Sharing Farm Garlic Festival

This Sunday my family and I spend time at the Terra Nova Sharing Farm for their 5th Annual Garlic Festival. I have had this date marked on my calendar for months in eager anticipation. I like spending time at the Sharing Farm and supporting the good work that they do for my community, growing in season local produce for the food bank. I love garlic more than I can express, and I look forward to sampling the garlic treats they make at the farm each year - garlic ice cream, roasted garlic and garlic bread. This year did not disappoint because they had enough activities to keep all ages interested, with music, crafts, food, and workshops.

I made a beeline for the garlic ice cream, which we unfortunately missed out on again this year. Luckily we managed to get some salted caramel ice cream just before that sold out, too. Next I had to check out the market with goods produced at the Sharing Farm: honey, dried herbs,  lavender bath salts, vegetables, plants, and more. I bought honey from their own beehives, which they increased this year with a grant. One of the volunteers shared with us their plans for expanding the types of flowers they plant to attract more bees to increase production.

Of course I bought garlic! Last year I planted garlic in my garden from both West Coast Seeds and the Sharing Farm, but I think the Sharing Farm garlic did better because it was grown in my specific area and well suited to the growing conditions. I loaded up with $25 worth of both soft and hard neck varieties. I loved the garlic scapes from my garden last year, from the hard neck varieties I grew, but I would really like to do some garlic braids, which require the soft neck garlic.

We watched a braiding demonstration where these beautiful garlic braids were made.

We didn't get a chance to try out the garlic treats being prepared by the cob oven (roasted garlic and garlic bread) because of the long lineups. There is no way my youngest would survive a long wait. There were several how-to workshops that I would have enjoyed attending if I didn't have wee ones in tow.

I am so pleased to see all that the Sharing Farm does to promote local, organic food, but also how to make environmentally friendly choices.

The City of Richmond water station, which encourages people to
drink our high quality tap water and fill up reusable water bottles.

There was a kid friendly area of eco-minded activities to complete to earn stamps toward a smoothie and gummy treats. These included upcycling crafts, matching game with trivia about green transportation choices, and a recycling race. The craft activity has inspired my girls, and as I type this I can hear them going through my recycling materials in my kitchen and making more crafts. My favourite part was watching the volunteers make the fruit smoothies with a pedal power blender.

In the other activity area my girls enjoyed the 4Cats art activities, which included a spinning paint craft, and participating in a group painting of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night". I geeked out a bit because last night we watched the Doctor Who episode where the 11th doctor and Amy meet Van Gogh.

I think my girls' favourite activity was braiding garlic necks to make garlic crowns. We noticed some boys making garlic neck swords, which I thought was a cute idea. What a great way to make use of all parts of the plant!

Before we left we had fun in the hay pile and I saw a photo opportunity. 

It was fun running into people I know and getting caught up on our summer's events.

Before we left, we wandered around the Sharing Farm garden, and various community and school gardens to compare what they were growing to our garden at home. We have made a list of a few things we would like to try growing next year. Check out the amazing bean towers!

This year seems even bigger than last year, with bigger crowds than I remember. I really appreciated how the Sharing Farm and their sponsors handled all the added people by having valet bike parking, and a bus shuttle from the city works yard by the dyke to alleviate the parking and traffic congestion.

I'm already looking forward to next year's garlic festival. We'll have to go nice and early to get the garlic ice cream!

Summer Bucket List

Summer officially began on the 21st of June, but now that school is officially over for all, it feels like summer has arrived! The rainy wet coast June is finally transforming into hot summer days. Even though I have parenting responsibilities, my two months off (as a teacher I get July and August off) feel like a return to the golden days of my childhood, with no worries or timetables. My girls will be going to swimming lessons and perhaps a few other little activities, but largely our summer is a blank slate. I am looking forward to waking up each day and deciding if I will spend the day in Mama's Do Nothing Chair, or embark upon a grand adventure. Of course I have some organizing projects to do around the home, some crafts and other projects, but my summer bucket list is full of outdoor activities and adventures. Time to get some vitamin D, fresh air and connect with nature!

My Summer Bucket List:

• Pick berries at a local farm: We have many local farms with U-Pick options and my girls always enjoy doing this. The local strawberry season will be over soon but we can choose raspberries, blueberries, or the roadside wild blackberries. 

• Visit our favourite local beaches: Our favourite spontaneous trip is to bike ride to Garry Point and play at one of the small reclaimed land beaches, but for more adventure Centennial Beach is a winner, with many warm tide pools to explore.

• Go back to the UBC Botanical Garden Greenheart Canopy Walkway: We went for the first time last summer and we said that we would go back with more time to explore the rest of the garden. However, the highlight really is the suspended tree bridges. Last year we went around the circuit three times.
  

• Hike on the trails around the Capilano Suspension Bridge: When we visited, for the first time last December for their festival of lights, we received a free year membership with our admission, so I am looking forward to exploring in the daytime and going on little hikes with my girls.

• Go on regular bike rides around our community: Now that the weather is warmer I am determined to get out on our bikes more for daily trips. We have local shops and activities that are within a short bike ride and I intend on engaging my kids more with this. 
  

• Go swimming at outdoor pools: We have two local outdoor pools and a lovely one close by in a neighbouring community. Being outdoors helps to minimize the impact of breathing in harmful chemicals like chlorine. 
  

• Prepare my garden for winter gardening: Now that my summer garden is in full swing I don't have much to do besides watering and weeding, and harvesting all that delicious zero mile diet food! I can't believe that in a few short weeks I need to start prepping and sowing seeds for a fall and winter garden. 

