Support local B.C. businesses for all your food-related holiday shopping!

We’re big advocates for sustainable and local products and you can bet that extends to our holiday shopping list. Now, more than ever, it is important to support our local businesses and local food community.

When doing your holiday shopping this year, we encourage you to think local and sustainable. Consumables make a great gift your loved ones will be more than excited to receive and there is no shortage of great local businesses that provide something for everyone on your list.

Remember that experiences and time together is a great gift as well. Consider supporting local restaurants by gifting a friend a gift card to their favourite local eatery so you can hang out and enjoy a meal together in the future, or source local ingredients and pick up a cookbook from a local chef for your family to cook and enjoy a meal together at home. There are loads of ways to get creative.

Our team of staff would like to share some of our favourites to help you find a gift for the foodie on your list. Almost all of the businesses below allow you to shop online and pick up your order at the store, or have your order shipped to you or directly to the person you are shopping for this holiday season making your holiday gift giving easier than ever this year.

East Van Roasters - eastvanroasters.com
319 Carrall Street, Vancouver, B.C.

If you have a chocolate lover on your holiday list this is the place to shop. Creating incredible, ethically sourced bean-to-bar chocolate and coffee, this local shop is also a social enterprise work and job training for women in downtown Vancouver. Check out their online shop for some sweet treats and even some sweet EVR swag.

East Van Jam - eastvanjam.com
Vancouver, B.C.

We love this local jam company with an incredible selection of locally made products made from B.C. produce. There are so many incredible flavours you’ll find it hard to pick just one. Available through online orders or at a selection of retailers (check out their website to find one near you).

Soirette - soirette.com
1433 W Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C.

For holiday cakes, cookies boxes, and macarons, check out Soirette bakery. Their holiday cookie box makes the perfect gift with nine varieties of delicious cookies. Or for a fun and scrumptious family activity- check out their DIY ginger bread kit. Everything you need to build and decorate your own gingerbread house.

Hives for Humanity - hivesforhumanity.com
101 - 1245 Glen Drive, Vancouver, B.C.

Looking for stocking stuffer ideas? Our friends at Hives fro Humanity have got you covered with jars of fresh local honey, beeswax candles, and a fine collection of salves , balms, and tinctures. Order online or check out their website for a retailer near you that carries their products.

Blue Heron Creamery - blueheroncheese.com
2410 Main Street, Vancouver, B.C.

Plant-based, cultured, fresh & aged. Blue Heron produces 100% dairy-free, plant-based vegan cheeses and other products, a perfect gift for the vegan in your life. But not just for vegans! Consider a Blue Heron purchase for any foodie on your gift list.

Mission Hill Family Estate - missionhillwinery.com
West Kelowna, B.C.

Mission Hill Family Estate Winery is Canada’s only five-time winner of Winery of the Year. Their online shop offers wine by the bottle, or carefully curated gift packages. Treat your friends and family to a bottle of B.C.

Coho Commissary Market - cohocommissary.com/market
Vancouver, B.C.

Head over to the Coho Commissary’s online Market for a number of incredible and delicious food and drink options from their incredible community of local small businesses. There’s something for everyone in here and if you simply cannot decide which food items to get for your gift try one of their curated food boxes with a selection of amazing products from their vendors.

Sheringham Distillery - sheringham-distillery.myshopify.com
Sooke B.C.

Started by a local chef turned distiller and his wife, Sheringham makes small batch handmade spirits from high quality, locally sourced ingredients. The perfect gift for those who enjoy making cocktails.

Lumette -enjoylumette.com
Sooke, B.C.

Alayne MacIsaac (also co-founder of the above mentioned Sheringham Distillery) created Lumette for those who want to enjoy a cocktail without the alcohol. These non-alcoholic spirits are crafted using premium botanicals and traditional distilling methods and make the perfect gift for those that love making fabulous cocktails, without the alcohol.

Davis Bay Tea Co. - davisbaytea.ca
Davis Bay, B.C.

Who doesn’t love curling up on a cold rainy day with a piping hot cup of delicious tea. Davis Bay Tea Company has a wide selection of delicious loose leaf tea blends and even has holiday gift boxes so you can give the tea lover on your list a gift that allows them to experience many of the amazing blends and flavours Davis Bay Tea Co. has to offer.

Flourist - flourist.com
3433 Commercial St, Vancouver, B.C.

Have an avid baker on your holiday list? Check out Flourist for some great gift ideas. Whether it’s some new tools for in the kitchen or perhaps a bouquet of flours, the baking enthusiast on your holiday list would definitely love to receive some of the amazing products Flourist has available.

Untangled Cider - untangledcider.ca
725 MacKenzie Road, Cawston, B.C.

Dry, fruit forward ciders made on the Klippers Organic Farm and served at Row Fourteen Restaurant. Klippers believes that food should be organic, fresh, and grown free of pesticides or genetic modification – just as nature intended.

You can find Untangled Cider weekly at the Vancouver Farmers Market.

