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27Sep 2021 by admin

Media Release: Land to Table Stewards United Way BC Regional Community Food Hub Initiative

Download as a PDF NORTH OKANAGAN-SHUSWAP, September 27, 2021 - Land to Table has taken on the role of steward for United Way British Columbia’s Regional Community Food Hub in the North Okanagan. In this role, we aim to connect and support community organizations working to make food more accessible. Our new Food Access Coordinator, Kelly Panchyshyn, will be partnering with the Okanagan Indian Band, The Good Food Box and the White Valley Resource Centre to assess need, secure additional resources, launch new programs, and strengthen their volunteer networks. Together, we aim to secure more equitable access to sustainable, healthy, local, and culturally connected food for those living in the North Okanagan. As part of this initiative, Land to Table will also be hosting a series of meetings designed to…

27Sep 2021 by admin

Okanagan Indian Band – A Food Security Journey

News, Regional News

Sometimes it just so happens that you meet the right person at the right time and synergies and projects line up as if they were meant to. Through the Regional Community Food Hub funding initiative, in partnership with the United Way, Land to Table (L2T) has the opportunity to partner with organizations like the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB), to work together to increase access to local food. That is how Nikki Lorentz, OKIB Food Security and Garden Coordinator, and I officially began to work together, and came to write this spotlight feature together. After many Zoom meetings we finally met at the OKIB Komasket Community Garden on the north west tip of Okanagan Lake on July 15th. This is one of six OKIB reserve locations around the lake that is…

21Sep 2021 by admin

Eat Think Vote 2021: North Okanagan-Shuswap Online Food Forum

Event Recap, Events

On Sept. 17th, we hosted the 2021 Eat Think Vote: North Okanagan Online Food Forum. The event featured four out of five federal candidates, as well as panelists representing agriculture, Indigenous and food insecurity perspectives.We had a great turnout, with 42 participants (including candidates and panelists). And, we made history as being the very first online Eat Think Vote event! All in all, it was a great opportunity to hear from a number of different people, from different sectors in our community, about the significant (and long lasting) impacts that COVID and this last summer of heat and fires has had on our communities, farmers, s upply chains and food insecurity. In case you missed the event, or want to hear the perspectives one more time, you can view the…

28Jul 2021 by admin

Our Farms – Hammered by Heat and Drought

News, Regional News

Climate change has been a part of the L2T conversation since the start of the food system network. Conversations have taken a tone that is future tense, asking: how will farmers in our regions be affected by climate change? And certainly water access goes hand-in-hand with climate change, and you can’t talk about our water and watersheds without also talking about the salmon—it really is all connected. For myself (I won’t speak for others here), my sense is that this summer’s heat/drought has brought us across a threshold, from “how will farmers be affected” to “how are farmers being affected.” That “heat dome” was damn scary and super destructive! In a media release shared far and wide, the National Farmers Union (NFU) explains, through accounts from three Western Canadian farmers,…

30Jun 2021 by admin

L2T Network Spotlight – Okanagan Mobile Juicing

News, Regional News

For Kristen Trovato of Okanagan Mobile Juicing, “every apple counts.” Mobile Juicing began in 2012 when Kristen (then landscaper who wanted to start her own business) and partner Remo saw mobile juicing as a win-win-win for local producers, retailers and herself as a new business in service to the agri-sector. In a nutshell, Kristen and her team take raw fruit and turn it into a tasty, pasteurized, packaged juice ready for store shelves. They press, de-stone, puree, pasteurize and/or package. “I grew up in the Okanagan and knew we have good fruit and a lot of it.” Kristen didn’t know a lot about the apple industry then—how the influence of a global food system has left local apple producers competing with subsidized Washington growers (whose crops have access to endless…

27May 2021 by admin

L2T Network Spotlight – Wise Woman Seeds

News, Regional News

Sarah Bradshaw - Wise Woman Seeds “If you want to control something, control its food!” For Sarah Bradshaw of Wise Woman Seeds, this perspective coincides with a strong sense of justice she has held since childhood. Saving, swapping and now growing and selling seeds grew from the environmental justice and stewardship work that Sarah was a part of from an early age. Wise Woman Seeds is a small independent seed company that takes pride in the old and interesting varieties of vegetables and fruits they have saved and grown through a network of dedicated gardeners over the years. This includes Styrian pumpkin (a rather ugly superfood with very nutritious seeds), sweet potato squash (commercially bypassed because of looks—bigger, longer, weird looking—but one of the best squashes on the market for…

22Apr 2021 by admin

L2T Network Spotlight – Curlew Orchard

News, Regional News

Patrick Ling-Allen - Curlew Orchard in the BX area of Vernon My background is stewardship and environmental engagement. When we moved back to Vernon with kids I decided it was time to get hands off the computer and in the dirt to manage a piece of our own land. From the start we pursued organic status, added a permaculture grove to our orchard, built onsite cold storage, and implemented regenerative practises to build soil and rehabilitate the natural environment on and around the farm. Soon some of our friends’ farm animals were arriving to retire here. I’m proud of our CSA with members who have been with us for five years. We want our CSA members to feel involved and know they are a part of supporting local food— partnering…

22Apr 2021 by admin

Did You Know That Land to Table is Three Years Old?

L2T Updates, News

Well, actually that’s not entirely correct. The founders of L2T first met in 2015 and held the first forum in 2018. But L2T has had a paid Coordinator (me — Liz) for three years. That’s no small thing for a new network. When I started in April 2018 I was very new to the concept of a network (as an organizational structure) and pretty new to food systems work. The Vermont Farm to Plate model was the shining example of what was possible, and relationships (built on trust) put at the centre of everything we do. We have come a long way since April 2018. Today I am proud to share what that looks like in 2021–2022. Part natural evolution, part funding necessity, 2021 will focus largely on projects. This…

21Apr 2021 by admin

May 19, 2021 | L2T Processors Meet Up (Online)

Events, Past Event

Wednesday, May 19th | 7 - 8:30pm | Zoom In January we met with over a dozen local food processors —for industry updates and networking— and agreed that May would be a great time to reconnect. We had hoped to meet at the BX Cidery but alas, COVID is still very much with us. Before the nice weather and long days call you away from the computer, we hope that you will plan to join us, along with the Small Scale Food Processors Association, on Wednesday May 19th at 7-8:30pm. Join via Zoom from the comfort of your home for a jam-packed agenda, including: IntroductionsPresentation from Kristina Bouris of Feed BC - sneak preview of the new Value Chain Innovation ServiceOk/Shu listserv launch - for food processors across the Okanagan…

24Mar 2021 by admin

A Personal Experience of the Recent “Buttergate” Fiasco

News, Regional News

By Andrea Gunner Good quality croissants, warm from the oven, flaky and crisp on the outside, stretchy and elastic on the inside, are one of my favourite treats. Living in rural BC, this treat was not very accessible, certainly not to Paris boulangerie standards, until I learned to make them myself. I usually make a batch of croissants and pains au chocolat a few times a year, to share with family, friends and neighbours. I import special “batons” of Valrhona chocolate for the filling. On my infrequent trips to France, I buy butter at the cheese shops since they package it in labelled “fromage” paper, making it much easier to smuggle into Canada. Oh yes, one of the realities of a supply managed Canadian dairy industry is import restrictions on dairy products. Why…

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