Get Fresh Blog

August 9, 2010
Kids cook local: The Sooke Farm Tour

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (0)

In lieu of our Finn’s regular local cooking session we opted for a family day out to learn a bit more about local farms and food gardens. This is the first (we hope of many) Sooke Region Farm & Food Garden Tour. It is a self-guided tour of 12 unique growing gardens and a chance to discover more about Sooke’s rich agricultural history.

1st stop: the tickets!!

We whizz into Shopper’s Drug Mart in Sooke to pick up our tickets and map/guide. They are $10/person (with kids under 15 free). All proceeds go to the Sooke Region New Farmer Mentorship Program. After a quick look at the map, we calculate the amount of time we have allowed against the farms we are keen to check out. After a read through the participating farms we set out our plan and off we go…

2nd stop: AK Farm

This is a beautiful property tucked at the end of a dead end road approx. 10 minutes past the town of Sooke (towards Jordan River). Its roots go back to the 1890s when it began cultivation of fruit trees such as King apple and plum that still produce today. We had fun “getting fresh with the locals” (of the animal variety) at AK Farm!

3rd stop: ALM Organic Farm

ALM is also the home of Full Circle Seeds and a handful of hard-working folks. It is a mystical warren of winding paths, super cool recycled metal sculptures, cob cottages and abundantly productive fields and greenhouses. ALM is a commercially certified organic farm and sells to some of the best restaurants in the area as well as two farm markets.

We were very excited to run into our friend Mareka and chat about her new Berkshire piglets. This is a rare breed of pig that we have been considering for our farm for the past year or so. The meat is prized by chefs for its juiciness, flavor and tenderness. They were pretty sleepy and happy lounging around in the dirt and sun, so we got a good chance to ogle them and get a good whif of their fragrant sty.

4th stop: Silver Cloud Farm

This wasn’t originally on our route, but we took a wrong turn and realized Silver Cloud Farm wasn’t actually that far from our last stop at ALM. It was definately worth the visit and great to chat “farming” with Teresa and Matt. They have carved out a productive and thriving farm out of forest land and have obviously been super busy setting up this homesteading property. Noah was stoked to check out their 30 foot yurt that they have lived in while developing the farm. You can find their heirloom tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant at the weekly Sooke Farmers Market.

5th stop: Sunriver Community Allotment Gardens

These guys really had the right idea with a string duo playing sweetly under the covered patio and punch bowl filled with refreshing lavender lemonade and shortbread cookies to greet visitors. The day was getting really hot and we were feeling a bit burnt out by many hours in the truck so it was a welcome break. This 2.5 property supports 65 plots designed and developed by local volunteers and supported by the Sooke Food CHI. The gardens are enjoyed by families of all ages and community groups ranging from a book club to a raw foods group to schools. We were pretty excited by the “flax plot” and the beauty that these delicate blue flowers create.

The community gardens are located down the road from the Sooke Museum and visitors are welcome to check it out anytime through the year.

Learn a bit more about the development of the Community Allotment gardens in this great YouTube video.

6th stop: T’Sou-ke Nation Ladybug Garden and Greenhouse

The folks at Ladybug practice growing Indigenous Native plants and herbs that have been gathered on Traditional Territories on outings taken with Youth, Elders and other band members. They are growing fresh, affordable foods for their weekly lunches, Meals on Wheels, Cultural nights and other Community gatherings. The long term goal is to lessen the severity of illness within their Nation by introducing healthy foods and traditional medicines. (hurrah!!!)

Finn took command of the camera in the greenhouse, informing that he is a more skilled photographer than I. Indeed he took some wonderful shots and I love to see the things that catch his eye. We got to try a nibble from a very pretty and unusual looking vine that grew pods that tasted just like radish. They are also trying out some peanuts in a large pot and it will be interesting to follow up in a month or so and see how the experiment has turned out.

7th (and final) stop: ha-ha-quen

I asked Finn if he remembered this cool old shipyard from the days when his dad worked on a friend’s boat here. This place is every junkyard scavenger’s dream, every nook and corner filled with cool looking metal contraptions in every stage of life – new and shiny, tarnished and completely rusted through!

This fragrant seaside seaside garden is located on the shipyard property and is unique because of its rich black “sea soil“. The garden has raised beds and because of its location, tucked out out of the winds, can grow almost anything without greenhouses or extensive cold frames. Three families grow food here year round and give away baskets of fresh produce to passing mariners that come through.

It was really great to get out to Sooke and get a taste of the farms and food gardens. Thanks to the Sooke Food CHI (Community Health Initiative) for putting on this great event. If you’d like to get involved or find out more about their programs please visit their website.

