Our gardening is just about done for the year, the beds have been tidied and only the cold hardy vegetables are left to browse from. We had an abundance of really big 
tomatos and made a lot of tomato sauce!
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Read Reviews on YelpOur gardening is just about done for the year, the beds have been tidied and only the cold hardy vegetables are left to browse from. We had an abundance of really big tomatos and made a lot of tomato sauce!
There are quite a number of plants that can be foraged for food on Gabriola. The spring and summer months offer a multitude of berries, oregon grape, young stinging nettle, and tender greens; in the fall find rose hips and mushrooms. It is very satisfying to walk along mossy forest trails and spy a chanterelle mushroom, and where there is one there are u
sually more. Our favorite are the golden chanterelle but the white ones are good as well. Take them home, clean off the forest debris, leave them to dry for a couple of days, then fry them up with onions and olive oil – delicious!
We had such a cool start to the summer that I thought the garden would never grow, but I was surprised, we are able to pick a bountiful daily harvest of vegetables – enough for three families. We used sea weed and compost this year and the result has been market quality. 
When there is too much we can give the excess to the local food bank.
It is great little coffee bar at Madrona Shopping center. On a hot day they open the overhead doors for a refreshing open air experience. There is plenty of comfortable seating, both inside and out. They serve really good coffee, tea, snack bars and pastries. You can buy a delicious lunch of soup, sandwiches and wraps. We arrived early on Sunday and by the time we were finished the place was hopping. Afterwards we browsed in the shops, I found a lovely pair of leather walking sandals at the North Road Sports & Clothing shop – on sale! For us this is just a 15 minute walk from home and a nice way to get some exercise.
I have been spending a fair amount of time looking online at farm co-op’s and how they are started and run. I looked at Glen Valley farm’s website located in the Fraser Valley and was inspired by what they have created there, a successful model of co-operative organic agriculture. The goals of this co-op is below and a model like this could work on Gabriola :
The original goals of the co-op when established in 1998 remain priorities today and figure into our decision-making processes. These goals are to:
Shareholders and friends of the farm meet regularly for a shared meal and meeting. All major decisions for the co-op are achieved through concensus. We believe this process helps to ensure that issues are carefully thought through before action is taken, that it gives everyone a voice in the process, which results in much greater buy-in by all participants.
Check out their website for more information at http://glenvalleyorganicfarmcoop.org/ and a local blog from a Gabriola group who is quite involved with the slow food movement at http://www.goal-2025.com/
…and they just keep coming – tomatoes that is. Even though we had a very cool start to the year we seem to have an abundance of tomatoes. The beauty of buying bedding plants is that you can try so many different varieties. In the spring we went to the Wild Rose nursery located on Gabriola and bought 15 different varieties of tomatoes, many of them heirloom. We had small and large Beefsteak, Golden Delight, Jolly Elf, Black Prince, Early Girl and many others, some were cool weather varieties, some not. The result was very satisfying and there were so many that every few days I was processing them this fall. In my opinion the easiest way to keep tomatoes is to skin them and simmer them all day until they are reduced by half. Then ladle them into sterile jars and screw on the lid – now they are ready to use!
What a delight it is to find a few chanterelle mushrooms along your path. When you are walking in the mossy forest in the fall it is not unusual to find mushrooms of all types, but the chanterelles are particularly tasty and very easy to recognize. Both white and golden ones can be found on Gabriola. The golden ones seem to grow a bit higher off the ground while the whites snuggle under the moss and are usually more covered in forest debris. On our last forest expedition we found a large grouping of the whites and were able to pick enough for the whole family to enjoy!
Kissinger Lake is about a two hour drive from the Gabriola Ferry on Vancouver Island just past Cowichan Lake. This pretty little spot belongs to Timber West who offers it as a forestry campground and they stock it with rainbow trout making it a favorite destination for campers and fisher-people. There are no gas powered engines allowed so it is very peaceful there. With the warm temperatures and sunny skies of this past week we had to make one last trip out for the season. There is a little dock to dive and fish from and a gravel beach. At this time of year there are also some great patches of chanterelle mushrooms which are wonderful cooked over a campfire. There are some good walking opportunities in the area as well but you have to keep an eye out for bear who are also plentiful!
I love this time of year, the air is clear and crisp but summer’s warmth still lingers. And the garden, I adore picking all the things a late summer garden has to offer. See the tomato rabbit?
August is blackberry time, and Gabriola has lots of thickets of these luscious treats at the south end of the island. We try to go out a few times each season to pick berries. This time we took the kids and they helped, mind you they ate as many as they picked. We brought
home enough to make jelly, a pie and blackberry ice cream. Yum!
Robyn & Carly McMahon and unlicensed assistant Lesley McMahon, your Gabriola Island Real Estate Sales Team
Located at The Folklife Village, #1-575 North Road, Gabriola BC, Canada V0R 1X3
Toll Free 1.877.422.8455 or Local 247.2088 or email mcmahon@gabriolaproperty.com
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