People often become excited once they learn some of the benefits of eating locally; however, all that dissipates when they start thinking about all the effort they would have to go through in order to fulfill their weekly grocery needs. Cucumbers are no longer an aisle away from the dairy section. In some cases, purveyors of local food find themselves driving from one farm to another, guzzling litres of gas only to pick up a couple of pounds of vegetables. The thought of all this inconvenience may cause some to turn away from pursuing the idea of eating locally altogether, but I encountered one exhibitor at the Festival who rightfully has become the middleman between Island farmers and Victoria residents. Ambrosia Markets & Deli is a distributor that helps deliver the produce of 45 island farmers to people looking for local produce.

Going green isn’t as hard as it might seem. The idea of composting might seem daunting, but it can actually be just as easy as throwing something in the trash. If you are itching to get started but feel like you don’t have a lot of time or money to invest in composting – have no fear! The Greater Victoria Composting Education Center provides a you a ton of information so you don’t have to do a bunch of research and offers resources at very affordable prices.

ust throw your organic waste into The Green Cone Digester (which you plant in your garden) and let nature do everything else. The lower black basket allows worms from your garden to enter the compost and break down the organic waste into a mulchy, nutrient rich substance that naturally disperses into the rest of your garden or yard. This is pretty much the most user friendly compost you could ever find! You don’t even have to worry about balancing out the nitrogen and carbon based elements like in other compost systems.

The Organic Islands Festival is aiming for carbon neutrality – And you can help! Tell us what kind of changes would help you get to the festival in future years – is it a shuttle bus, a carpooling system, cycling maps, or other?

I feel extremely fortunate that there’s many local farmers here at the Organic Islands Festival, as I’m learning so much about the food that our Island has to offer. The fact that our island can grow anything from Dragon Fingers (Thai peppers) to French galisse lettuce immediately eliminates the notion that a local Canadian diet can only be as plain as, well, potatoes.

My next local food adventure brought me to Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse, who came to Organic Islands from Saanichton. They specialize in producing apple ciders, and all their ingredients are sourced locally. One really neat thing about them is that one of their main sources of apples comes from Life Cycles, a Victoria-based organization dedicated to developing the local food economy and cultivating communities of food, health, and sustainability.