique, explore, and discover? Read the book and join the discussion! See weekly Food Program newsletters for titles and meeting times.

See “Galiano Gastronomic Book Club” on Facebook for more info or contact Lauren Magner.

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20 07, 2016

Community Games Night by Alison Colwell

By |2018-06-20T16:32:39-07:00July 20th, 2016|Categories: Community Meals, Food Program|0 Comments

Community Games Night turns the South Hall into a giant family living room. Tables are set up with Scrabble and Battleship, Risk and Connect 4. There are decks of cards, and a Twister mat on the floor for the younger kids. It began as a way for the Food Program to hold an evening kitchen to stock the freezer with meals for seniors, but has since grown (as do so many of our food program ideas) into a much-loved monthly event.

Games Nights happen once a month, on a Thursday, between 6 and 8pm. The cost is sliding scale: $5-$10 per person. Sometimes people bring their families with them for a chance to connect over a board game, others just meet up with friends (or make friends) when they get there. Someone is always looking for a partner to play a new game with. Everyone is welcome, and we have dozens of games to choose from.

Usually we have a feature game. Someone offers to teach a game to anyone who wants to learn. We’ve featured Chess, Mancala, Mexican Domino Train…we’re always interested in getting suggestions of games you’d like us to feature.

And did I mention there’s supper? Nothing fancy. I always make lots of pizzas, a big green salad, and a couple of main dishes. Sometimes it’s Black Bean Chili, or Lasagna, or Indian Butter chicken. (And every other month there might be fresh donuts for desert!)

So if you’ve never been before, come join us for Games Night, and a chance to connect with your family and neighbours over a friendly game of Chequers or Settlers of Catan, and you can see why everyone enjoys Games Night.

And if you would like to help in the kitchen, that would be wonderful, we always need volunteers from 3pm till 6pm, or for clean up after.

Thanks to the Galiano Parks and Rec Commission for helping this program run for another year, as it gets closer to being self sufficient.

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20 07, 2016

Beekeepers Course – Sunday, August 7th

By |2018-06-20T16:28:25-07:00July 20th, 2016|Categories: Food Program, Workshops|0 Comments

Apiary Inspector David MacDonald will be coming to Galiano to share his knowledge on beekeeping, with specific focus on the varroa mite and its impact on honeybee populations. This course is for all levels of beekeepers, from novice to experienced, and will combine a morning tutorial with a field inspection at a local apiary. If you are interested, please RSVP to Colleen at galianofoodprograms@gmail.com. Details have not been confirmed but the course will likely run from 9am until 2pm. Entrance fee is by donation, a sliding scale of $10-15, with proceeds going to the Food Program.

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20 07, 2016

Gleaning Project and Berry Co-op

By |2018-06-20T16:24:52-07:00July 20th, 2016|Categories: Food Program, Growing (Garlic Co-op, Greenhouse, Gleaning Project)|0 Comments

Are you a landowner with trees that are dripping with fruit, but you don’t have time to pick them? Is climbing a ladder getting to be too much? Did that one tree have a bumper crop this year? Do you have more than your family can use? Is your garden overflowing? Would you like to share the bounty with other members of the community? Would you benefit from access to healthy produce, but have no trees or garden of your own? Do you enjoy the simple pleasure of harvesting in a group?

If you answered yes, then Gleaning Project may be for you. The Food Program organizes volunteers to gather to pick surplus crops that are shared between the pickers, the landowners, families in need and the Food Program’s kitchen events. We bring orchard ladders and picking bags and try to gather as much as possible so there’s no waste. A staff member from the Food Program is always present to supervise the pickers and liaise with the landowners, and the Food Program carries insurance that covers our activities on your land.

If you’re interested in harvesting or having us come pick, contact us for more information. Any produce or fruit is appropriate–we love unusual offers!

Similar to gleaning, but with a twist, is the Berry Co-op, which is returning this year at the same south-end site. Thanks to a special arrangement with the landowner, the Food Program organizes community members who will pick either organically-grown tayberries (a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry) or thornless blackberries throughout the summer, with two-thirds of the harvests going to the Galiano Club and the other third going to the pickers. (Last year, Club share berries were sold as a fundraiser, were used in jam-making classes, or were baked in pies for the annual Blackberry Tea.)

Depending on weather and the pace of ripening, co-op members will likely be picking every Tuesday evening (6:30-8pm) and Friday (9-10:30am). We are looking for a commitment of at least three sessions over the course of the summer. At our trial pick we found that a person averaged 6lbs of tayberries in two hours (blackberries may yield more). Based on that rate, a co-op member could expect to take home 2lbs of berries per session.

If you are interested in participating in the berry co-op, please email Colleen as soon as possible at galianofoodprograms@gmail.ca or phone #2737 and she will send interested parties a sign-up sheet for dates, with more details to follow.

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31 05, 2016

Our BeeCause Bees, by Colleen Doty

By |2018-05-31T21:26:17-07:00May 31st, 2016|Categories: Food Program, School Projects|0 Comments

That March morning the school library was warm and smelled of cedar, beeswax. Weeks of anticipation–“When will they arrive?”–culminated. As two students and I approach the covered case, one student hyperventilates. “It’s ok,” I say. “The bees are behind glass.” We speak in hushed tones, overcome by rhythmic buzzing. I lift the cloth cover and we three exhale: ten-thousand pairs of wings shimmer on striped bodies.

In collaboration with Galiano Community School Principal Shannon Johnston, staff, teachers, and local beekeeper Brad Lockett, the Food Program received a grant from BeeCause.org and Whole Kids Foundation for an observation honeybee hive. The goal of BeeCause.org is to raise a generation of kids who love bees and respect the role they play in our ecosystem and food chain. BeeCause hopes to install 1000 hives in schools. Our school was the first and only, so far, in Canada to receive such an observation hive. To date, 174 other schools in the US, Haiti and the Bahamas have received hives.