Vancouver Farmers Market - eatlocal.org
Vancouver, B.C.

Our B.C. farms and producers offer fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy, and poultry, sustainable seafood, craft beer, wine and spirits, artisan food products, handmade craft, wild harvested foods, and hot food and coffee. When you shop at a Vancouver Farmers Market, you’re buying fresh, delicious food directly from local producers.

Stirring Up Fun!

Calling kids of all ages! A fun family cooking class awaits!

Stirring Up Fun happens this Sunday, November 8th. This class is going to be so cool. Grab your kid-sized aprons (and your kids!) and master your family’s cooking skills with Chef Alain Chow of the acclaimed Vancouver restaurant, Kissa Tanto. Consistently ranked as one of Canada’s best restaurants since opening its doors in 2017, Kissa Tanto is basically… a big deal!

stirring up fun - Family cooking class | november 8, 2020 | 3:00 PM
$50 INCLUDES ingredients from Whole foods market | $20 ZOOM ONLY

Chef Alain will walk your family through some accessible cooking techniques to help you make a delicious, nutritious, and vegan (but so good!) pasta dish based on Kissa Tanto’s famous Tajarin Pasta. How can stock infuse your pasta sauce with flavour? What is nutritional yeast for? Answer these questions and many more this Sunday.

Photo by Scout Magazine

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Our longtime friends, Whole Foods Market is sponsoring out From Farms to Forks Food Series, and also providing the ingredients you’ll cook with! The team at Whole Foods have carefully selected ingredients from their stores to help recreate restaurant-quality food at home.... with your kids! Sound too good to be true? We promise, it’s not! Ingredient packages will be available for pick-up at two convenient Whole Foods locations, with everything you need for the meal (except a little oil and salt) already assembled. Easy peasy!

Speaking of Whole Foods, Growing Chefs is currently the beneficiary of the fall 2020 bag donation program! All BC Whole Foods locations are collecting 10 cent donations for Growing Chefs for every bag you don’t take home. Don’t forget--pack a reusable bag, save the environment, AND support food literacy in your community… all in one.

Now, don’t see the word vegan and opt out! We’re telling you… Chef Alain has packed nutrition and flavour into this dish. And we purposely chose a cool vegan dish to teach you something new. You and your little chefs will learn how to use products you might not encounter every day and make something you eat all the time more nutritious. 

And, there’s more! A musical guest. No kidding! The maestro Matt Kennedy (who happens to be a Growing Chefs board member on top of being an incredible musician) will delight you with tunes for all ages following the cooking demonstration! Enjoy restaurant ambience in your own home, with a chef-coached meal and musical entertainment… you’ll basically be fine dining!

Matt Kennedy is a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter and member of several acoustic string bands including fan favourite "Farmteam".  Matt sings and plays guitar and mandolin.

Photo by Mavreen David Photography

Get your kids and grownups into the kitchen! Can’t wait. Hope to see you there.

Lettuce Ask You a Question…

Hello friends,

If you carrot all about healthy kids & healthy food peas lend me a moment of your thyme as I butter you up and eggs-plain why you should join a bunch of fungi’s for Growing Chefs virtual food trivia night this Thursday. 

LETTUCE ASK YOU A QUESTION - FOOD TRIVIA | october 29, 2020 | 8:00 pm
$25 includes local beer and cupcakeS | $10 ZOOM ONLY

Bean missing pub trivia? Our friends in the local food community have brusseled up some trivia celery-brating local food. Tac-o-bout fun! Join us this Thursday, and use your melon to kick some asparag-ass and squash your competition proving your trivia knowledge is shrimply the best. Basil-ly it’s your chance to show your food knowledge can’t be beet and win some grape prizes if you come out on top, all in support of a good cause. Play for fun, play to win, play to learn. Are you eggs-cited to play? I know I yam and can feel the excitement for this event from my head to-ma-toes.

If you’re thinking about joining don’t delay, now’s the thyme to be sure you don’t get apricot without tickets. Kale your friends and rutabaga them to grab a ticket so you can play together, from a distance, and Lettuce Ask You a Question. Kiwi count on you to play food trivia with us? We would a-peach-iate you joining us a waffle lot.

Phew, I was definitely on a roll there, thanks for pudding up with those food puns. 

Tickets for this virtual event are just $10. Still need a little extra encourage-mint? For $25 we’ll throw in a 4-pack/6-pack of locally brewed beer and a Chocolate Mocha Porter Carrot Cupcake featuring Mocha Porter from Persephone Brewing Company (Gibsons) for you to enjoy while you play to make it a true (at-home) pub trivia night, couch potato style!

Gluten-free cocktails from The Strait & Narrow (Sidney) or alcohol-free beverages from Coastal Cultures (Gibsons) or Phillips Soda Works (Victoria) are also available by request.

BeVERAGES and cupcakes must be picked up from an East Vancouver location on Thursday afternoon.