August 3, 2010
Kids Cook Local: Fresh Fruit Popsicles

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (0) Tags: , , , , —

Ah….summer. After a few weeks of hot, dry weather, what better way to cool down and power up than with homemade, fresh fruit popsicles?

These frozen treats are super easy to make and a great, healthy alternative to all the sugar loaded frozen popsicles usually on offer. (Although there has always been delicious frozen fruit freezies for sale at the Moss Street Market on Saturdays). All you need is fresh berries or fruit, a blender and some popsicle molds. Finn loves the taste of vanilla with Bing cherries, so he decided to add some french vanilla yogurt into the mix. He made 1/2 the tray with the cherry/vanilla mixture and the other half with blueberries. Thought we’d try a little taste test and see which we preferred.

Make it
1. Choose your favourite fresh, local fruit eg: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches.
2. If you’ve opted for cherries, then you have some fiddly prep ahead of you. Finn loves these kind of tasks though, so he sets to work with great concentration, slicing and twisting the cherries and then popping out the pips. We did find some creative ideas online for easing cherry pit popping using plastic straws or bamboo skewers but we’ll try this out next time we prep. cherries for a fruit salad.

3. Scoop some yogurt into your blender and add your chosen fruit or berry.
4. Blend it up until smooth and creamy.
5. Pour the mixture into popsicle molds, place handles inside and put into the freezer.

Eat it
1. Test the popsicles after about 2-3 hours to see if they have set.
2. Give the handle a little twist or tug. If you don’t feel the popsicle start to slide out then run the bottom under warm water for a few seconds.
3. Lick it, slurp it quick, quick, quick. These babies melt quick in the hot sun…enjoy!

A few fresh tidbits…Bing is the name given to the popular, bright red/maroon cherries most often seen at this time of year. The season is very short so don’t miss out on this nutrition packed Northwest delicacy. Bing cherries were first cultivated in Oregon in the 19th century and are true to their original roots with the largest producers still on the Pacific Coast. Besides the delicious taste, cherries help reduce toxins and are an excellent anti-inflammatory food.

July 15, 2010
Kids Cook Local: Spicy Fries

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (0) Tags: , —

New potatoes are here and will be around until early September. They are creamy and have a delicious sweet, nutty flavour. Very different from many of the winter storage potatoes with a much higher water content and fewer starches. With their thin skins and tender flesh, they are perfect boiling potatoes, but Finn opted for a family favourite – spicy fries.

Although we had a bag of new potatoes from Saanichton Christmas Tree Farm, we discovered a huge mound of potatoes in one of our garden beds while doing some weeding. Noah stuck his hands way down in the dirt and kept bringing up more and more. We decided to mix the two varieties so we could compare the flavour and texture when cooked.

Joan at Saanichton Christmas Tree Farm

Make it:
1. Wash potatoes to remove the dirt. With new potatoes try to keep as much of the delicate skin as possible.
TIP: new potatoes don’t keep as well as their winter buddies. Most potatoes do well in a dark, dry space, but new potatoes will stay crisp and fresh longer kept in the fridge.
2. Chop into long thin strips, approx .5″ wide.
3. Finely dice garlic cloves and fresh rosemary.
4. Toss potato strips, garlic, rosemary, oil, salt + pepper and either chili flakes or cayenne together in a large bowl. Make sure all the potatoes are well coated.

Cook it:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375-400 F.
2. Spread potatoes onto large cookie sheet.
3. Cook for about 20 minutes and then flip the fries.
4. Cook for another 15-20 minutes or until fries are crispy and golden brown.

Eat it:
1. Eat on their own or dipped in some homemade ginger or chipotle mayo.
2. A great side dish to any bbq. We ate some gorgeous wild salmon and garlic scapes with our spicy fries. Delicious!

Saanichton Christmas Tree Farm produces a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and herbs. They are on the Saanich Peninsula Tour of Farms (July 26). Stop by to meet Diane the Ostrich, Penny and her piglets, 4 breeds of chickens and chicks and learn about rainbow trout (stocked in their fishing pond).

Farm stall is located at 8231 East Saanich Road. Phone 250.652.3345 for more info.

June 29, 2010
Kids Cook Local: Raspberry Jam

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (0) Tags: , , —

Kids Cook Raspberry Jam

It’s been slim pickings for sweet toast toppings around our house lately. We ran out of all our winter pantry items at the end of March and have been waiting to begin restocking.