• Enjoy going on Fraser River dyke walks: We have mile after mile of gorgeous paths along the mouth of the Fraser River, where we see herons, bald eagles, hawks, snakes, and sometimes even owls and coyotes. 

• Visit the Reifel Bird Sanctuary: We love spending a day exploring the different trails, identifying as many different birds as we can, feeding the ducks and having a picnic there. 
  

• Have backyard campfires: We recently added a covered fire pit in our backyard to roast marshmallows. Due to a variety of reasons, we may not go camping this summer so having a campfire (the best part of camping) will help me feel like I am not missing out as much.
  

• Have a daytime backyard campout and possibly a nighttime campout: We like to set up a little tent in the backyard for our girls to play camping, and I may sleep outside with them one night. I have fond memories of doing this from my childhood and I hope to pass on the tradition. I very much enjoy actual camping at a campsite, but it is still up in the air if we'll make it this year.

Manning Park camping last summer. My littlest did not take
well to camping and we had to leave early. Maybe we can try again.

• Visit the Terra Nova Sharing Farm and their special events: I love the local festivals and the community events at the Sharing Farm. We have attended the hugely successful Garlic Festival in the past, but the Raptor Festival will be a new one for us. 

  

  The cob oven and chickens at The Sharing Farm. Last year we
  participated in their CSA. There are lovely community gardens too

• Go on a ferry trip to one of the Gulf Islands or Sunshine Coast: There's nothing more West Coast than a ferry trip to one of the Islands. If we're lucky we may spot an Orca pod swimming nearby.

  

  Two ferries passing each other in the Gulf of Georgia.

• Go on a transit tour: It is one of our family's annual adventures to take a local bus, Sky Train and Sea Bus from our home, through the airport and downtown to Lonsdale Quay to have a meal, go window shopping and play. We feel like tourists in our own city! I realize that we can do this from a place of privilege (being able to afford a family vehicle for regular trips) and that we should endeavour do take public transit more frequently.
  

• Visit the Steveston Farmer's and Artisan's Market every other Sunday: Our local community has a bi-weekly farmer's market that is a real highlight for us. Fresh lemonade, local organic produce, local artists and goods, music, and yummy treats abound.

But before I start crossing some of these off my bucket list, I need a little bit of relaxing in the Mama Do Nothing Chair. Ahhh.

Community Supported Agriculture: A Win For All

In my community we have strong historical roots to agriculture. Richmond's largest crop is cranberries but blueberries, potatoes, corn, raspberries and many other crops are grown each year in local farms. I grew up in a neighbourhood next to the Bissett family's blueberry farm that is now on Westham Island in Delta, and to make money each summer my friends and I would pick blueberries from the wild bushes in the nearby bog and sell blueberries in ice cream buckets to neighbours. Many of our neighbours' parents worked on the blueberry farms as pickers. One of my favourite childhood memories of growing up in Richmond was doing our weekly produce shopping at the roadside stands of family run farms along Steveston Hwy and No. 5 Road instead of big chain grocery stores. In university I worked for a season as a cashier at Richmond Country Farms, located off Steveston Hwy near the George Massey Tunnel. We continue this tradition with our children visiting many favourite farm stands.

Apples at the Terra Nova Sharing Farm

One of dichotomies of today's society is that we have needy families in a land of plenty. I am a teacher and I see students come to school without breakfast and often without lunches. Children cannot learn, cannot function, without food in their bellies, which is why some schools, like mine, have a breakfast program and also provide lunches to those in need.

The Terra Nova Sharing Farm, close to the middle arm of the Fraser River, near the Vancouver International Airport, grows food for the food bank to provide needy families with fresh, local, in season produce. They also promote sustainability in the community through workshops on organic farming and practices, promote community building with a strong volunteer program as well as food security awareness.

As a family we have always enjoyed going to the festivals and events that the Sharing Farm has held but I became more interested in the Sharing Farm through a high school friend who has been involved with the farm and in the community as food security activist for years. She has recently moved to Vancouver Island to pursue her dreams of an organic farm. It is through her posts on social networking sites that I found out about the Sharing Farm's Community Supported Agriculture. Some spots opened up this year and we jumped at the chance to share in this year's harvest while also supporting the good work that the Sharing Farm does to support those in need.

Three different weeks' CSA veggies

We paid for our portion of the harvest early in the year, then starting the beginning of July we had a weekly share of the harvest that we picked up at the farm each Thursday. This week marks the last CSA pick up for the season. There are weeks where we were in a hurry, but usually my daughters and I enjoyed walking around the farm and community gardens.

Community garden plots at Terra Nova

My daughters' favourite on these weekly visits is a stop at the chicken coop. We dearly wish our city allowed backyard chickens, but alas it is not the case right now.

The chickens out of their coop, getting some fresh air

When we have more time we have walked around the Terra Nova natural area, a former farm that has been fallow for decades.

My favourite thing to do on these visits is to take photos.

The Sharing Farm is a wonderful place to connect with nature and people in the community.

One of the bee hives at the Sharing Farm

 A friend's son participated in a volunteer program at the farm where they partner teenagers with seniors.

The cob oven at the Sharing Farm

My oldest daughter wanted to attend a week long day camp for children eight and up to learn about growing, harvesting and cooking for but we had already booked a family holiday for the same time. She hopes to attend next year. Maybe it will motivate me to walk the walk and volunteer as well.

The CSA pick-up stand on Westminster Hwy 

They also have a market stand on Saturdays for the general public to purchase a portion of the weekly harvest.

I highly encourage others to seek a community shared agriculture program in their area, donate to local sustainability programs, grow on a plot in a community garden or just walk around a local rural area with your family and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells it has to offer.

Bergamot