Living La Vida Local

Salt Spring Island, a rural agricultural community located a few kilometres off the Vancouver Island coastline and mainland western Canada, is a veritable horn of farming plenty. Everything from cheese, cereals, meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables and fruits are grown locally or produced on this small 182.7 sq.km. (70.5 sq.mi.) island.

With a population of roughly 10,000 and about 9,600 acres devoted to farming, the island farmers are able to provide an abundance of locally grown food that is a major contribution towards sustainability. Add in the feast of wild foods like sorrel, dandelion, nettles, chickweed, mushrooms and fiddleheads and you have just about everything you need to eat a delicious, low impact diet.

Consuming a local diet, aside from having a lower carbon footprint than foods shipped over long distances also has the added benefit of being fresher, tastier, and more nutritious. Local food minimizes food miles – the distance food travels from farm to plate. Studies show that the average North American meal travels 2,400 km (1,490miles) to get from the farm to our homes and contains ingredients from five countries in addition to our own. Consuming a local diet also supports farmers while protecting farmland for future generations.

I have food on the brain all the time, as the growing season is underway on Salt Spring Island. We have already had beautiful asparagus (so sweet we ate it raw), gorgeous lettuce (many local farmers are selling amazing heritage mixes), lush chard and kale, and flowering broccoli tops purchased at the weekend market. We have enjoyed fiddleheads, nettles, wild sorrel and dandelion salads all foraged from the surrounding countryside.

This year, to supplement our weekly vegetables and fruit consumption, and to learn more about sustainable agriculture, I opted to work one half day at the Salt Spring Island Yoga Centre in exchange for fresh organic produce. There is an amazing international crew working at this intentional community and spending time with my hands in the soil (and away from the computer), surrounded by farmers, is the highlight of my week.

Also new this year, our household decided to sign up for a CSA program offered by Foxglove Farms. Although it is hard to pick favorite food producers, Michael and Jeanne Marie Ableman run a beautiful-community focused organic farm that produces gorgeous vegetables and fruits week after week for the residents (and tourists) of Salt Spring Island. With the Foxglove Farms CSA program we get to pick our own vegetables and fruits each week, while receiving a 10% discount on our purchases.

It is with mouth-watering anticipation that we start the local Salt Spring Island fresh food season. If you have the chance, come visit our beautiful farming island and enjoy the feast.

Valerie Williams is a dedicated locavore living on Salt Spring Island. She is also the editor of GreenMuze.com.

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