Garlicky pickled carrots and beans, blueberry jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam, and other small batch preserves from our Summer/Fall canning workshop series.
The days are growing shorter, the nights are getting colder, and the leaves are falling from the trees. You know what that means--harvest abundance time! Despite the strange agricultural season we have had so far (anyone else still waiting for their tomatoes to turn colour?), there are plenty of tasty things to be harvested right around now. Late summer squashes, beets and chard, apples, plums, salad greens, pea tips, radishes, and carrots are only a few of the delicious local goods on offer.
During the 2010 canning workshop series, we have made an assortment of jams (including blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, and strawberry rhubarb), canned tomatoes, and pickled vegetables, as well as low-acid convenience foods (pasta sauce, vegetable soup, and chicken soup). Canning some of these items can be a big job, but the more often you can, the easier and and faster it gets. Plus, canning with a group of friends is fun and makes the work go by much faster.
To try your hand at small batch preserving, please register for one of our FREE upcoming workshops:
Wednesday October 13, 5-8pm - cucumber pickles; daikon and carrot pickles
Wednesday October 20, 5-8pm - preservation by fermentation (sauerkraut and kimchi)
Harvest Fair!
On Saturday September 25, Food Security will be joining forces with Still Moon Arts Society to host our annual Harvest Fair and Moon Festival. This day-long event fuses culturally diverse autumn traditions as the daytime agricultural and community fair morphs into a spectacular Mid-Autumn full moon event at sunset.
The Harvest Fair takes place in Slocan Park from 4-7pm and features a harvest competition, live performances, games, steaming hot bowls of community soup and toasty homemade bannock, last-minute lantern-making, and more.
The dusk lantern parade begins around 6:45 and leads the crowd on a winding route to nearby Renfrew Ravine. The Ravine will glow with the light of hundreds of handmade paper and glass lanterns, and will be alive with the buzz of live music, fireworks, and dancing.
We are seeking donations of garden vegetables for the community soup. To donate, contact Stephanie.
Harvest Competition Categories
The harvest competition is open to people who live, work, or attend school in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood.
Most sizeable sunflower
Most bountiful flower bouquet
Most gorgeous green bouquet
Tastiest homemade jam/jelly
Tubbiest tomato
Heaviest zucchini
Sexiest Squash
Beefiest bean
Most oversized onion
Craziest carrot
Ugliest garden shoes
To find out more, visit the main Still Moon Arts website.
Cultivating Food, Cultivating Community
Fall Workshop Series at Strathcona Community Centre
Sunday, Sept 19th (Harvest Festival)
Apartment and Container Gardening workshop with Robin Wheeler
10-11:30 am
Registration # 45502.401
Suggested $5 donation, no one turned away.
We will cover the problems of tiny gardens and will address some cures. We will talk about the best plants for small gardens and how to get the biggest, healthiest harvest possible.
Food Preservation Basics workshop with Robin Wheeler
11:45 am -1:15 pm
Registration # 45502.401
Suggested $5 donation, no one turned away.
We will go over the Top 10 food saving techniques and their pros and cons. We'll talk about seasonal availability and how to take advantage of sales by preserving, plus what supplies we should have on hand at all times to be ready for any disaster.
Sunday, September 26th
CANNING 101 Presented by the Environmental Youth Alliance
1-4pm, FREE
Registration #45560.401
Come learn a simple way to preserve local fruit! The workshop will focus on how to safely preserve food using proper canning and freezing methods. Participants will be able to take home preserves of locally harvested fruit. Specific fruit used in the workshop will be dependent on what is currently being harvested. All food and materials are included in the cost of the workshop.
Sun, October 3rd
CANNING 201 Presented by the Environmental Youth Alliance
1-4pm; FREE
Registration #45561.401
Come learn more ways to preserve local fruit and vegetables! The workshop will focus on how to safely preserve food using proper canning and pickling methods. Participants will be able to take home preserves of locally harvested fruit and/or vegetables. Specific foods used in the workshop will be dependent on what is currently being harvested. All food and materials are included in the cost of the workshop.
