The funky offspring of the Galiano Club, the Food Program began in 2008.
The Galiano Community Food Program strives to ensure that Galiano Island is a thriving, livable, food-secure community, where every resident feels included, welcome and empowered to build a deeper connection with their food system. In so doing, the Program improves Galiano’s ecological sustainability and community resilience in the face of climate change and uncertainty. The program seeks to set an example that reaches beyond our local community and spreads across the country.
Food Program Blog
Growing Citrus & Subtropicals
Saturday, January 21 1:00-3:00 at the South Hall. Please RSVP to register. $15-$25 sliding scale.
Did you know that you can grow citrus on Galiano, without a greenhouse or any special equipment? Our increasingly mild winters mean that the list of Mediterranean plants that can survive our winters is growing.
Bob and Verna Duncan have dedicated the last twenty years to pushing the envelope on what we can grow in our region. They own a nursery and demonstration orchard in North Saanich, where they grow over 400 varieties of fruit trees, including citrus, olives, avocadoes, figs, olives, and pomegranates. They’re experimenting with exactly which conditions these plants need to thrive, and they travel to the colder regions of Israel, Turkey and Greece to learn what local farmers there are doing. They have brought back hardy varieties and cultivated them here, so they have plant varietals that are most likely to succeed in our conditions. Bob trained as a botanist and entomologist and worked with the Canadian Forest Service.
But it’s the citrus that gets me really excited. Available from their nursery are Meyer lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruit, variegated Pink Lemons, yuzu, kumquats, and sudachi. While some of these do need a greenhouse, the lemons, limes and sour oranges are hardy enough to survive our winters along the south wall of a building with a bit of floating row cover […]
Kids’ Lantern Making Workshop
Dec 11th – 1-4pm at the Activity Centre
Come make your lantern for the Solstice parade. A simple lantern tales less than an hour to make – so come any time to get your lantern made. Bring a glass jar with you (1L size is perfect.)
Ninth Annual Solstice Potluck
In the middle of winter, when the nights are long, and the days are grey and short, we hold a special celebration on Galiano. This year will be the ninth annual Solstice Potluck. It’s a time to celebrate community and the warmth of togetherness on the darkest night of the year, keeping in mind that at this point darkness gives way and changes back towards the light.
For me, Solstice preparations begin when I pick up the organic turkeys from Ireland Farms in Saanichton. The day of the event, we spend the day in the kitchen making bread and soup, cranberry sauce and roast potatoes, but I’m always grateful the dinner is a potluck and everyone comes with something to share.
At Solstice we celebrate with a kids’ candlelight parade, a huge bonfire (where you can get mugs of hot soup if you want to stay outside and enjoy being awake in the night), a big potluck feast, and local musicians to entertain us afterwards. It is a community event. Everyone is welcome.
It also is a time to reflect on the past year and the ways in which Galiano celebrates community through so many food-focused gatherings and events. There are so many ways that the different generations of our community connect and share food together.
And you can help too. Volunteers are what make huge community events like this […]
SLOG Report by Colleen Doty
How did your garden grow this year? Maybe it’s still growing. Or, maybe life got in the way of those good intentions in the spring, the promising dance of dried seeds in the paper packet that got forgotten in the cupboard, and things never really germinated the way you’d hoped. With the dark damp days upon us it’s the time of year we tend to burrow down and take stock of where we’re at: what worked, what didn’t, and what might we do differently next time.
The Seed Library of Galiano (SLOG) would like to know how your edible garden grew and what seeds did well this year. One of SLOG’s goals is to increase island food security by collecting viable seed that flourishes in Galiano’s climate. That’s why SLOG only takes seed grown on Galiano, and why, we ask our donors to fill out some paperwork (we can help with that piece). SLOG is very interested in details like germination rates and growing conditions.
To help demystify the process of saving seeds SLOG and the Food Program are offering a free Seed Saving Workshop by Barry New. It will be held November 12th, from 11-1pm at the Community Greenhouse at the school garden. Barry will be sharing techniques and providing demonstrations on saving seeds for edibles such as tomatoes, peppers, grains, and other more difficult seeds. Please bring your questions, any seeds that need processing, […]
Garlic co-op
Do you like garlic? The Garlic Co-op is a group of garlic enthusiasts who collectively grow a few varieties of organic premium garlic, with scapes, in a large, shared, sunny plot at the south end of the island. Together we learn about this easy-to-grow, hardy crop, share the load of bed-preparation, seeding, weeding, mulching and harvesting, and enjoy some delicious garlic. Everyone is welcome, and no previous experience is required to join. Now that it’s fall we’re getting ready to plant our bulbs at our brand-new site! If you’re interested in checking it out, contact Emma for details.
Seed Library of Galiano – Seed Check-in Sessions at the Library
Friday, Nov. 4th, Saturday, Nov. 12th, Thursday, Nov. 17th, and Friday Nov. 25th. All days are 1-3pm. We are open for seed drop-offs for SLOG members and others who have grown edible, medicinal or native seed on Galiano. Thanks to the GCA we will also have some native seed available for loan. Any questions? Please contact Colleen.
Upcoming Food Program Events