BEER THANKS TO: Bomber Brewing (Vancouver), Bridge Brewing Company (North Vancouver), Dead Frog Brewery (Langley), Driftwood Brewery (Victoria), Mariner Brewing (Coquitlam), The Parkside Brewery (Port Moody), Persephone Brewing Company (Gibsons), Russell Brewing Company (Surrey), Strathcona Beer Company (Vancouver), Twin Sails Brewing (Port Moody), and Yellow Dog Brewing (Port Moody).

CUPCAKES THANKS TO: Cassandra Cake Co. (Port Coquitlam).

Orange you glad the food puns stopped? I mean that was just bananas. Imagine if we were sharp enough to throw in some  kitchen puns - that would have been pan-demonium! 

Have a rice day and we hope to see you Thursday! 

Amanda Adams
Growing Chefs Program Director and Trivia Buff

Donor Shoutout: Culinary Cache

As we soar through the From Farms to Forks Food Series, we want to take a moment to spread the love to our amazing sponsors and donors. Today we will be acknowledging those who contributed to our Culinary Cache, a complimentary gift bag that was delivered to our VIP ticket holders filled with tasty treats and products celebrating local food producers and businesses.

A big thank you to: The 101 Brewhouse + Distillery, Abeego, Bespoke Spirits House, best kind bakeshop, Davis Bay Tea Co, Earnest Ice Cream, Edible Vancouver & Wine Country, Fresh Roots, Fresh Prep, Hives for Humanity, KICS Lemonade, Klippers Organics, Knifewear, Mission Hill Family Estate, Tempea Natural Foods, Victoria Olive Oil Co, Whole Foods Market, and Zaklan Heritage Farm.

An extra thank you to J. Josue Photography for capturing all of these images, and Il Centro, Italian Cultural Centre for providing a safe space to pack our caches.

Keep an eye out for more posts about the other amazing people and places we’re collaborating with! Missed our Culinary Kick-Off and Loco for Cocoa? Not to worry; we have more amazing events coming up, including:

• Thursday, October 29th at 8:00 pm: Lettuce Ask You a Question (Food Trivia)

• Sunday, November 1st at 7:00 pm: Vivacious Vegetables (Cooking Class) with Chef Devon Latte of The Acorn Restaurant

• Sunday, November 8th at 3:00 pm: Stirring Up Fun (Family Cooking Class) with Chef Alain Chow of Kissa Tanto

Abeego Beeswax Wrap

best kind bakeshop

Earnest Ice Cream

Edible Vancouver

Growing Chefs

Knifewear

The 101 Brewhouse & Distillery

Bespoke Spirits House

Davis Bay Tea Co

Fresh Prep

Fresh Roots / Growing Chefs (LunchLAB)

Hives For Humanity

KICS Lemonade

Klippers Organics

Mission Hill Winery

Tempea Natural Foods

Victoria Olive Oil Co

Whole Foods Market

Zaklan Heritage Farm

OUR DONORS LOVED THEM, is a bit of an understatement:

Join us to get Loco for Cocoa!

Less than one week until Loco for Cocoa, our second delicious event in our From Farms to Forks Food Series. I haven’t been this excited about an event in a long time.

loco for cocoa chocolate experience | october 25, 2020 | 7:30 pm

If you haven’t heard the details, it’s an online celebration of all things chocolate! The night includes cool (but short!) lectures on the history of chocolate and how cacao is grown, along with a live demonstration of a delectable chocolate dessert. It’s going to be super fun.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Merri Schwartz, the founder of Growing Chefs and one of the current Co-Interim Executive Directors. But I’m also a professional pastry chef and chocolatier. Talking and teaching about chocolate are two of my favourite things of all time.

Me surrounded by chocolate treats.

What I’m most excited about for Loco for Cocoa are the people. 

I get to work on the dessert with a good friend and one of my favourite pastry chefs (oh, and newest Growing Chefs board member), Wendy Boys! Wendy and I always have a great time together, and we’re stoked to do our chocolate class with a little banter. We all spend a lot of time watching talking heads online these days, and interacting with a colleague--even through Zoom--is a much more fun way to teach you how to make dessert.

The amazing Wendy Boys! Photo by Mavreen David Photography.

Then, we have Shelley Bolton. Another dear friend and favourite collaborator, Shelley is the manager and chocolate maker at the amazing East Van Roasters. She’s going to explain how cacao is grown and how chocolate is made, and share about her experiences at cacao farms in the jungles of Guatemala and the hills of Hawaii. Can’t wait!

Shelley Bolton making chocolate in a 30 kg stone grinder.

Our third guest, Dr. Shea Henry, is a scholar who knows aaaaaaaall about the history of chocolate. I could listen to Shea talk for hours about the archaeology of food. The current Director and Archivist at the Maple Ridge Museum, Shea is full of cool, historical facts and has been giving talks about the history of chocolate for the past ten years!

We cannot wait for Shea’s talk about the history of chocolate!

