Vendor Spotlight: Chilli Tank!

Chili Tank is probably the most unique street food dinning experience you could ever have! Their "tank" is literally a piece of an old 1943 military soup kitchen that has been modernized just enough to make it work as a high volume street food booth, but it still retains that genuine WW2 look!! Talk about original!

Not only is the concept one that is sure to draw a crowd, but the chili is hands down the best in the city. Full of flavor and made with tonnes of love, organic and local produce is used whenever possible. All utensils and soup bowls used are biodegradable and compostable. The Chili Tank itself is heated with a green fire log, which is made out of 80% used coffee grounds. Not only does this add to the already intoxicating smell of freshly cooked chili, but it is good for the environment too! Fresh European style baguettes are served with every bowl of steaming hot chili. Join us in welcoming Chili tank to our line up of amazing food vendors!!!!

Vendor Announcement: The Other Eden

We would like to welcome The Other Eden to our roster of amazing vendors! These family made soaps contain only the finest and purest ingredients, made in small batches to ensure purity, freshness, and quality. Absolutely no animal testing of any kind is used, and each piece of soap is loving cut by hand. All Palm and/or Palm Kernel oils used are grown and processed in a sustainable manner and is harvested in environmentally sustainable ways, from a mature plantation, and no de-forestation or animal habitat is damaged. Look for these luscious soaps at your local NSGM events!

Green Living Idea: Install a Rain Barrel

If you garden consider installing a rain barrel! By installing a rain barrel and using that to water your garden (or even wash your car) you are preventing a huge draw on resources, and working with what mother nature naturally gives us! A rain barrel can hold up to 55 gallons of water and in rainy cities such as Vancouver that can save up to 2860 gallons (nearly 11,000 litres) of water!

Vendor Announcement: Dundarave Olive Company

We are excited to welcome Dundarave Olive Company to our roster of amazing vendors! Locally made in West Vancouver with only the freshest raw ingredients and no preservatives or artificial flavors, Dundarave Olive Company offers delicatable gourmet stuffed olives, dipping sauces and premium olive oils. Make sure you visit their booth at a NSGM near you!

So You Want to Grow Your Own Food: Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of "So You Want to Grow Your Own Food"! Last week we learned all about location, light, and soil. This week we are focusing on water, fertilization, and seedling success.

Like us, plants need water in order to survive. Some fruits/vegetables will need more water then others so read seed package descriptions carefully. You also want to make sure you are watering your plants consistently, not too much and not too little. Give them a good regular soaking, up to 6-8 inches deep so the roots get what they need. Do not let the soil dry out completely, but do not over water either as this can encourage mold and mildew. The crowns/leaves of plants to not need to be watered, they only need to be warmed by the suns rays! So when watering ensure you are watering the base of the plant and soaking the roots. To water from the top down is a waste! On the note of water waste consider installing a rain barrel (we will have a green tip on how to do this later this month) or simply collecting rain water in buckets.

Most vegetables and fruits are hungry plants that will need to be fed some form of fertilizer. As we discussed last week your soil should be loaded with well rotted manure or compost to feed the plant on a daily basis and promote healthy bacteria growth. But the plants will still need regular applications of an organic fertilizer approximately every 2 weeks. Ensure that the fertilizer you use is organic, it is silly to buy organic seeds, build your raised beds with untreated timbre, fill your soil with organic compost...only to dump chemical fertilizer all over the place! Fish fertilizer is a good option, as is seaweed based liquid fertilizers. Some plants, like tomatoes, have very specific needs. If in doubt ask at your local nursery and they will help you choose the right fertilizer for the right plants.

To grow from seed or not? Personally I do a mixture of booth. There are simply some plants that are harder to grow from seed then others. Many people enjoy starting their tomato seedlings inside early, in order to get a head start while there is still frost on the ground. While this is a brilliant idea in theory you also have to keep in mind that seedlings will need to be "hardened off" in order to avoid them going to shock. A pampered indoor tomato plant cannot simply be plunked outside and expected to survive on its own! For this reason I prefer to buy my tomato seedlings already established and growing heartily from a local organic farmer. That way all the hard work is already done for me, I know they are organic, and I can just plant them and give them some love, water and sunlight! Pretty much everything else I grow from seed, including: carrots, lettuce, radish, herbs, beans and more!

I plant most of my seeds directly outdoors, once all threat of frost has passed and the soil has had a chance to warm up. Based on where I live this is usually after the Easter long weekend, but will vary from region to region. When I do start seedlings indoors I grow them in peat pots (can be found at your local garden supply store) underneath my stove light where it is nice and warm. Once they are 3-4 inches high and their stalks look nice and strong I gently cut off the bottom of the peat pot and plant the whole thing right into my garden. The walls of the peat pot will breakdown and the roots can grow out of the bottom hole you just created!

