NANOOSE EDIBLES FARM
  • Home
  • About
    • Organic Farming
  • U-Pick
    • 2019
  • CSA Box
  • Events
    • 2017 & 2018 Events
  • Resources
  • Products
  • Services
  • Join Us
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

March Newsletter at Nanoose Edibles Farm

3/18/2014

0 Comments

 
View this email in your browser
NANOOSE EDIBLES FARM - March Newsletter
SEEDY SATURDAY:   Liz, Kiyomi, Lorne and I attended Nanaimo Seedy Saturday.     Kiyomi and Liz did a great job setting up and manning our booth , while Lorne and I  had a good wander about,  met up with old friends,  and attended the speakers’  presentations.   Nice to see people out and about at the end of a  long and ugly winter.
We enjoyed the speakers:    Dirk Becker at his informative and amusing best, and Connie Kuramoto speaking on  the dangers of GE food.  What did not get discussed is what we personally can do about it.   If all of us dedicated ourselves to growing and purchasing certified organic food we would be on the right track.   Certified organic food production is carefully monitored by good record keeping and third party inspections of all inputs from seed to the customer’s container.  As well, if we are not prepared to consume GMO food, we need to encourage our farmers to become  certified organic and move forward on making this a GMO free Region.  FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Discussing the Impacts of GE Crops' at 7:00pm on March 14 at Beban Park Social Centre (Rooms 7 and 8) https://www.facebook.com/gefreenanaimo
 
 TIGH-NA-MARA: Thanks to Chef Eric and crew for inviting us to display and provide samples of our ‘greens’ for the Wine Makers Gala last Friday.  It was a grand event!!  


VOLUNTEERS: Customers and farm friends who wish to learn how to grow their own gardens or just want to be involved growing produce are welcome to join our crew and work along with them.   It’s best to sign up so we can find out from you what your interests are and try to match you with the correct crew member.
 
APPRENTICES:  Because food production in this region a very low (less than three percent of the food purchased on the Island ) we encourage people who wish to learn how to farm to join the SOIL Apprenticeship Program at Nanoose Edibles Farm.  Sign up for a season of organic farming.  All aspects of farm production and marketing will be experienced by the candidate.   This offer is limited to people from the region, either on a full-time or part-time basis.  Learn about growing food the healthy way and reduce the invasion of GE food into the region. neorg@telus.net
 
ORGANIC GARDENING WORKSHOP:  A few years back I offered a series of gardening workshops   called FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY FROM YOUR HOME GARDEN.   We’ll call this one FOOD SECURITY FROM YOUR GARDEN.  I’m suggesting that it be held on Saturday, April 12th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but it could be held on a weekday if that suited everyone better.    Handout material will be provided and if you have a gardening workbook please bring it along.  Cost:  $45 per person.
 
EVENTS IN THE COMMUNITY

Nanoose Edibles Farm April 12th from 9 am to 1 pm.  Gardeners’ Workshop: FOOD SECURITY FROM YOUR GARDEN.

March 15/16 - Beekeeper Workshop - Brenda Jager - at Bowen  please contact bzbees@telus.net 250-875-4164 for more information

March 22 & 23- Vancouver Island
Young Agrarians farmer mixer

PineRidge hosts four events each season:
May 17, 2014 Plant and Garden Sale - Saturday,
June 28, 2014 Local Artisan Event - Saturday,
July 19, 2014 Meet Your Local Producer Event - Saturday,
August 2, 2014 Local Artisan Event (#2) - Saturday,
 http://www.pineridgefarm.ca/

July 19 & 20 –Nanoose Bay Art in the Garden  http://nanoosebayartinthegarden.com/
 
 
If you have  - plastic bags, Nanoose Edibles eggs cartons that are in good shape, large plant containers, or  any glass jars with lids we will gladly accept them to be reused.
Facebook
Website
YouTube
Email
Lisa watering her transplants
 
CERTIFIED ORGANIC TRANSPLANTS:  Great supply of organic transplants  - vegetables, herbs, some flowers and strawberry plants.   Strawberries are in pots, sold separately.  Please bring a flat if you have one available.  The transplant varieties will be replaced monthly with appropriate transplants for the month.
Seasoil is currently available at 1/3 yard lots $25 and 1 yard lot at $75. We will load.  When weather is drier we sell Seasoil available by the bag at $7

 

