Food – and farm – security starts at home. When we make the choice to buy locally-grown food to use in our home kitchens, we’ve taken action to help sustain local farms. But this is not always an easy choice for families. One of the biggest challenges is a cultural loss of food lore. Barbara Kingsolver wrote in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2007):
“In two generations we’ve transformed ourselves from a rural to an urban nation … Most people of my grandparents’ generation had an intuitive sense of agricultural basics: when various fruits and vegetables come into season, which ones keep through the winter, how to preserve the others … Most importantly: what animals and vegetables thrive in one’s immediate region and how to live well on those, with little else thrown into the mix beyond a bag of flour, a pinch of salt, and a handful of coffee. Few people of my generation, and approximately none of our children, could answer any of those questions, let alone all. This knowledge has vanished from our culture.”
The Peninsula Country Market wants to help families choose local. Our new “Growing Families at the Market” program, supported by Island Savings, is an interactive family program designed to help parents and kids “go local” – and have fun! The program includes typical kid craft activities like drawing and painting using food and farm themes, and take-home recipes using seasonal produce from the Market. You’ll have a chance to meet groups like the Compost Education Centre and 4-H, and learn how to grow your own food. And just for fun, we’re adding music and other entertainment especially for kids – Nancy Dobbs will perform at the Market on July 26th.
Our market is also participating in the BC Association of Farmers’ Markets “Buy Local” campaign promoting markets as healthy, sustainable and fulfilling experiences. You can enter a province-wide selfie “me at the market” Facebook contest. There are five weekly regional winners and one grand prize winner; winners receive a gift certificate to shop at a farmers’ market. Kids can join a scavenger hunt highlighting fresh, local seasonal foods, helping them learn more about what it means to buy local. The campaign runs at the market until July 19th.
For market news, visit www.peninsulacountrymarket.ca.