That about covers the basics of all you need to know to start growing your own food! Are you excited to get dirt under your fingernails? I know I am! Stay tuned for regular postings on all things related to organic food production and have fun!!!

Make Your Own Herbal Cordial!

Image Source

We recently found this recipe for herbal cordials over on Inn Brooklyn and we just had to share it with you! Now that there are hints of spring in the air why not try making your own refreshing juices, rather then buying ones laden with food coloring, preservatives and nasty chemicals!

Herb Citrus Cordial (makes 4-5 pints)
Ingredients:

• 6 cup sugar
• Zest of 6 citrus, in large pieces of peel
• 4 cups fresh citrus juice
• 2 cup water
• 8 cups loosely packed fresh basil or 2 cups lavender or 20 stalks of rosemary or some other herb you want to cordialize.

Method:

• In a large pot bring sugar, zest, juice, and water to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.  Add the herbs and let the syrup infuse for at least 15 minutes.
• Meantime prepare your canning jars.
• Strain syrup through a fine sieve, squeezing out as much syrup as possible from the herb leaves before discarding them.
• Boiling water process for 10 minutes.

Serve with soda water, on ice for a cool refreshing beverage with a splash of color!

Green Living

We at NSGM love trees, and you should too! Trees not only keep our air clean, but their roots also help prevent soil erosion.  Did you know that huge areas the size of PANAMA are lost to deforestation every year!? This can be prevented! Paper products of all varieties are available in recycled forms now, from toilet paper to office paper. And don’t forget to re-use those one sided sheets of paper once you are done! Don't take paper for granted, buy recycled paper materials. Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!


For more information you click here

So You Want to Grow Your Own Food?

Join the food revolution and start growing your own fruits and veggies! Its really not as hard as you think it might be, and the rewards of having a family garden plot far outweigh the work involved. Growing our own food is a wonderful way to connect with nature and to teach children the value of food production. As any gardener will tell you, seeds are truly remarkable things! They hold the secret of life, locked away inside their tiny shells and with love, water, light, and good soil they open up to share the wonder of natures creative powers with us! A wonderful lesson to teach our children, and a fun, healthy, and environmental way of cutting down on our food costs too! Grow your own! April is a good time to start prepping your garden, but it always a good idea to check your farmers almanac before planting any seeds to ensure that all danger of the last frost has passed. This is Canada after all!

First things first: where are you going to grow your bounty?  Do not despair if your yard is equipped with poor, crumbly, hard or rocky soil...or if you lack much of a yard! Raised beds are a great alternative and can be built relatively easily and without a huge investment. A quick search on youtube will turn up hundreds of instructional videos on how to build a raised bed, ranging from simple to complex. (Make sure the wood you choose to build your raised bed with has not been treated with harmful chemicals that will leach into your soil and therefore your food!). Raised beds are also warmer as they are above ground, perfect for our rainy Vancouver climate that needs all the help with warmth and drainage it can get! If space is an issue then look to container gardening, it is not as limiting as you would think! Lettuce, tomatoes, beets, carrots, strawberries and much more can all successfully be grown in containers...just pay close attention to their water levels and don't let the soil become too dry or too saturated.

Of course when choosing your location we must also consider how much light it is getting. Adequate amounts of sunlight is essential to growing healthy fruits and vegetables, and in our rainy climate this can sometimes be a challenge. To grow edible food crops you need at least a solid 6 hours of sunlight per day, but some plants do better then others in low light conditions. However for our purposes we want LOTS of direct natural sunlight. Stay tuned for a post on what plants grow best in high versus low light levels.

Now that we have decided where we are going to grow our food, lets look to one of the most important parts of organic food production THE SOIL! Soil is the most basic building block of an organic garden, and of course you are going to grow organic! Right? Right! (Don't worry, we will have lots of helpful tips on here on how to keep your garden organic and pest free). As any good gardener will tell you "Feed the soil, not the plant". Choose rich, organic soil loaded with nutrients that will feed the plant. Work in a generous amount of compost and/or well rotted manure to create healthy soil. Healthy soil is loaded with microscopic critters that break things down, making new food to continuously feed your plants (click here for a more detailed read on soil). Feeding your plant is about more then simply adding fertilizer, it all starts with the very dirt you plant them in!

.................................................................................................

Stay tuned for part two of "So You Want to Grow Your Own Food?"