Sunday, October 10th
CANNING 101 Presented by the Environmental Youth Alliance
1-4pm; FREE
Registration #45562.401
Come learn a simple way to preserve local fruit! The workshop will focus on how to safely preserve food using proper canning and freezing methods. Participants will be able to take home preserves of locally harvested fruit. Specific fruit used in the workshop will be dependent on what is currently being harvested. All food and materials are included in the cost of the workshop.
Saturday, October 23rd
Building Food Resiliency in the Community with Ross Moster
1-4 pm; FREE
Registration # 45503.401
Getting together with others in our community to grow, share, celebrate and engage in other neighbour-generated activities around local food is not only fun, but can lead to satisfying and productive connections which can help free up our time, lower our carbon footprint, save us money, and make our blocks, neighbourhoods, and communities safer, healthier, and more sustainable.
Learn what Village Vancouver and others are doing to help neighbours network around food and food security and share what you are doing! This will be a highly interactive event - we will explore how we can collaborate in all possible ways to increase grassroots activity around food sustainability in Strathcona.
Saturday, October 30th
Seed Saving in the City workshop
10 am -1pm
Registration #45504.401
Fee: $30, no one turned away
We will be discussing seed saving basics, the politics of seeds, how to build a seed collective and learn to select for good traits. We'll learn about isolation distances, small business creation, hear stories, and work together to create the base for a local seed chapter. Facilitated by: Maria Hunter, Dragonfly Seeds; Mojave Kaplan,Planting Seeds Project; Robin Wheeler, Edible Landscapes www.bcseeds.org
Keeping Chickens in Strathcona
Many people have begun to keep backyard chickens, and many others are thinking about getting them. With the recent passage of the Vancouver Bylaw legalizing the keeping of backyard chickens, and so much interest in chickens, it is important for everyone’s sake (chicken owners, neighbours, and chickens alike) that chicken owners know how to take care of them properly.
Wednesday, November 3rd
Backyard Chickens 101 workshop
7-9 pm
Registration #45505.401
$10 suggested donation
Learn about the basics of proper care and keeping of small urban flocks of hens, and meet neighbours who share your interest. This interactive session will help participants discover the ease of caring for small flocks.
Tuesday, November 9th
Creating a Coop Co-op with Ross Moster
7-9 pm; FREE
Registration #45506.401
Learn about Village Vancouver's city wide Chicken Coop Co-op group and meet other neighbours with interests around chickens, and begin to explore how you can support one other around chicken keeping (e.g., acting as resources for each another, sharing information, organizing bulk feed buying, etc.). We will start a coop co-op in Strathcona.
Tuesday, November 23rd
Mad City Chickens: Coming to a Backyard Near You! Film screening
with Q&A session to follow.
7-9 pm; by donation
Registration #45507.401
Mad City Chickens (79 min. film) is a sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical look at the people who keep urban chickens in their backyards. From chicken experts and authors to a rescued landfill hen or an inexperienced family that decides to take the poultry plunge-- and even a mad scientist and giant hen taking to the streets -- it's a humourous and heartfelt trip through the world of backyard chickendom.
Sunday, November 14th
Garden Planning and Preparation with Grant Watson
2-5pm
Registration #45508.401
$35 suggested fee; no one turned away
This course will get you started in thinking about how to start a food garden, and taking the first important step of getting the beds ready for planting. A sound garden plan that takes all the key factors into consideration has a better chance of producing and winning your enthusiasm. We’ll do a hands-on activity as well.
Planning includes: goal setting, location, layout, coldframes/greenhouses, and
ordering seeds. Preparation includes: sheet mulching, tilling/digging, cover crops/green manures, starting seedlings, irrigation, planting perennials and beneficial.
Sunday, December 5th
Healthy Food on a Budget with Robin Wheeler
1:30 -3 pm
Registration #45509.401
Suggested donation $15-20.
It gets harder and harder to stretch a food dollar, especially when we want to keep our nutrient level high. In this class we'll look at micro growing, gleaning, nutrient dense foods, bulk buying and other tricks for getting the most value for our dollar.
Concepts in Year Round Gardening with Robin Wheeler
3:15- 5:15 pm
Registration #45510.401
Suggested donation $25-30.
The Whys and Wherefores of food cycles - why we want them, how to get them. We will plan round the calendar food supplies, both in the larder and stored in the garden.
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