Our school has embraced the bees. Now that the kids have experienced how gentle the bees are the initial fear has evaporated. Together, everyone’s been learning. “A bee only makes 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its entire life,” states Sophia. Dylan notes: “To make honey, bees regurgitate nectar from one of their stomachs…” The bees pass nectar from bee to bee until the desired consistency and water content are reached. The flavour of honey reflects the local pollinated flora.

“Our” bees access the outdoors through a tube drilled through the school wall. From outside, the hole sits three and half metres from the ground and looks like a bird house. A bee exits the tube and flies across the playground carrying another bee. “She’s removing the dead,” says Claire. “The girl bees do all the work!” exclaims Shekayah with a hint of indignation. It’s recess and the playground is filled with a cacophony only children can make: running, watching Leo the Lizard in the sand box. Meanwhile, honey bees fly overhead, an image of how things should be; all right in the world.

“Maybe we should check on the bees today,” suggests Finn. He means from inside the school library, to observe them through the case. I explain that we’re going to leave the bees quiet and dark to allow the queen to build up her brood. For now, we’ll watch them outside in the school garden, enjoying the blue flowers of borage, the asparagus that’s been allowed to bloom and the raspberry flowers that are appearing. The pear tree, we notice, has a particularly good fruit set this year. We have thousands of new friends to thank for this.

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30 04, 2016

Galiano’s Next Top Nettle – 2016 Winning Dishes

By |2018-05-31T21:21:29-07:00April 30th, 2016|Categories: Food Program, Nettlefest|0 Comments

Nettle paneer with peas, from Cate Sandilands

This recipe is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s classic saag paneer recipe in World Vegetarian (2002). I added the non-traditional peas for colour and texture; I also adjusted the spices to suit nettles.

Ingredients:

For the paneer

2 litres whole milk

3-5 tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp toasted cumin, ground

For the nettle paneer

2 lbs nettle tops, soaked in cold water and drained

1 fresh green Indian or Thai chile, chopped (leave seeds in)

2 tsp fine cornmeal

3 tbsp canola or grapeseed oil

½ c finely chopped onion

2 inch x 1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

1 ½ c finely chopped ripe tomatoes

1 ½ to 2 tsp salt

2 to 3 tsp ground, toasted cumin

¼ tsp cayenne

½ tsp cinnamon

2 c sweet peas, fresh or defrosted

1 small patty paneer, as above, cut into small cubes or coarsely crumbled

Directions:

For the paneer

Put the milk in a large, heavy saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, place a colander in the sink and line it with a clean dishtowel or three to four layers of cheesecloth.

When the milk begins to boil, turn the heat down to low. Quickly add 3 tbsp of the vinegar and stir. The mixture should curdle at this point, the whey completely separating from the curds. If this does not happen, add 1 remaining tbsp of vinegar and repeat the process (and once more again, if needed: make sure the curds are really separated from the whey).

Empty the mixture into the lined colander. Add 1 tsp ground, toasted cumin seed to the curds and mix well into the mixture.

Let the seasoned cheese sit in the colander for 10 minutes. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth/towel and twist to squeeze out as much water as possible. Wrap the remaining curds tightly, tying off the ends (make sure the curds cohere as much as possible). Lay the cloth and contents on a flat board set in the sink. Flatten the bundle into a patty shape. Put another board on top of the patty. Now put a 5+ lb weight on the patty and press for 5 minutes. The cheese is now ready: it is best used asap (although it will keep in the fridge for a few hours). Cut into small cubes or crumble into large chunks. Set aside.

For the nettle paneer

Bring ¼ c water to boil in a large pan. Put in the washed nettle and green chile. Turn heat to medium-low; cover the pan and cook gently for 20 minutes. Mash the nettle with a potato masher until you have a coarse puree. Blend in the cornmeal and cook gently for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a separate frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and stir and fry until it just starts to brown. Add the ginger and stir, then add the tomatoes and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until the texture thickens. Stir the tomato mixture into the nettle mixture, then add the salt, toasted cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon, and stir to mix (taste to confirm salt and spices and add more if desired). Cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the peas and cook for 1 minute.

Add the cubed/crumbled paneer and stir, very gently, to heat. Serve /asap, with basmati rice or naan. Goes especially well with a simple dal and cucumber raita.

Nettle Cheesecake, from Sophia Kontou and Rowan Oakley

The base was blended/crushed almonds, coconut, & pumpkin seeds as well as a gluten free pie crust mix, chopped dates, coconut oil and some honey.

Savoury Nettle, Mushroom and Cheese Crepes, from Dorothy Beauchamp

Ingredients:

14 (6 inch) pre-made or homemade crepes

3 T olive oil

1 1/4 lbs mushrooms, rinsed, trimmed and thinly sliced (about 8 cups)

(I used brown and white mushrooms, any combination can be used)

1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 T fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp. dried.

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

10 ounces fresh nettles, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped.

5 ounces freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Thinly sliced green onions, chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:

  1. Make crepes if using homemade and set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  3. Heat oil in large skillet until hot enough to sizzle a piece of mushroom. Add the mushrooms all at once and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in the parsley, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper Cook for one minute.
  5. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the nettles. Cover and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes.
  6. Uncover and add the Parmesan cheese, stirring until melted.
  7. Spoon mixture down the centre of each crepe. Roll up crepes and arrange side by side in a 13×9 baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions and chopped parsley.
  8. Cover pan with foil and heat until cheese melts, about 15 minutes.
  9. Serve warm.
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