2012-07

Blayne, Scott and Jon This episode we welcome Scott DiGustini of Tree Island Gourmet Yogurt, the Comox Valley's own artisan cultured dairy. We had an educational conversation about yogurt and the exciting things that are to come from Tree Island Gourmet Yogurt. Coming Events August 3rd to 6th-Comox host Nautical Days to celebrate B.C. day, and the Filberg Festival at the Filberg Lodge. August 11 and 12th-The Comox Valley Farm Cycle Tour. Sign up for a fun day or days of bicycling in the beautiful countryside of the Comox Valley and meet the farmers who grow your food. I already have my ticket, do you? August 25th- Mount Washington Food and Wine Festival. September 8th- Chefs Day at the Farmers Market. Come and cheer on the chefs as they create wonderful dishes from foods available at the market. Come and say "Hi" to Jon. September 23rd- Flavour the North Vancouver Island Gourmet Picnic. Visit the beautiful grounds of Coastal Black Winery and sample products from dozens of chefs and farmers from around the Comox Valley. Once again, Jon will be wearing many hats at this event. Blayne will be walking around and eating, what he does best! Of course the bi-weekly Comox Valley Farmers Market We would also like to extend an invitation to join a growing movement, the Comox Valley $100 Challenge. A facebook based community within a community. Join and help us keep some of our grocery dollars with our local producers. Thanks for listening to Edible Valley. Find us on facebook, follow our twitter feed @ediblevalley, and email us for suggestions, comments or any other feedback you wish to give. Keep it Local.

I played on the title of a famous space opera that molded our collective childhood. Our podcast has been graced with a new hope or opportunity with the offer of recording at the Jet FM studio in Courtenay. Our audio quality and consistency should be much better now. We hope to have a new website up in the next little bit and some other fun things. Here is a list of what is coming up in the Comox Valley. July 21st- Market Days Downtown Courtenay August 3-6th The Filberg Festival at the beautifully preserved grounds of the Filberg Lodge in Comox. Also that same weekend in Comox the B.C. Day festivities happen at the marina park. There is sure to be some great food vendors there as well as a beverage garden and many other activities. August 11 and 12th. The Comox Valley Farm Cycle tour. Pick from three seperate routes and get out for some fresh air and exercise and see where your food comes from. Bring your children! August 25th Mount Washington Wine and Food Festival. Buy your tickets online. September 25th Flavour the North Vancouver Island Gourmet Picnic. An event that both of us at Edible Valley are very excited about. Come out and sample the best that the Comox Valley and the north Island has to offer. See you there! Of course the Comox Valley Farmers Market is every Wednesday and Saturday from 9 until noon. Email us with questions, suggestions on topics or to let us know how we are doing to ediblevalley@gmail.com. Like our Facebook page and follow our twitter feed. @ediblevalley Thanks for tuning in and stay tuned for great guests and content.

Russ Mahy joined us for an interview. He came up with the concept of the $100 challenge, a initiative to shift $100 of your monthly spending on local products. It could be food, wine, art, or music. He feels like we need to grow a local economy and this is a great way to start small and build the momentum. Shopping locally is an adventure in diversity. If you are interested, please like the Facebook page and be prepared to keep track of your local spending to share with the group. He hopes to have 1000 families and individuals signed up by August 1st, and have a tally in a year to see how much money stayed in the valley. Please participate and spread the message, this is a wonderful way to build community and support those that work so hard to feed, entertain and clothe us locally. We also encourage getting your children involved. If they learn this lesson early, it will follow them through out their lives. The Facebook campaign: Comox Valley $100 dollar challenge Follow on twitter @Cvalley100 We also mentioned the Comox Valley Farm Cycle tour. I encourage many participants in this fun event. There are loops for every skill level of rider. I will be participating, meeting riders and farmers. It is the best of both worlds for this "cynical cyclist" I want to apologize for the some what poor audio quality. We are still learning, and for some reason it did not sound as good for this interview as some of the others. We are currently looking to upgrade our audio equipment. If you have any knowledge or equipment that you could sell I would like to hear from you. Thanks.

This episode we had the opportunity to pay a visit to Theresa Noot and her daughter Kyla Savage in "Gum Boot Country" at their home in Merville BC. Theresa and her husband Tim have been commercial fishing for salmon, halibut and tuna for over 30 years. Kyla was raised in the industry, and worked seven consecutive seasons on the "Titanium" with her dad. We were able to be educated on the ins and outs of how commercial fishing licensing works, where to find tuna in BC waters and how many gumboots they own. It was a great informative visit, and we were graciously gifted with romaine lettuce, kale, basil, garlic scapes and some tasty, perfectly ripe raspberries. To contact Theresa or Kyla to purchase frozen at sea salmon call their house at (250)338-0587, or email Theresa at tnoot@shaw.ca The strawberries are ready at Ashberry farm in Royston. I was busy this weekend getting a good pile in my freezer. I feel so good to put local organic ingredients in my storage. The Comox Valley 100 dollar challenge is an initiative started by Russ Mahy, friend of the Edible Valley. It is a Facebook based challenge where his dream is to get 1000 Comox Valley familys to shift $100 dollars of their grocery budget monthly to local producers, thus injecting 1.2 million dollars into our hardworking farmers pocketbooks, and away from the multi-national faceless corporate run food system. Please have a look and consider joining up. If you are already supporting local agri, we want you too. Help spread the word.