Welcome to the Vancouver home for the 100-Mile Diet!
From salmon to cranberries, British Columbia is blessed with an incredible array of local foods... but do you ever feel stumped on where to find them? Or maybe you're not sure what to do once you've brought them home! Whether you're a locavore, just curious about local food or trying to cut down on your food miles - this site is for you. Thanks for visiting and please feel free to contribute by sending us ideas on how to make this web page more useful.What's new
Foodshed
May 2008 Foodshed Project Update:
We are in the final stages of this project and once again need your help!We are looking for descriptions and pictures of all the agriculture, fishing and wild food areas around Vancouver (southwestern BC and Northwest Washington).Send us pictures, descriptions, the name of “someone we should really talk to” - your help is critical if we are to create a map that accurately portrays this region!
Contact Info:
Kelly Kuryk
kelly(a)100milediet.org
The Future of the UBC Farm
Over the following weeks UBC will be making a decision about the future of Vancouver’s last working farm - the UBC Farm (and Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.) The UBC Farm is a unique asset to the city and region. It provides students and the broader community the opportunity to learn hands-on about how changes in the way food is produced and distributed are a key piece in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating climate change, and in creating healthy local communities and economies.
Read more »
Community Gardens
Oh the elusive community gardens of Vancouver - how I wish I had a plot! Do you feel the same way? The City of Vancouver has posted some new information on their web page - visit their new community garden page to get yourself on a waiting list and, who knows, maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll get into one. Check it out:
Community Gardens & the 2010 Challenge
Agriculture Plan
Last week the ministry of Agriculture released its Agriculture Plan. Read it and let us know what you think!
http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/Agriculture_Plan/
terry at UBC
check out the audio and video of James & Alisa speaking at UBC in November.
Faraway food production
By Ben Parfitt
January 24th, from the Georgia Straight
High energy and land costs raise the stakes for B.C. farmers.
Fourth-generation Westham Island farmer Sharon Ellis says that in addition to rising transportation expenses, she faces much higher seed costs to grow pumpkins and squash.
From the air, you can see the arms of the lower Fraser River wrap around Westham Island before spilling into the Strait of Georgia, carrying billions of particles of suspended silt out to sea. Lighter than its salty North Pacific counterpart, the muddy river water rides atop its oceanic cousin, sometimes cutting a brown path right across the strait to the shorelines of Mayne and Galiano islands, a 45-minute ferry ride away. Read more »
The silt eventually settles out, drifting slowly down to the ocean bottom. But back where river meets ocean, thousands of years of freshwater transport following the retreat of the last great glaciers have laid down layer upon layer of silt and sand particles, allowing land to emerge from what was once ocean stretching as far inland as present-day Hope.
Petition Against the B.C. Meat Regulations!
- January update -
BC Meat Inspection Regulations
On the 30th of September, new provincial meat inspection regulations came into effect. Producers are still figuring out how this affects them and their animals. Read more »
Rural residents fight tax assessments
Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, January 20, 2008
Saanich farmers want a moratorium on their hefty property-tax hikes until the B.C. government reviews its controversial new policy for assessing farms.
A crowd of about 200 people packed a public forum in Saanich Friday night to press for a moratorium as the “only fair and reasonable action to take,” until the review is complete, organizer Lana Popham said Saturday.
Farmers and politicians fear the large tax increases, if allowed to proceed, could wipe out a number of small farms in Saanich, and force others to clear cut forests or otherwise alter the rural landscape.
“If it’s allowed to run its course, it will drive people out of farming,” Saanich South NDP MLA David Cubberley said.
Eat Local Challenge Finishes but the Quest for Local Food Continues
The 38 Day Eat Local Challenge Epic that encouraged the people of Vancouver and beyond to eat a more local diet has come to an end, but the journey has just begun!
I was at first dismayed to see that only 64 people in total had signed up on the Challenge website, but have come to realize just how many people did the challenge but didn’t sign up.Not to mention the number of people that already include a significant amount of local food in their diet every day of the year.
I punched in the numbers and found that these 64 people who did sign up had managed to save a total of 3589 kg of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere.Need something to compare that to?This would be the equivalent of approximately 165 compact cars off the road for one day.That’s a lot of cars!
I also noticed that a large percentage of the people who signed up online were highly committed, taking on the full 38 days and/or 100% 100-Mile!
So many questions have been raised throughout the process leading me to realize that this is only the beginning of the local food movement’s potential.Questions relating to trade, land priorities, jobs, policy, health, the environment and more specifically climate change have arisen and need to be addressed.
Thank you to everyone who has challenged themselves in this experiment of sorts.I hope that the experiences coming out of challenging yourself to eat more locally have inspired you in one way or many.I know that I’ve taken much from the experience and feel enriched from the love and care that our local farmers instilled into each and every ingredient of my edible life.
~S~
City of Vancouver Proclaims September 2007 Eat Local Month!
The 100-Mile Diet Society and the Get Local Project welcome you to the reading of the “Eat Local Month” proclamation at Trout Lake Farmers Market this Saturday, September 15th, 2007.
Reading: 08:50 am
Market hours: 9am to 2pm
Several food security-related initiatives are currently being led by concerned groups in Vancouver and surrounding municipalities. They have come together to endorse this September 2007 as Eat Local Month! One such initiative, the Eat Local Challenge has citizens committing online to taking on a more local diet from September to Thanksgiving in October with the intention of supporting the local economy and reducing their food miles. The final event will announce the collective greenhouse gas emissions reduction number. In accordance, the Get Local Project is focusing on distributors and businesses to include more local food.
Our food system has swiftly moved out of the hands of farmers, the small business sector and the public and into the control of large-scale corporate industry. Healthy, tasty, and local food should be accessible to everyone. Several non-profit food security and public education organizations have endorsed the written proclamation coordinated by the 100-Mile Diet Society and the Vancouver Food Policy Council.
In terms of greenhouse gases emitted, if the entire city of Vancouver were to eat an exclusively local diet for one day it would be the equivalent of taking approximately 55,000 compact cars off the road for one day. If the entire population of the Greater Vancouver Regional district were to eat local for one day, it would be the equivalent of taking 182,500 cars off the road for one day!Our average meal travels 2,400 km from farm to plate - a fact that not only contributes to issues such as climate change, but also compromises our local economy and food security. Connecting the community through the common factor of food has been an effective solution to bringing important issues to the public eye while supporting our local farmers.
Click here to find out more about the Eat Local Challenge and what is happening all this month until Thanksgiving holiday in October.
Get Local Project www.getlocalbc.org or come by the Trout Lake Farmers Market this Saturday, September 15th and visit the 100-Mile Diet Society’s information display.
The following projects and organizations have endorsed the “Eat Local Month” Proclamation:
100-Mile Diet Society Vancouver
Vancouver Food Policy Council
The Get Local Project
Your Local Farmers Market Society
FarmFolk/CityFolk Society
UBC Farm
Smart Growth BC
Environmental Youth Alliance
Check Your Head
Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen Garden Project
