For more recent info about Lillooet Food Matters, please email us at

lillooetfootmatters@gmail.com

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lillooetfoodmatters.com

cheers, and thanks!

Hello Everyone,

    We would like to invite you to our next meeting on December 17th at 5 p.m. at Ina Weber's in Lillooet (192 Phair Road) . [Take Bridge Road over the railroad tracks across from Buy-Low Parking Lot, then take first right down the hill and follow it to the end of the road past apartment building and the other houses. Phone number 250-256-0667]

     It is our custom to share a potluck dinner and then meet afterwards for a couple of hours. The focus of this meeting will be planning for the next Seedy Saturday (tentatively set for March 12, 2015). As well, we'd like to brainstorm ideas for new projects for LFM e.g. community dinners, workshops, supporting the T'it'q'et food security project, creating a network of people interested in having workbees at each other's places, promoting Lillooet Grown (the food hub), etc. Another important topic for this meeting is finding another person or two interested in promoting the Seed Lending Library.

     Because of the season and for fun! we will also have a baking exchange, so bring cookies, cupcakes, brownies, fruit cake, whatever you wish to share, and take home some one else's goodies.

     Please RSVP to my email (eleanor.ronaele@gmail.com) if you can join us. Don't be concerned if you don't have baking to share, or don't want to come for the potluck dinner. It would be great to see you there no matter when you come and what you bring.
    A love for gardening and desire for local food security is what brings us together. Hope to see you on the 17th!

Organic Food Garden Tours 2015

Join us on July 11 and August 29 to tour the gardens of local organic growers! We are excited to bring back the organic food garden tours for 2015. This year we have lined up 4 gardens for your touring pleasure.

July 11 - Around Town
The Ucwalmicw Community Garden: Our first stop of the day is a community garden with an organic garlic business. They grow all kinds of other fruits and vegetables. Garlic and peaches should be ready for the tour.

Alice Kidd's garden: The second stop is in the Hop Farm neighbourhood, where Alice Kidd uses permaculture techniques to grow food. She will show us how to apply principles of permaculture gardening in your own home garden.

August 29 - Texas Creek Road
Sue Senger's Garden: The first garden visit is with Sue Senger. Sue is an expert at all things garden. For the tour she will focus on seed saving - how to set up your garden properly to save seeds, and how to harvest and process seeds for sowing in future years.

Spray Creek Ranch: Our second stop is at Spray Creek Ranch, with new ranchers Tristan and Aubyn. They have many interesting techniques to share with us: integrating livestock in the veggie garden, using soil blocks for starting seeds, and building mandala garden beds.

If you would like to join us for the garden tours, meet at the REC centre parking lot at 10:00. We will travel together to the gardens. Bring a lunch and some cash, since the gardeners might be selling produce or farm fresh eggs!

If you have any questions about the garden tours, send us an email at lillooetfoodmatters@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!

Springtime recipes: Hop shoots and dandelion greens

Check out these recipes from LFM members Trevor and Sarah:

Risotto di Bruscandoli (Venetian hop shoot risotto) 
300 gm hop shoots
300 gm arborio or carnaroli rice
½ onion or 1 shallot, chopped fine
60 gm butter
1 glass dry white wine
1 L broth (vegetable or chicken)
75 gm parmesan cheese

Chop hop shoots into small pieces and saute in a little olive oil with the shallots. Melt half the butter in saucepan, add rice, cook until translucent, add wine and let evaporate. Add shoots and a bit of the broth. Stir until broth absorbed. Keep stirring adding broth a little at a time, waiting for it to be absorbed. When rice is cooked through, add rest of butter and parmesan cheese. Cover and let stand for 5 min. Serve hot.

Sicilian dandelion soup 
64 oz chicken stock
5 eggs beaten
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
1/2 a plastic grocery bag of packed dandelion leaves (best before they bloom)
5 cloves of chopped garlic
salt to taste
red chili flakes to taste
olive oil for sautéing

Saute the garlic for a few minutes and then toss in the dandelion. Saute until completely wilted. Heat chicken stock to boiling. Stir the simmering stock in a steady fashion while slowly pouring the egg in a steady stream. Stirring the stock during this process is important so that the egg cooks the right way. This part is much like Chinese egg drop soup. Following the egg, put in the dandelion and then the cheese. Salt to taste along with the red pepper flakes. Serve right away.

Seed Lending Library coming to the Lillooet Library March 28 and 31

An update from Eleanor Wright...