Oh, and I can’t forget the other awesome piece! The local bit. We decided for the dessert that we’re going to source every. single. item. locally. (Of course, technically… the cacao and the sugar in the chocolate are imported. But because the product is roasted and ground right in the Downtown Eastside, we decided to count it.) 

The pears are from Parsons Farm Maket, the honey is from Hives for Humanity, we’ll have Mission Hill Family Estate wine, and the wonderful Earnest Ice Cream… all from BC! Even our vegan options are local: the Earth's Own oat cream, and Blue Heron Cheese plant-based butter both hail from Vancouver, while the Cosman & Webb maple syrup comes from a lovely farm in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. The salt is courtesy of the amazing Salt Spring Sea Salt.

If you join us, your $75 ticket will land you a package of these items so you can follow along as we cook. Or just keep to enjoy later ;). For those of you who are from out of town, you’re still welcome to join the Zoom for just $20! We will provide you with a shopping list so you can follow along too.

Thank you Mavreen David Photography for visiting Chef Wendy Boys during her run-through.

We’re so grateful for the support of our Silver Thyme event sponsors, Mission Hill Family Estate and Whole Foods Market for helping us throw fun events like this one. Thank you Pacific Restaurant Supply for opening your space to allow for safe and convenient ingredient pick up!

I’d be honoured to have you on board. Let’s celebrate chocolate and Growing Chefs together! Purchase your tickets here, and check out the other great events we have coming up here.

loco for cocoa chocolate experience | october 25, 2020 | 7:30 pm

Introducing Our New Intern: Andria Coulbourn!

Hi everyone! My name is Andria and I am a new student intern working with Growing Chefs for the Fall! I am beyond excited to be working with Growing Chefs, especially as we navigate our new online world and find new ways to keep creating community. Food is a huge part of my life, and I am very passionate about food literacy and creating sustainable food systems. 

Agriculture has always been a large part of my life! My grandparents live in Saskatchewan where they run multiple commercial greenhouses, producing fresh veggies to sell at farmers markets and through local distributors. Since I was young I’ve always spent time in my summers working in the greenhouses. I loved picking tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers but my favourite time was working at the markets. Since I was little I was so amazed by the wonderful community created between the vendors and purchasers at the market. Local agriculture brought so many people together! 

Since spending many summers picking and growing veggies at the greenhouses my interest in food led me to attend UBC to study in the faculty of Land and Food Systems. Land and Food Systems allows me to study interdisciplinary programs to learn all about my focus on international development and sustainable food systems. Through Land and Food Systems I also learned about international agriculture and had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia to take courses at an agricultural university south of Jakarta.

This amazing experience even allowed me to tour various agricultural systems such as tea fields and cassava fields. More locally, my courses have also taught me all about food literacy, which further encouraged me to pursue education in my future and hopefully teach in elementary schools. I am currently in my fourth year at UBC and I am really looking forward to bringing the knowledge I learn from Growing Chefs and what I’ve learned in the classroom together to help create food literacy and more sustainable food systems!

In my spare time, I love going on walks, watching the sunset at the beach and of course curling up to watch a movie with lots of snacks!

Week Five - Successful Summer Harvests and Winter Crop Planning

We are at week five of our Garden Q&A series with the Vancouver Master Gardeners, with only one more week to go! We have really enjoyed receiving your questions, and learning together about growing food. The world of growing food has no finish line, and there is always something new to learn. This week we have a question answered by Master Gardener student Sally, and then Bev and Jennifer are talking about guidelines for choosing what to plant for winter gardens, and how to maintain them.

Question from Diane in Lake Country:
Why are my cucumbers doing the curl this year?

Answer from Sally:
Cucumber fruit curl, properly known as crooking, is a common condition of cucumbers. 

There are many causes, requiring you to do a little detective work to correct the situation.  

 Pollination Problems: Even when there are plenty of pollinators in your garden, conditions might not be right to ensure complete pollination. Pollen requires semi-humid, warm conditions to be at its best, and when it’s too dry or prolonged rains occur during flowering, cucumber ovaries may not be fully pollinated. Cucumber flowers are pollinated by insects (mostly bees) that must visit each flower multiple times for complete pollination to produce a normal fruit. Inadequate pollination happens when there are too few bees, or when weather conditions are too wet, dry, hot, cool or cloudy. If only part of a flower's ovaries are fully pollinated, the enlarging ovary, which is the little cucumber fruit, becomes lop-sided. One side lengthens, while the other side stays shorter, causing curved fruit. You can hand pollinate cucumbers to achieve better pollination results, but if the weather is against you, fruits may still curl. We can't control adverse weather, but we can encourage bees to visit our yards by planting alyssum, calendula, dill, monarda, parsley, echinacea and many more types of herbs and flowers. Our cool, damp weather this year is likely the culprit, as bees don't fly in the rain.  

Diane, since you’ve indicated that you’re familiar with growing cucumbers successfully, the following issues are unlikely to be the source of this year’s problem. But here are some further thoughts. 

