The Six-Month COVID Hump: What’s Next?

The Six-Month COVID Hump: What’s Next?

News, Regional News
Perhaps you have heard, we—the collective world—have hit the six-month COVID hump. At this point, within a cycle of “disaster” (as it has been for so many), experiencing a wide range of big emotions is normal. So if you are overwhelmed as you stare down from this hump-like place, know that burnout is quite likely. It may also be helpful to know that within the ag community, support (including funding and some really smart folks) is available. For example, Community Futures has developed a new REACH program designed to help agricultural businesses recover.  “From lost farmgate sales to lost harvest workers, agricultural businesses in the North Okanagan have had a tough year because of COVID-19. Now, a new business accelerator program aims to help the region’s agricultural entrepreneurs get the…
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The 100 Mile Diet (15 years later), COVID and our Attention for Local Food

The 100 Mile Diet (15 years later), COVID and our Attention for Local Food

News, Regional News
Food Action's 100 Mile Diet Challenge (2010) Would you call yourself a ‘locavore’? What does ‘local food’ mean to you? Is it food grown and processed in BC, or perhaps in the Okanagan? Maybe ‘local’ means closer to home still, from the North Okanagan. For many, this year especially, local looks like buying meat and vegetables from the farmer down the road, and harvesting from your own garden.  2020 has brought unprecedented challenges due to a global pandemic that is shining a spotlight on our food system and inspiring people to look at where our food comes from. This year also marks the 15th anniversary of the 100 Mile Diet—a movement inspired by a simple idea, as written about by authors J.B. MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, who for one year…
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City of Vernon – Economic Development Advisory Committee Presentation

City of Vernon – Economic Development Advisory Committee Presentation

News, Regional News
As talk of ‘recovery’ begins, many are curious to know how the agriculture sector has been impacted by COVID. In a presentation to the City of Vernon Economic Development Advisory Committee last week, Land to Table was able to share some of what we are hearing from small-medium scale producers and processors. This included:   Local, small-scale meat producer sales, direct to consumers can’t keep up with demand.Farmers' market sales are unpredictable this year, perhaps due to weather or because many are growing their own food. Those who have suffered the most include farms or processors with the majority or all sales at farmers' markets but also those who have a high number of sales to restaurants.Some small businesses were able to take the time during the lock down to innovate…
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A letter to our “Soil Sisters” (can I call you that?)

A letter to our “Soil Sisters” (can I call you that?)

News, Regional News
To the Women - Farmers, Food System Educators and Advocates: Hi! I know some of you well and some I am just getting to know through Land to Table and during chats at farmers markets (yes, I am still sneaking conversation in as a walk through the taped off lines of the Covid conscious markets). I am not a farmer but have budding dreams of growing food for my community. For now, I am happy to help make connections and promote cross-sector collaboration as an important piece of building a more resilient regional food system. I wanted to take a moment to share an article that comes from rural Wisconsin. It's called Rhubarb and Resilience – Women Share Inspiration. I was moved by the community-building-through-food that this group of women…
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Forum Reflections For a New Context

Forum Reflections For a New Context

Event Recap, Events
First of all, we hope this continues to find you safe and healthy! We are feeling very grateful to have held our forum early in the year. When we gathered in early February at the Splatsin Centre in Enderby to explore opportunities for increasing access to healthy local food, our 65 participants were moved and inspired by five interview panelists. The stories, messages and ideas of these five women, as summarized in the forum report, are even more poignant and important now. I am reminded of Rebecca’s words, sharing in the context of what food sovereignty can look like, inviting us to plant food on the borders of our property and inviting people to access this food as they need. Andrea spoke about supporting our local grocery stores who source…
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L2T Thoughts & Resources for Changing Times

L2T Thoughts & Resources for Changing Times

L2T Updates, News
What an intense spring we are all experiencing. As we wrestle with how to create new ways of being at home and in our communities (while keeping our distance, working from home with kids at home, and adapting our businesses to operate during pandemic times) many of us are also experiencing information overload. Land to Table would like to echo the thoughts and sentiment of most organizations in that we support the efforts to maintain social distancing to keep ourselves and our communities as healthy as possible. Also, we are optimistic about the opportunity to draw value and awareness to the importance of creating a strong local food system. Creating opportunities for more deeply connecting to each other through food seems more important than ever. We also want to acknowledge…
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Speaker Bio’s for “Building Shared Understanding of Food Access” at the 3rd Annual Forum

Events, Past Event
Land to Table's 3rd annual forum, Bridging Gaps: Exploring Local Food Access in the North Okanagan, will feature the following speakers in the "Building Shared Understanding of Food Access" session. Find out more about the event, agenda, and register here. Fresh Food in Schools: Melissa Jacobs, Teacher & Dawn Guenette, Seed to Plate Coordinator & Volunteer Dawn Guenette, also known as Gramma D at Kidston Elementary, has made cooking with kids an integral part of her life. Beginning with her career as an Early Childhood Educator she naturally took on the role of providing food for those in her care. It was part of the program from the start to ensure those she cared for were provided with good nutrition. She has brought her passion to elementary school cooking programs…
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Food Access…Exploring Gaps

L2T Updates, News
This is not news… we know that sufficient, safe and nutritious food is critical to the health and well-being of us all. Unfortunately, half a million British Columbians can't afford a basic healthy diet. This was outlined in the Food Costing in BC report (2017) and powerful infographic. Within the North Okanagan, home to around 85,000 residents, we know that 15 percent of people in our communities are low income, meaning their after-tax income is $22,460 or less. In the Interior Health region 14 percent of households’ experience food insecurity. Yet, low income is not the only factor affecting access to healthy local food in our region. It's evident that even though we live in a region of diverse and productive foodlands, food access is impacted by a wide range…
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Good and Beautiful Food Brings People Together!

Event Recap, Events
Eva-Lena presenting her food system network map. Here’s a fact – food brings people together, especially good and beautiful food. At our open house event on October 29th we had nearly 80 people in attendance, all gathered around a table showcasing some of the best food grown or processed, and lovingly prepared in the North Okanagan. Seeing the joy and hearing the appreciation for the food on offer reminded us why we are doing the work of creating a food system network. Because gathering in this way stands to nourish us all. Over the evening participants made their way through the different stations learning about the work that L2T is doing to: grow the local food economy, improve the sustainability of our food system and increase access to local food.…
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Land to Table Open House Event

Event Recap, Events
You are cordially invite to the first Land to Table Open House event on October 29th, 6pm to 8pm at the Vernon Art Gallery. The evening will showcase Masters research findings by Eva-Lena Lang, including her map of the North Okanagan food system network. We are excited to host the network for an evening of mingling, sharing local goodies, food-map gazing and gathering your feedback regarding the L2T vision and goals. Come one, come all. The evening is at no cost to you and a good reason to be out after dark!
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