Juicy strawberries! Frilly kale! Tangerine coloured carrots and blueberries: oh how we love you, July. No matter how many times we pull in harvests from the fields, it’s always a joy to taste just how deliciously flavourful food can be when it comes from the Salt Spring soil.
We’re in the thick of the season: that means we’re busy planning long table dinners, and sharing wood fired pizzas at the farm. Getting ready for music, drifting across fields at sunset. Learning new skills, meeting neighbours, and celebrating an abundance that we are determined should reach everyone who eats for a living. ALL of us, whether we can afford land, or whether we rely on the food bank, deserve access to healthy local food.
Matt and Jandy working the new cob pizza oven | Photo: Andrea Palframan
Check out what’s in store at the Farmland Trust this summer:
• This week, the brilliant Luke Wallace is hosting a Field Hollers Songcraft Workshop at the farm followed by an open air concert at Westcott Farm (July 3). Tickets
• On August 11, join our Farmland Feast, a whimsical farm-to-table dinner with stellar island chefs from Sweetgrass and Love’s Galettes collaborating to wow you with locally grown delicacies. Tickets
• Auction - Giant roses to business sponsors Jill Louise Campbell, Clearheart Botanicals and Ruckle Farm who are offering the first of a flood of island experiences and unique objects d’art to support our work. Launching August 1, we’ll be running the online auction until 9 pm on August 11th where those who are gathered at our Farmland Feast will get to join the fun. Got a business that can offer support? Email ella@ssifarmlandtrust.org
• Once again the Salt + Cider Tall Ship cruise invites folks to set sail aboard BC’s oldest sailboat, and cruise to a magical hidden orchard. Come aboard on September 20th for a morning or afternoon sailing adventure with knowledgeable guides who will remind you how our waterways have always been the ‘food superhighways’ of the Salish Sea. Tickets
We’re also thrilled to announce a great lineup of Root to Bloom Workshops, including Fermentation Fundamentals with Melanie Furman (Sunday, August 16th), Cultivating a Medicinal Herb Garden with Erinanne Harper (August 6th), and Maximizing Yield & Nutrition with Soil Shepherd Clay Houghland (July 15). Don’t miss the chance to learn from island experts in fun, hands-on workshops that will equip you with skills for a rooted life. Full course line up is here
Roy and Trish with giant parsnips | Photo: Andrea Palframan
Abundance does not come from a number on a balance sheet, or from amassing more than one’s fair share. Abundance, when it’ spreads across a whole community, can look like a neighbours calling to say, "I've got more pears than I know what to do with." It can look like a greenhouse, full to bursting with cucumbers and tomatoes reaching for the sky. Or: it can look like volunteers dashing up ladders, picking apples to give away to families in need.
All this summertime action makes people pay attention to the Farmland Trust (thanks for reading!). But to make the harvest season buzz, there’s a tremendous amount of year-round work.
Monthly donors make that work possible.
Friends of the Farmland Trust, who give $25, $50, or $100 per month, are like the steady drip-fed irrigation system that keeps our work flourishing. Right now, 45 monthly donors allow us to care for Burgoyne Valley Community Farm, steward community gardens, train new growers, operate the Root Community Food Hub, harvest 25,000 lbs of fruit every year through our Food Share program, and spread local food abundance around on Salt Spring Island so that the fine local foods we put so much love into growing can be made accessible to everyone.
We really, really hope you’ll join us for a farm-to-table feast, attend a Farmland Trust concert, join a workshop or volunteer to help us pick fruit this summer. And: we invite you to become a Friend of the Farmland Trust today to help nourish the roots of this vital work.
Jana, community garden coordinator, at a recent work party | Photo: Shannon Farmer
We wont’ just shower you with love and glory when you become a Friend. You’ll receive:
• Access to Food Share : drop off your extra produce or pick up what you need at free food swap potlucks
• Invites to farm-to-table dinners, gleaning events, and tours
• Harvesting help from our team of gleaners, with surplus feeding our vibrant Food Share program.
• Earlybird access to Root to Bloom Centre workshops with folks like Jane Squier, Jared Qwustenuxun Williams and Linda Gilkeson
• Root Food Hub Insider Access – rent our apple juicer and food dehydrators; use the fabulous commercial kitchen space to host or join foodie workshops & canning/food preservation parties; get rooted at weekly permaculture work bees
Please explore all we have to offer this summer, and visit to join us as a monthly donor today and help keep abundance flowing and growing.
