By Terri Smith –
The theme for Quesnel’s Seedy Saturday event this year is “Growing Food in Changing Times.” Even a few years ago this may have seemed an almost hypothetical topic to many of us. Most people recognized climate change has been happening, but it hadn’t noticeably affected most of us in the Cariboo until the last few years. Now with fires and floods, sometimes both at once, along with increasingly extreme and unpredictable weather and temperatures, this topic is both immediately relevant and incredibly important.
Join us on April 13 from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. in the college atrium for a fun and informative day. Come meet and spend time with some of the people who work on the front lines of our local food movement. There will be some amazing vendors, entertaining kids’ activities, and great workshops. Jennifer Linnegar-Johnson of Petty Catwater will teach you the ins and outs of food preservation (she makes the most amazing food; you don’t want to miss this!) and Terri Smith (that’s me!) of Road’s End Vegetable Company and Long Table Grocery will be teaching the ABCs of gardening—a workshop on how to get started with growing food for yourself on even the tiniest scale.
There will also be a round-table discussion about climate adaptation hosted by Rob Borsato and including myself and other local farmers. This is an important topic because each season we are facing growing conditions that range from drought to flood and from below freezing temperatures up to plus 30, in even a single month. We’ll talk about ways to mitigate the effects of our ‘new normal’ that is anything but, and how to take advantage of some of the ways our changing climate can actually be helpful for growing.
The Seedy Saturday committee would like to thank the Lions Club, the Farmers’ Market, and the Bouchie Lake Community Association for their generous donations that make this event possible. This is a free event, but donations are greatly appreciated. See you all there!