Incorrect Growing Conditions: Cucumbers need very specific cultural conditions when their fruits are developing or those fruits may become deformed. Evenly moist soil at temperatures above 60 F. (16 C.) are ideal for straight fruits. Try adding up to 4 inches (10 cm.) of organic mulch if your earliest fruits are crooked and water your plants any time the top inch (2.5 cm.) of soil below the mulch feels dry. Because fluctuating moisture can also adversely affect fruit formation, try mulching cucumbers to keep soil uniformly moist. Wait to apply straw, dried grass or compost until soil has warmed in late June. Mulching too early keeps soil cool, which is the opposite of warm-season crop requirements. 

Poor Nutrition: Cucumbers are heavy feeders and require a significant amount of nutrition to fruit properly. Prior to planting, each cucumber plant should be provided with a balanced, (preferably organic) fertilizer, then side dressed with the same product every two to three weeks once the vines start to run. 

Physical Interference: If you discover newly-forming cucumbers not straight when they’re sprawling on the ground, try training them up a trellis or fence. As the ovaries of cucumber flowers are elongating, young fruits can easily deform when they catch on flower petals, vines, or leaves. Growing them on a trellis gives fruits more space to spread, away from physical barriers.  

 Resources 

• What causes cucumber fruits to curl?

• Cucumbers Not Straight – Why Are My Cucumbers Curling?

Digging in with the Kids - Growing Chefs Integration Idea:

Planning to increase your pollinator plants is a great first step to having more fruitful gardens. There is great value in being able to chat about the importance of pollinators with kids - and this often really fires them up to ensure that they are doing their part to make a difference, and support our pollinators. Next time you are out for a walk, have kids note what plants seem to be the crowd favourite for the pollinators, and consider bringing these into your garden. Perhaps they want to keep a journal and track their pollinator sightings out and about. There are many more pollinators than just bees, so get to know your local pollinators - and keep an eye out for them when you are outdoors. The bright colours of flowers attract pollinators, so plan for adding some colour in your garden - you can’t go wrong!

BONUS! Master Gardener Students Bev and Jennifer talk to us about what can be planted now for winter gardens, and how to maintain these plants throughout the season.

From Bev 

Warm days and cool nights… September is definitely one of my favourite times of year. While a final harvest of summer vegetables is on the minds of gardeners, there is still time to do a little planting to continue to enjoy your garden into the winter. Lettuce and corn salad (sometimes called Mache´) are two options that can be sown in September. 

 Lettuces such as Winter Density, Cimmaron, and Rouge d’Hiver are recommended by Linda Gilkson. She says that if you have some type of temporary covering, like row covering, for particularly bad winter weather, you can extend your harvest. Corn salad is something that I have not tried, but according to many seasoned gardeners, it is one of the easiest greens to grow and will tolerate extreme weather. It prefers cool, moist soil for sprouting, and seeds start to germinate in 7-21 days. When it comes time to harvest it, slice the rosette of leaves off just above the soil line, with a sharp knife as the plant will continue to grow back. This is a veggie I’m going to try this year! 

A few tips on growing winter vegetables: 

• Winter vegetables require mulch, mulch, mulch to keep them insulated from the cold and from freezing. You want to do everything you can to keep the soil as warm and protected from heavy rain erosion as possible. Collecting leaves in the Fall is a great and inexpensive way to create your own mulch. If you’re growing lettuces in the Fall though, work thin layers of mulch around where you’ve planted as you don’t want to prevent the seeds from benefiting from the last days of summer sunshine. Mulching also attracts beneficial insects such as ground beetles to your garden. 

• Don’t harvest lettuces when they are frozen unless you are throwing them into a soup, because they will be mushy. Wait until the crop thaws. For example, you might go out first thing in the morning and everything is frozen, but if you wait until later in the afternoon that may be a better time. 

• Raised beds are generally beneficial for winter crops because the soil stays warmer and drains more efficiently.  

• If you garden in containers, make sure they are frost proof and move them closer to ta wall and/or under a shelter. Linda Gilkson suggests: 

…you can grow containers together and insulate between the pots with leaves, plastic, straw or other materials. Wrapping a band of burlap or plastic around the outside of the whole group off containers gives the roots even more protection from freezing. (p. 182 Backyard Bounty) 

From Jennifer

We are fortunate to live in Vancouver where climates are mild enough to grow some vegetables all year round. Cold crops such as Kale & Collards and Arugula are good choices for fall planting as they both do better in cooler temperatures and Kale can even benefit from a light frost. 

However, you do need to take a little more care when growing vegetables over the winter. Here are some things you should consider:

1. Choose a winter variety. For kale consider Winter red, Winterbor, or Siberian. Arugula - try Wild arugula, Dragon's Tongue, or Astro. 

