Blog  January 9, 2012

Winter Food Fun!

Chopping apples for a salad. (Photo: Helen Beynon)

A perfect time of year to take our programming indoors, November and December in BC were full of delicious food workshops, presented in partnership with the TD FEF Community Fund.

Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House in East Vancouver worked with us to present two winter food workshops for local community members. First, Leanna Killoran from UBC showed us how to can and preserve our summer and fall harvests—apple jelly and pickled carrots were on the menu for the evening. Everyone there was excited to learn how simple canning could be! The workshop inspired a number of the participants to buy their own canning kits and make healthy Christmas gifts for their loved ones.

Participants getting the squash ready for a delicious salad. (Photo: Helen Beynon)

Our second workshop was run by Erin Bett, former Community Development Assistant at Evergreen BC. Erin shared her nutritional expertise with us, leading a hands-on workshop on healthy local eating during winter months. Participants got to try locally-sourced kale and apple salad, roasted squash and kale salad, beetroot pesto, apple cider, apricot chutney, butternut squash and apple soup.

We were also thrilled to be able to run two gardening workshops in preparation for the spring growing season. Members of the City Hall Community Garden and other local community gardens and food networks attended to brush up on their gardening knowledge. Grant Watson presented a workshop on garden planning and preparation, while Arzeena Hamir of the Richmond Food Security Society spoke with participants about organic pest management.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to the workshops and participated so enthusiastically!