Tuesday March 28, 2023 | SOOKE, BC [Updated 11:15 am]
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
With the doors wide open, the local Sooke community welcomed the opportunity to revisit the Sooke Seedy Saturday experience at Sooke Community Hall.
That early spring experience had been missed during the pandemic (no event in 2020 or 2021, and held outdoors at the local museum in 2022). This year about 2,000 people attended over the course of the five-hour event that was organized by Sooke Food CHI.
Some who attended were just curious or tagging along, though many were home gardeners or small-plot farmers, and others were experts in various aspects of seed development and food growing.
Gathered in the hall, 32 vendors offered a range of products and services but also an opportunity for conversations about food growing, farming, and overall sustainability. There were six non-profits including Sooke Food CHI. That of course starts with seeds, for which there were 18 vendors with seeds for sale.
Many people were locals, but some were from other parts of Vancouver Island, and a few from Alberta and beyond.
Island Social Trends had an information booth about food security [See Island Social Trends Food Security Archive] to meet folks around ideas about sustainability of food supply on Vancouver Island. People are concerned of course about grocery retail prices but many are growing their own food or supporting those that do. Federal legislation opportunity (e.g. soil quality) and provincial funding (e.g. for supporting food production in BC) were discussed. [Click here for Island Social Trends Premium Subscriber Prize Draw Winners – link to come]
Other booths offered starter plants, food-growing equipment and planter pots.
The Sooke Food CHI booth provided information about their ongoing work around food sustainability in the Sooke region. Event organizers Ellen Lewers and Teresa Sahlstrom were joined by a team of Sooke Food CHI volunteers who welcomed the public and supported the vendors throughout the day.
The Transition Sooke organization had an information booth, one day in advance of their full-day discussion event about food sustainability. Held at the hall on March 26, the Transition Sooke discussion featured a keynote speech by District of Highlands Councillor Gord Baird who also chairs the CRD Juan de Fuca Water Distribution Commission.
The Capital Regional District (CRD) had an information table for the day, with a range of materials including Garden Aware, Grow Me Instead, Controlling Invasive Plants, weed management, gardening with native plants, and more. | See CRD Food & Agriculture webpage
A sense of positive hospitality filled the hall, including options for a hot lunch in the downstairs dining room. A few people wore masks over concern for possible COVID or flu exposure but organizers were attentive to ventilation with open doors and adequate room for spacious movement through the hall.
Things left behind:
A couple of cedar planter boxes were left behind at Saturday’s event. Sooke Food CHI Says they were apparently purchased by two separate ladies, carried to the top of the steps where they said to leave them and they would be back, but no one returned. There have been a couple of social media posts to try and find the owners. If you know who bought those cedar planter boxes, they can contact info@sookefoodchi.ca.
===== RELATED:
- Food Security Booth by Island Social Trends (Mar 23, 2023)
- Harsh economic realities at the mercy of political leadership (Mar 23, 2023)
- Food prices remain high, consumers hear more about grocery sector (Mar 11, 2023)
- Premier Eby announces $200 million for BC food security initiatives (Mar 7, 2023)
- Three grocery CEOs to address federal agriculture committee (Feb 26, 2023)
- Eby preludes Budget 2023 in 100-day speech (Feb 25, 2023)
- Food inflation riding high at 11.4% (Feb 21, 2023)
- Grocery chain CEOs being summoned to address Agriculture-AgriFood Committee (Feb 14, 2023)
- Sooke Seedy Saturday back in action (Feb 13, 2023)
- BC food security direction includes watchful eye on California (Feb 6, 2023)
- Farm workers 2023 minimum wage increase underscores food security (Dec 30, 2022)
- Steps forward in assessing food security – BC Agriculture Day (Oct 25, 2022)
- Food security: thoughts on on Thanksgiving weekend 2022 (Oct 10, 2022)
- Growing your own food in inflationary times (July 3, 2022)
- Elxn44 ESS candidates: food sustainability on Vancouver Island (Sept 12, 2021)
==== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a long-standing publication in the west shore of South Vancouver Island (fourth in a series that began with MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, and West Shore Voice News 2014-2020, which then emerged as Island Social Trends in mid-2020).
Island Social Trends editor is Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR. She is a long-time journalist, delivering news through a socioeconomic lens.
Island Social Trends continues to build the Island Social Trends Food Security Archive with articles about current developments around food sustainability in BC.
IslandSocialTrends.ca covers news of the Greater Victoria area and south Vancouver Island, with insights on BC and national issues.
Ms Brooke has consistently covered progressive politics on Vancouver Island including a focus on food security for the South Vancouver Island region. She has presented detailed coverage of the SD62 School Board and its committees since 2014.