2. Timing - For kale, you need to get your transplants planted 8 weeks before the first frost (approx November 1) so I would use seedlings. If you start from seed, you will need an additional 4 weeks to get them to germinate to the seedling stage, so you should sow seeds or start indoors in early August. Arugula can be sowed now or 8 weeks before the first frost. In a cold frame, you can sow 4 weeks before the first frost. Remember to shade (eg umbrella) young seedlings from the really hot sun until they mature. 
   Pre-sprouting seeds help to accelerate the germination stage. Simply soak the seeds in water for 4 hours before planting or place seeds between layers of damp paper towel placed in a plastic bag in a warm place until they sprout. 

3. Select a sunny location (eg southern facing). 

4. Make sure the soil is well-draining. Amend the soil if needed with compost & always mulch with dried leaves or straw to insulate. 

5. Do not fertilize in Fall as extra nitrogen will encourage a flush of tender new growth which will not likely survive winter temperatures. 

6. Be prepared for below-freezing temperatures by creating a cold frame or having a cover (eg plastic, burlap, cloche)  available to protect crops during heavy rain or freezing temperatures. Remember to remove these covers when it is sunny. 

Enjoy your greens this winter. They will grow more slowly and will be smaller in size but they should be more tender and tasty.  Arugula may have a milder flavour and be less peppery. 

Please pick up a free copy of "Planting for great fall and winter harvests" by West Coast Seeds at your local nursery for complete details on growing and harvesting all winter vegetables. You can also download it here. 

Good luck with your year-round vegetable gardening!

Welcome, Darian!

Hello! I’m Darian Leung, and I’m lucky to be joining Growing Chefs during these unprecedented times as a student intern. Food is inseparable to my life, as it is one of my primary sources of joy, fulfilment, and connection to others. By utilizing food as a catalyst to my personal growth, this interconnected building block makes me excited to be working with Growing Chefs, as I can educate and reconnect communities through food literacy and healthy eating initiatives.

Frankly, I am not shy about cooking and the culinary scene. Before deciding to study Human Resource Management at York University, I wanted to be a chef and food educator. With ties to the culinary arts, I never gave up my passion and interest in cooking. I even worked at a seafood restaurant in the West End of Vancouver as a prep cook for two months to gain a new perspective as a chef, and to keep my food skills and knowledge fresh. Although adventurous with my cooking, I remain grounded in experimenting with Asian cuisine due to comfort and familiarity. I like to relay back to my culture as the main focus and inspiration to my food creations. As long as I can make good food and share it with others, food origins are not strict and vital to me, since my ultimate goal is to unite people with my food! I believe food is a universal language meant to create new relationships and memories, which I strive to foster within my projects when thinking about food accessibility issues in a communal context. 

My internship with Growing Chefs is through the work placement component of the Roots & Shoots Program at the Environmental Youth Alliance this summer. Through the initial land-based part of this internship, I learned and embraced a more inclusive and adaptive mentality as I worked and collaborated with peers and community partners in the East Vancouver area. I became immersed in environmental knowledge and cultural teachings such as harvesting, processing, landscaping, and other horticultural mediums of Indigenous Peoples. This uplifting work experience at EYA allowed me to see a bigger picture outside of colonialistic beliefs. If my nerves die down, I would be thrilled to design an interactive lesson plan and workshop encompassing my Asian background or Indigenous based plant practices learnt from EYA to encourage new food wisdom and diversity in the Growing Chefs community. 

Besides eating and cooking new food, you can find me sheltered away behind the computer screens watching food review vlogs on Youtube, and spending time with my sister’s cats, Luna and Nova. 

7 Ways to Reduce Food Waste in the Kitchen

Curious about how you can reduce food waste in your kitchen? Despite the abundance of food production, more and more food is being wasted, and many Canadians do not have access to healthy foods. According to this study by Second Harvest, 1.4 million Canadians struggle to access healthy foods, and 60% of the food industry’s environmental footprint is from food waste. 58% of food is wasted, and 32% of this food could have been rescued. Today we’re here to show you what you can do on an individual part to help reduce your food waste impact.

Talk with your kids about their ideas too!

1. Proper Storage

The first step to consider with food waste is storage. A quick internet search will show you great ways to store the unique items you may have. For a general guideline, check out this awesome resource here. When storing food, remember to organize them as visually appealing as possible (resist shoving food items to the back of the fridge, or out of sight) and get in the habit of bringing older food items to the front of the fridge.

2. Use Every Part
Did you know, some of the most nutrient-dense parts of our produce items include the skin, stems and tops? Try mashed potatoes with the skin, or perhaps a carrot top pesto. Radish and beet tops make great additions to salads or stir fries, and dark leafy green stems can be used in cooking as well. All of these are also incredible for making broths, in addition to garlic, onion and celery scraps. Citrus peels can be dehydrated and used in tea. Get creative by including parts of foods that aren’t normally used, and tweak recipes to include these incredible ingredients. Shopping at the farmers’ market allows you to ask the farmer for any recipes they recommend. Check out this website for some recipe inspiration.

3. Save The Pulp

For those who love to juice and make dairy-free milk, the leftover pulp from these is so easy to use! Juice pulp can be used in soups and even desserts (Farah from our team recently made a vegan, gluten-free carrot cake with carrot pulp). With dairy-free milk, the pulp can be used in baking, smoothies, and even as toppers to meals.

