Food Security
The Garden Club/ICAN Food Security Team is a collaboration between the Quadra Island Garden Club and Quadra Island Climate Action Network. We are also happy to welcome our new partner, Seedy Saturday.
This team is committed to increasing both the amount of food grown on Quadra Island and islanders’ access to locally grown food. We also promote sustainable food-growing techniques.
In May 2021, 245 locals responded to our Grow Local Food Survey, the results of which continue to inform our work.
Our current projects include:
- The LEARN Food Security workshop series. For upcoming workshops, check the ICAN Events Page
- The Grow Together Cooperative Garden Project
- The Food Recovery Project
- The Food Preservation Equipment Library
- Cataloging and promoting local growers through the Quadra Island Food Guide
- The Garden Share Project
- A Composting project
- The Quadra Nut Tree Project
- Selling microgreen seeds and kits
- Gleaning
Our past projects include:
- Squash the Curve, an initiative that turned unused lawn and garden space into squash beds. Find out more on the Squash the Curve Facebook group.
- We completed the Growing and Eating Local Food Survey in 2021. Find the results HERE.
- We have held workshops for making bokashi, canning, container gardening, gluten-free baking, gluten-free bread, making kombucha, growing microgreens, growing mushrooms, soil sprouting, making sourdough bread, making sourdough starter, growing sprouts, starting plants from seeds, making water kefir, using sourdough starter for making food other than bread, gardening in wicking buckets.
- Market demonstrations have been held for building bat houses, making elderberry cordial, growing microgreens, using beneficial nematodes, growing native plants, growing sprouts and gardening in wicking buckets.
Future Projects?
We have lots on the go right now, but we are not short on ideas! Among the ideas we’re hoping to pursue in the future are a mobile abattoir on Quadra, a food storage facility that would allow us to buy staples in bulk for later distribution, a seed bank and seed exchange system, and a large local greenhouse. We’re also looking for input from farmers and producers about the kind of support that would be useful to them. We hope eventually to be able to support co-operative farming here on Quadra and to provide a facility where people can learn how to grow food both sustainably and efficiently.
Upcoming Workshops for 2024:
March 16 – Worm composting
June 30 – Winter Gardening #1 with Ryan Nassichuk
October 6 – Winter Gardening #2 with Ryan Nassichuk
Date TBA – Cooking Tough Cuts of Meat
Date TBA – Canning
Please check ICAN’s Event Page for details.
Register by emailing quadraicanfoodteam@gmail.com
Resources:
For more information on the Quadra Island Garden Club and their monthly speakers, plant sale, and other activities, visit their website quadraislandgardenclub.com and their Facebook Group.
If you’d like to be listed as a grower in the Quadra Island Food Guide, please email quadraicanfoodteam@gmail.com.
You might also be interested in:
- The Quadra Island Seed Library. Find it at the Quadra Island Public Library.
- The Quadra Island Seedy Saturday/Sunday Seed Exchange.
- The new Quadra Island cookbook called A Taste of Life on Quadra Island which is full of delicious recipes from islanders, using local ingredients. It was published at the end of 2021 as a fundraiser for the Quadra Island Children’s Centre. Learn more about it and buy it online or find it at these locations.
- The Quadra Community Garden. For info contact Jan at 285-2588.
- The Quadra Island Food Share Facebook Group. This group links those who have grown more food than they can use themselves with people who can make use of that excess food. This is a group for “growers and pickers, eaters and sharers.”
- The Quadra Island Farmers Market and Bazaar Facebook page.
Volunteer or Learn More
To learn more or to volunteer for any of our projects please contact us at quadraicanfoodteam@gmail.com.
For information on our latest events
Go to the ICAN Events page.
Join the Team!
Have a question or an idea for us? Want to help? We welcome your involvement!