POULTRY: Our chicks have arrived and have happily braved the weather.  
Barbara was on the front page of Oceanside Star with a lot to say! Check out her interview with Brian Wilford about - Farmers just 'hanging on'.
Farmers just 'hanging on'
COMING UP AT THE FARM:                
Farm Stand Hours:               
Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm
Transplants, Eggs, Greens, and other fruits and vegetables. Natural Gift Seafoods;  Natural Pastures Cheese; Grains and Flours from Vancouver Island Grain and Milling: Local Honey  and Coffee from Coyote Coffee Company.
****Due to the rising costs of farming we will be raising our greens price on April 15 from $5 a bag to $6 a bag of salad/nutritional greens.*****

 
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Do you know of a local restaurant  that you would love to see local food being served?   Please email us the restaurant names.
Neorg@telus.ne
t

For daily updates, farm promotions and events please visit our facebook page and “Like Us” athttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Nanoose-Edibles-Organic-Farm-BC-Certified-Organic/196503243712007
Also check out Youtube videos www.youtube.com/user/nanooseediblesfarm
Nanoose Edibles Farm 1960A Stewart Road, Nanoose Bay, B.C., V9P 9E7







0 Comments

Farmers just 'hanging on' - Front page of The Star by Brian Wilford

3/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Farmers just 'hanging on'
Brian Wilford / The Star
February 20, 2014 12:00 AM
Barbara Ebell has grown specialty herbs and greens for restaurants for a quarter-century on the 23-acre Nanoose Edibles
farm in Nanoose Bay. Photograph by: BRIAN WILFORD/OCEANSIDE STAR
You may be under the impression that healthconscious people on Vancouver Island are buying more of their
food locally, from farmers' markets and farmgate stalls.
You'd have a hard time convincing Barbara Ebell, who for the past quarter-century, with husband Lorne, has
operated Nanoose Edibles, one of the Island's first and most-successful organic farming operations.
Sure, a lot of people seem to be going to farmers' markets, she says, but "a lot of them go for the
entertainment value.
"Local food has a very small percentage of the market."
According to the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, in 2006 people spent about $5.4 billion on food on Vancouver
Island.
Farmers just 'hanging on' - News - Oceanside Star http://www.oceansidestar.com/news/farmers-just-hanging-on-1....
1 of 2 14-03-02 6:04 PM
That same year, gross receipts from the 2,855 farms on the Island were $163.7 million, about 3 per cent of the
total spent.
In 1950 local farmers had 85% of the Island food market, Ebell says, and for years that market share has been
shrinking by about a per cent a year.
"We have nothing to be proud of," she says, and points to such promotional campaigns as the $2-million Buy
Local campaign launched by the ministry in late 2012. "We bring people to the Island as tourists thinking
they're going to experience something local and special and it's a cheat. We sell them packaged food from a
truck."
Island farmers are just "hanging on," she says, and it's too bad because there are many young people
interested in farming.
"There's lots of food being grown here," she says. "Our challenge is where to sell that food." Supermarkets,
with long supply chains, have become inaccessible
to local producers, she says.
"We used to bring substantial food to Thrifty's - $1,000 a week. Now we have to go and find that customer.
It's a much tougher market for the farmer."
Local purchasing has fallen to "almost nothing," Ebell says.
The average net annual income of a Vancouver Island farm, including everything from livestock to wineries to
restaurant specialty suppliers like Nanoose Edibles, she says, is a mere $20,000.
There are pockets of success on the Saanich Peninsula and in the Cowichan and Comox valleys, she says,
but there isn't the "leadership from a central core," the policies or the money for local food production to gain
any "real traction."
"There's every opportunity for a robust agricultural economy on the Island," Ebell says. "There's all sorts of
land that's not being used. But there's no market."
Changing that, she says, would require massive government intervention and millions of dollars, "and I can't
see that happening."
That's too bad, she says, because it could be "a $5-billion renewable economy that feeds the local
population.
"It's kind of crazy that we don't value the Island for that."
© Oceanside Star
http://www.oceansidestar.com/news/farmers-just-hanging-on-1.860969

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Media
    Newsletter
    Petitions/Do Something
    Youtube About The Farm

    Month

    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    December 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

                                                                                        Nanoose Edibles Farm Copyright 2018
  • Home
  • About
    • Organic Farming
  • U-Pick
    • 2019
  • CSA Box
  • Events
    • 2017 & 2018 Events
  • Resources
  • Products
  • Services
  • Join Us
  • Newsletter
  • Contact