With the arrival of the first BC berries we decided to get a jump on our jam stockpile and preserve some of that yummy, ripe red goodness. We’ve always been lucky to have Nana around when it comes time to do our canning. I have to admit that I’m not the best guide as I lack a bit of confidence in the “canning” area. So….like many modern moms I went to YouTube for inspiration. We were lucky enough to stumble upon Jonathan Wallace (well, I have to admit the title Raspberry Jam and Gin sort of caught my attention). When I saw some of his other recipes such as: elderflower wine, nettle tea and fruit leather I knew he was the jam guide for us. We all sat down for the 8 minute tutorial and couldn’t believe how easy it all was.

There is really only 3 ingredients needed: raspberries, sugar and lemon. No need for pectin as the raspberry seeds have a sort of natural pectin/thickener that is released as they soften while cooking plus the sugar acts as a preservation. Now…I’ve always been very conscious about sugar consumption and am loathe to take such perfectly ripe fruit and taint it with SO much sugar, but….this is the kids project and they want a fun, easy and tasty treat. We’ll work on some reduced sugar recipes our next time around.

the ingredients

Raspberry Jam Ingredients

Make it
1. Load up with some fresh, BC raspberries, sugar and lemons (we used one lemon and one lime as that is what we had available). We bought 1/2 a flat at the Root Cellar.
2. The measurements are quite simple – the sugar will be half the weight of the berries.
3. Weigh your berries. We went with a half recipe this time around so we could keep a bunch for fresh nibbles. 1kg.
4. Weight your sugar. 500 g.
5. Wash citrus fruit and grate rind. Set aside.
6. Juice citrus fruit. Set aside.
7. Previous to all this, we put our mason jars in the dishwasher on high setting to sterilize and boiled the tops for about 5 minutes. Not sure if this was necessary but it felt like the right thing to do.

making raspberry jam

Making the Jam

Cook it
1. Dump berries into large saucepan with the grated citrus rind and juice.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Add sugar and stir well.
4. Bring to a simmer and stir often. Keep scraping down the sides and mixing all the froth back into the mixture.
5. Watch for the mixture to get really frothy on the top, this is a sign of the thickening action. Takes about 10 – 15 minutes.
6. Take a spoonful and drop onto a small plate or bowl. Let sit for a few minutes to see if the jam is setting up.
7. Remove from the stove.

Reducing the berries

Can it
1. Set out clean, steralized mason jars and a funnel.
2. Scoop the jam mixture into the jars.
3. Seal the jars.

Eat it
1. Cut some slices of fresh bread. Toast and spread butter and jam on them.
2. Enjoy the sweet, sticky goodness. Have another piece!

Stay tuned…for the bonus *adults only recipe, Raspberry Gin coming a bit later in the week.

June 22, 2010
Kids Cook Local: Pancakes with Local Strawberries!

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (0) Tags: , —

Landon, Finn, Daniel and Kyle: kids cooking local

On the Friday prior to our kids cooking day, we loaded up on fresh, field strawberries from Russel’s Farm (just off the highway between Duncan and Chemainus). Flats are about $31 but we opted for a large punnet ($3.99/lb) knowing we wouldn’t have time for any preserving this weekend. We zoomed through Cowichan Bay on our way around the Duncan area and stopped at True Grain to say “hi” to our friend Joerg (the baker) and pick up a bag of Vancouver Island grown sifted wheat flour. We had an extra 1/2 hr before we had to catch the ferry back home so we took Lakes Road from Duncan on the hunt for more local produce. We were very excited to stumble upon Nick who produces “Chemainus Sausages” from beef and pork raised just down the road at Westholme Farm. We chose some pork breakfast sausages as well as chorizo for our weekend BBQ. They are best known for their bacon – double smoked dry cured, so you know we’ll back to try this next. You can find Chemainus sausages at the Market on Millstream, Ambrosio and Fairways but its always fun to make the trip and buy it direct.

It’s Saturday morning and by 9am the house is full of boys. It’s Finn’s 10th birthday and Kyle, Landon and Daniel have already arrived by boat and bike. Finn and Kyle are keen to get cooking so they can get outside and practice their “ollies”.

Pancake ingredients with fresh strawberries

Make it
1. Measure out flour (2 c), butter (2 tbsp), milk (2 cups) (buttermilk is the best. We didn’t have any so we just added some yogurt to our milk), baking soda (1 tsp), sugar (2 tsps), salt (1/4 tsp), 2 eggs and vanilla (1 tsp).
2. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
3. Break eggs into another bowl.
4. Melt butter and then pour into egg mixture with milk and vanilla.
5. Slowly mix wet and dry ingredients.
6. Slice fresh berries for your toppings.

Cook it
1. Warm up a cast iron skillet to med-high and melt a bit of butter.
2. Spoon pancake batter onto the skillet.
3. As batter bubbles and air holes pop, and edges begin to brown, flip the pancakes.
4. When second side is golden brown, they are ready to eat.

