A strong local food system is a key part of a resilient community. Now more than ever, buying Canadian is a good idea.
Farmers’ Markets are popular in the summer, but did you know there is a Winter Farmers’ Market happening in Kamloops? It happens every Saturday until March 1 from 10 am to 2 pm at Mount Paul CFC, 140 Laburnum Street in North Kamloops.
In addition, there’s a cornucopia of options to purchase local products through Kamloops Organic Buying Club and The Stir. Here’s what you should do to figure out the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) scene:
- Sign up for the Kamloops Organic Buying Club (KOBC) monthly newsletter to get reminders about order dates for local produce. Send a sign-up request to Deanna and she’ll get you set up. (Here’s the previous newsletter―chock-full of news and even recipes!)
- Sign up for The Stir’s newsletter as well to learn more about our amazing local producers. They carry items from:
- Farmers Larder
- KMK Living Inc.
- Authentic Indigenous Seafood
- House of Dog Bakery NEW this month
- Rangeland Meats
- Splattered Batter Baking Co
- Mary Ann’s Macarons
- Monte Creek Winery
- Logjam Coffee
- Ace Curries to Go
All of these items can be ordered via The Stir’s OFN store, and can be picked up once a month at the same time as your regular KOBC monthly order (or you can arrange to get your order delivered).
- In Kamloops, we also have access to a Community Supported Fishery (CSF: the equivalent of a Community Supported Agriculture) by joining Skipper Otto. Although the seafood does come from the coast, you can pick it up locally (at Fresh Street Market) 3 or 4 times per year. Your “membership” (as little as $100 per year) is your “share credit.” Each year, you commit a certain amount (which includes what you paid for membership at the start of the season, and which might be more, less or the same as what you spent the previous year. These share credits are used to guide fishing plans that allow the CSF fishers to get paid fairly for catching sustainable amounts of seafood. As they put it, “Your membership gives you access to the highest quality, wild, sustainable seafood caught by small-scale independent fishing families while helping build a more just and equitable food system.” Skipper Otto is female-run, a certified Living Wage Employer, and a Certified B Corporation. And most importantly, the seafood is amazing!
- Tasty seafood is also available from Fishermen’s Market, a BC company that emphasizes sustainability. They have online shopping options as well as a conveniently located store at 1180 Columbia street (near Winners and HomeSense) in Kamloops.
Do you have other local food sources that you’d like more people to know about? Send us a note with all the details!
Photo by Caroline Attwood on Unsplash