4. Freeze & Preserve

A fun BC summer activity for the entire family is picking berries, and you can freeze them over the winter. If you do find yourself with an excess of food, freezing is a great way to maintain its integrity. Taking it a step further, you can also try fermenting, dehydrating, drying, and canning excess foods.

5. Grow Food from Scraps

Did you know you can grow food from food scraps? Whether it’s from the ends or seeds, there are tons of produce items that can be re-grown. Check out this video from the UBC Botanical Garden on different food items you can grow from scraps. 

This is an especially enthralling activity to do with the kids your house or classroom!

6. Skincare 

Many conventional skincare products contain harsh ingredients and chemicals that can be quite harmful to our health. Not to mention they can be quite costly as well! Why not try making some products at home? Coffee grounds alone, or mixed with sugar and oil makes a great body scrub. Excess cucumbers or cooled, used tea bags can be applied to your eyes to reduce puffiness. Banana peels and avocados can be applied topically and make great face and hair masks.

7. Compost

Where allowed, composting is a great option for reducing food waste. Compost is highly beneficial for plant health, and food decomposes much faster in the compost than a landfill. Check your housing regulations to see if composting is allowed, and if not, a nearby farm, community garden, or co-op might take your food scraps.

Week Four - Successful Summer Harvests and Winter Crop Planning

We are halfway through our Gardening Q&A series with the Vancouver Master Gardeners and we have been learning so much! We are ever so grateful to their team for digging into our questions and helping us successfully navigate the world of growing food! Send in your questions today to be featured in our next blog post! Now, let’s dig in, and learn together!  Without further ado, let’s see what they have for us this week!

Question from Rachel in Vancouver:
Why is part of the stem on my tomato plant turning black?

Answer from Sally:
Some questions first: How is your tomato plant being watered? Is it being grown undercover? Does water remain on the leaves after rain or watering? Have you noticed any dark lesions on any leaves? What crop(s) have you grown in the tomato bed in past years? Potatoes? 

I regret to say that your photos show a classic case of Late Blight. This is a fungal disease identified by dark blotches on stems and leaves. These early symptoms lead rapidly to the plant collapsing and rotting, likely before the fruit ripens. The fancy Latin name for this deadly organism is Phytophthora infestans which is a water mold. In cool, damp summers – which we have been having - it spreads widely and fast. The spores are carried on the wind and splashes of water. The spores can survive mild winters on plant debris in the soil. It infects tomatoes and potatoes.  

What to do now: Remove the infected plant immediately; Do not compost the diseased material, bury it deeply or seal it in a plastic bag & dispose of in garbage; If the unripe fruits haven’t turned leathery (they don’t look like they have), pick them and use them in a green tomato recipe, such as a chutney. 

How to avoid it in the future: There are no truly blight-resistant tomato cultivars – yet. Though breeders are trying to produce one. There is no prevention, but there are strategies to help avoid it.  The most reliable way to avoid Late Blight is to keep tomato leaves dry – don’t water them from above or splash water on the leaves. Grow plants in well-ventilated greenhouses or tunnels, or plant in beds or pots under the overhang of a roof – while still giving them full sun and lots of warmth (though not high heat). Space plants, and remove a few leaves, to provide good air circulation and reduce humidity.  Plant early-maturing varieties such as cherry tomatoes. Sometimes these can produce a crop before infection strikes. Mountain Magic is an early-season variety considered to have some resistance to the virus.  Don’t plant tomatoes in a bed in which infected potatoes or tomatoes were grown previously as the fungus can overwinter.  While they’re probably the most popular food crop to be grown by home gardeners, tomatoes are surprisingly high-maintenance plants. But, give them warmth, full sun, fertile well-drained soil high in organic matter, dry leaves, regular watering, and lots of air circulation and they will reward your care.

Resources from Linda Gilkeson: 

• Natural Insect, Weed and Disease Control; Backyard Bounty RHS

• PNW Plant Disease Management Handbook

Digging in with the Kids - Growing Chefs Integration Idea:

These can be disappointing moments in the garden for kids and adults alike. Seeing a plant that you have loved and cared for take a turn for the worst, and not end up how you expected is a tough go. However, this is a great opportunity to talk about food waste and preservation with kids. Although these tomatoes likely aren’t going to end up being the juicy fruit of your dreams, there is still so much we can do with it. A quick google search of: “What to make with unripe or green tomatoes” will give you a wealth of culinary ideas of how to utilize this food in different ways. Like Sally mentioned: green tomato chutney or even fried green tomatoes or green tomato relish anyone? Sounds like we have found some silver linings to an unfortunate situation - and that is what life is all about!

Question from Christine in Refuge Cove (West Redonda Island) :
I am growing sunflowers and amaranth. How do I know when to harvest the seeds?