Eat it
1. Serve with breakfast sausages or bacon.
2. Top with melted local honey or maple syrup and fresh berries.
3. Enjoy!

Thanks Finn, Kyle, Landon and Daniel for the delicious breakfast!

June 14, 2010
Kids Cook Local: Lamb Burgers!

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (0) Tags: , , —

The scene: A family BBQ way back in the early spring as Finn finished his last bite of burger.

“How did you like you Lamb Burger, Finn?” Lucas (his uncle) pipe’s up.
“Huh? What do you mean? I thought it was just a ‘normal’ burger!”
“Nope that was lamb. What do you think?” Lucas responds.
“Wow, that was really good. I guess I like lamb now!” Finn replies.

For our meal this week we decided to try the lamb burgers again as it’s spring and that’s one of the freshest meats around. We popped into Slater’s on Cadboro Bay Rd. and talked to them about their lamb. We bought ours frozen as we would be on the road doing errands for another couple of hours, but you can buy a larger quantity fresh with a phone call a day ahead. The meat comes from Hertel’s in Port Alberni where they source from Island raised lambs.

We did a little hunt and gather throughout the day and mapped out our food route in combination with the other errands we had to run. After Slater’s we popped into Wildfire and purchased some sprouted wheat buns. The wheat used to make these is island grown and comes from Tom Henry out in Metchosin.

Make it
1. collect fresh + local ingredients to your liking. We gathered buns from Wildfire Bakery, lamb from Slater’s, cucumbers + tomatoes from SunWing Greenhouse, greens + sprouts from SunTrio farm and herbs and edible flowers from our garden.
2. finely chop garlic and herbs (rosemary or mint are really nice)
3. mix in with ground lamb and add some sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Cook it
1. turn BBQ on (with the help of parents / safety first!) and let warm up
2. form ground lamb mixture into patties with your hands
3. place the patties onto the grill
4. prep up salad, burger toppings and buns while the patties are grilling (approx. 7 minutes per side)
5. cut cheese slices (Finn used Natural Pastures Garlic and Herb Verdelait for us while he opted for the more familiar and favourite “orange” cheddar) and put on the patties

Eat it
1. dress up your bun with all your favourite fixings. We mixed some mint with mayo and mango chutney and that was divine! Finn went traditional with ketchup, mayo and fresh lettuce.

A delicious Sunday family night meal made by Finn for his parents. Thanks Finn!

June 8, 2010
Kids Cook Local: The Adventure Begins

Kids Cook Local by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (1)

Introducing our adventurous cooks, Kyle (age 12) and Finn (age 10). They are going to get as fresh as they can get with local bites that kids might want to sink their teeth into. From the farms and the markets they will choose their ingredients according to what is fresh. Join them each week in their local cooking adventures.

Recipe 1: Pizza with as many local ingredients as we could agree upon (or find without too much trouble).

The boys went mad in our herb garden and decided to try them all. It’s going to be herbalicious!

Make it
1: collect fresh + local ingredients to your liking
2. we bought our pre-made dough at La Collina (but used True Grain Spelt to roll it out in)
3. wash, slice, dice, crush, peel, grate all your ingredients up
4. slosh some olive oil into a nice thick bottomed sauce pan and warm it up
5. add the chopped garlic, a pinch of salt & pepper, fresh oregano (basil is great too), sundried tomatoes and cook until the garlic is lightly brown (it should all be sizzling)
6. add the diced tomatoes (watch out for the hot oil splats…safety first!)
7. simmer that, stirring often until it resembles sauce (no more big chunks). Taste it, adjust it, love it.
8. push, pull, stretch, throw your pizza dough until it resembles something close to a thin circle
9. spoon sauce and spread gently around
10. sprinkle a bit of local cheese (Buffalo mozzarella is the best) then arrange your toppings(eg.spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs, roasted garlic, apple) then finish with more cheese

Cook it
1. preheat the oven to about 425 and pop the pizza onto the middle tray (unless you are SO lucky and have a wood-fired oven)
2. keep an eye on it (you want to see it bubble and lightly brown) but it should be ready in about 15 minutes

Eat it
1. pull it out of the oven and slide onto a wooden cutting board. Use oven mitts. It’s HOT!
2. grab your pizza wheel and slice it up. Yumyum…savor and enjoy! Awesome!

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Get Fresh with the Locals is the collaborative adventure of Elisabeth & Noah Bond, Lucas Copplestone and Caprina Valentine
phone: 250.686.5522 | email: info@getfreshguide.com