Hello Folks,

This year's Seedy Saturday was again a thrilling event and the Seed Lending Library received a good amount of attention.  Ten new people joined the mailing list for the Seed Lending Library, bringing the total number up to 62. Fifteen people took home 35 seeds to try to grow out, with the total number of seeds taken from the Library since it's first public appearance in December 2013 being 250!

We have been very generous (!) with the seeds at the beginning of this project, but in order to maintain a sustainable supply of seeds in the Library, we now are asking seed-savers to take home only 5 different seeds at a time, until such time as more seeds are returned to the Library.

So far only one person has returned seed: Lorraine (yeah Lorraine!) brought back a jar of seed with a crop record on the Purple Peacock Pole Beans she grew out last year. I'm hoping that more people will bring in seed when I bring the Seed Lending Library to the Public Library this Saturday March 28th or next Tuesday March 31st, between noon and 2 p.m. Even if you don't have a completed crop record, please do return some seed if you have any and we can talk about it.

If any of you would like to communicate via email with me about how it has been going for you with the seeds that you borrowed, I'd love to hear from you. There is always a possibility of trying again this year! Just remember to observe the "community" isolation distance as mentioned in the handout, and try to grow as many plants as your garden space will allow/or as many as indicated on the sheet if you have lots of room.

"Any local seed project can only be as good as the seeds that go into it, but even a small jar of seeds can make a big difference to a community seed library." ("A Growing Need for Seed Growers" by Bob Wildfong,  Seeds of Diversity, Winter 2015.)

Thought I would remind folks that there is an excellent collection of Seed Saving books in the library including my current favourite, The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers, Fruits, Trees and Shrubs (Gough & Moore-Gough, Storey Books 2011). As I start my seedlings for this year's garden, I have been consulting my copy of this book for Spacing for Seed Saving, Plant Breeding Hints, Seed Viability for seeds not listed on the hand-out. There is an incredible wealth of information in this book. It's highly recommended as a resource for any level of seed-saving.

Thanks to all of you for participating. It's a project being created as we go along. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Hope you're all enjoying the early spring!

Please email me with comments or questions at eleanor.ronaele@gmail.com.

Build a Wooden Compost Bin

This weekend I finished my first ever carpentry project: a wooden compost bin. I have a black plastic bin, but it's full and the compost isn't finished. It was the perfect opportunity to build my own bin, something I've been wanting to do for a while. I wanted to build a bin that allowed for easy turning of the compost, since my goal this year is to make a lot of compost fast, which requires a lot of turning according to my research. I found this plan on a gardening blog. The compost bin has four stacking tiers. When the compost bin in full and ready to be turned, the first tier is taken off the pile and set on the ground beside the bin. Then the compost is shovelled into the new location, re-stacking the tiers as you go.

Building the bin was interesting - it took me an entire four day weekend to gather the tools and materials, mostly because I didn't use power tools and didn't have the right materials. The first 30 or so screws were monumentally difficult to screw in, resulting in a lot of swearing and whining and blistered hands. Finally my boyfriend piped in that he's a screw expert, since he used to work at a screw factory (who knew?) and I was using the wrong kind of screw. The new wood screws worked much better than whatever I had found on the floor of my shed.

Here are the plans if you like. I used cedar lumber, which cost about $50. If you can find free scrap wood, this plan could be adjusted to whatever lumber you have.

Gleaning Project 2014

With fruit season just around the corner, Lillooet Food Matters (LFM) is starting up the Lillooet Fruit Gleaning Project once again. The project was created in 2012 to harvest the abundance of fruit available in Lillooet that is otherwise unwanted or unused, and to redistribute it within the community. Through this initiative, LFM volunteers connect fruit tree owners with volunteer fruit pickers to harvest any fruit that cannot be picked by the owner. Fruit is then shared with the tree owner, the volunteer harvesters, and community organizations such as the food bank.

Why should we be concerned about picking excess fruit? Through gleaning, people gain access to nourishing whole foods, which reduces food waste and improves local food security. Gleaning connects neighbors, bringing our community closer together. It also reduces bear attractants in our town, preventing human-bear conflicts and reducing the number of “problem” bears.

If you anticipate having excess fruit that you would like to be picked, or if you would like to become a volunteer harvester, please register with Angela by calling 256-0470. Tree owners need to register before the fruit has ripened to allow time for us to connect you with a harvester. Upon registration, you will be connected with a grower or a volunteer harvester to set up a date for the harvest.

Happy gleaning!