Answer from Bev:
So wonderful that you are growing both sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) and Amaranth (Amaranthus) as they both lure beneficial insects to the garden and sunflowers are fabulous for attracting pollinators. Sunflowers should be harvested when the flower head has lost most of its petals and when the back of the flower head has turned brown and the foliage yellow. You can let the heads dry on the stock, or clip the flower about 15 cm below the flower head. Once it’s sufficiently dry, wipe off any little flower buds that are left, and remove the seeds with your hand. The seeds should look plump and loose. A few of yours in the photo look like they are almost ready to go. 

Amaranth can be harvested once the flower spikes fade to light-brown to brown. Usually late summer but it may depend when you first planted. A few resources recommend that when you see birds flying about the plants it’s ready to harvest. Otherwise, you can give the plant a little shake into your hand. If the seeds fall out, you know it’s time. You can also rub the flower heads over a bucket and if they fall out easily, they’re ready. If not, give them a couple more weeks. Enjoy! 

Resources:

• West Coast Seeds Gardening Guide 2020

• Carolyn Harriot, The Zero-Mile Diet. A Year-Round Guide to Growing Organic Food.

Digging in with the Kids - Growing Chefs Integration Idea:

Flower drawing, bird watching, seed saving - great opportunities to engage the kids in some mindfulness and hands-on activities in the garden.

Question from Matt in Refuge Cove (West Redonda Island) :
What is happening to my cherry tree? Do I have to worry about it dying?

Answer from Bev:
Hello Matt. These are very deliberate and organized holes in your tree (about 6-10 mm in diameter). Have you spotted any birds tap, tap, tapping into the tree? These holes are the work of a Sapsucker. Sapsuckers are a specific species of woodpeckers but not all woodpeckers are sapsuckers. Based on my review of my trusty bird field guide, the most common sapsucker in your area is the Red-Breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus rubber). There is the yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) in Northeastern BC, the red-naped sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) in Southeaster BC and the Williamson’s sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus) in the Southern Interior and Southern Kootenays. Unlike woodpeckers who eat bugs on trees thereby playing a role in alerting you of possible insect infestations, sapsuckers can do some real damage and will come back to the same tree year after year. Your photo suggests this has happened because you can see where previous holes were made and the tree has healed itself. If this goes on, your tree will continue to undergo damage it likely won’t recover from. As its name states, sapsuckers actually drill sap wells into the tree, drilling deep into the bark and also sometimes stripping the bark so the sap will flow. It looks like some bark has been stripped on the left side of the tree in the photo. Besides damaging the tree, the holes may lure bugs into them, causing more damage or disease.

Digging in with the Kids - Growing Chefs Integration Idea:

It can be fun to think about the relationships between plants and animals. Take a walk in your neighbourhood and try to find connections. Some ideas:

• Birds build nests in trees

• Bees collect pollen from flowers

• Squirrels run and play in trees

Question from Anja:
I’ve got a patch of “fall gold” raspberries. What do I do with them in the fall? I read some you cut down and other types you leave but I am not sure which one I am supposed to so. Also, I would like to transplant/ gift some to my friend. What is the best time/ method to do this? Thanks for any tips!

Answer from Jennifer:
Hi Anja, Fall Gold Raspberries are everbearing raspberries so they are pruned differently than regular raspberries. This variety produces 2 crops on each cane, a moderate crop in late Spring/early summer and heavy crop in late summer/early Fall. You prune in summer immediately after fruiting. Cut back the tips by 1/3 that fruited last Fall but leave the remaining cane for summer fruiting. Remove the canes completely after they have fruited over their entire length. Promptly remove new plants and suckers to control spread. 

In late Winter remove damaged canes and thin as needed. You can propagate raspberries from their healthy, non-flowering suckers in late summer. Wet the end and dip the 3-6" stem in rooting hormone powder, then plant the stem about 1 inch deep in a wet, soil less potting mix. In about 4 weeks or when the stems have rooted or doubled in height, you can transfer them into a pot of garden soil which your friends can then transplant into the ground in early Spring. What a lovely gift, but please let your friends know that raspberries are aggressive spreaders so they will need sufficient garden space for them. You can contain them in a large (24" diameter) pot for a few years, but eventually they will need to be planted in the ground. Enjoy your unusual berries!

Digging in with the Kids - Growing Chefs Integration Idea:

Work with your kids to learn more about your favourite foods. The word “raspberry” seems to come from the Old French raspise, a term meaning “sweet rose-colored wine”. There are over 200 different species of raspberry and they are very nutritious. You may think citrus fruits like oranges have the highest amount of vitamin C, but surprisingly, raspberries contain even more! They are also super high in fibre, low in calories, and give you a solid dose of folic acid. The benefits of raspberries go even further: They are high in potassium, vitamin A, vitamin E, magnesium, folate, omega-3 fatty acids, manganese, and calcium.

There’s no better way to end a research project than a field trip!

Resources:

• 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Raspberries

• U-Pick and Ready Picked: Berry Fields Around Metro Vancouver