This Photo Friday’s shots: from the Chefs Table Society who provided delicious local food at the Michael Pollan event at UBC Farm. Fitting for the season we’re in, and with what’s on the horizon for me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers,

Jackie

It’s that time of year again; early bird tickets to the Lowe Mainland Feast of Fields are now on sale online here. Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Feast of Fields is the major annual fundraiser for Farm Folk/City Folk, a local Vancouver non-profit society that works with farm & city to cultivate a local, sustainable food system. They develop and operate projects that provide access to & protection of foodlands; that support local, small scale growers and producers; and that educate, communicate and celebrate with local food communities.

Now, more than ever, food security and local food efforts are rapidly growing in importance, and this is a great event held at UBC Farm to enjoy some great local food, wine and beer and relax on the farm.

I’ll be photographing the event for the 3rd year in a row, and my advice to you would be to forget your childhood rules of eating dinner before dessert, and head straight for the gelato to beat the massive line up!

See you there!

As a food photographer who shares in the belief of the importance of local food and supporting our farmers that grow it, there are few things more totally awesome than being welcome to shoot a few food and local farming people enjoy a fabulous lunch in a farmers garden of all places.

This is what I had the opportunity to photograph, prior to Michael Pollan’s talk and book signing on his latest book, In Defense of Food. Having written about his books in previous blog posts, and since then seeing his name pop up in documentaries and casual conversations with friends, it’s clear that people identify with what he’s saying. To quote Michael and the premise behind In Defense of Food:

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

The day was beautiful, the food was delicious and nutritious, and the company was inspiring. Thank you Barbara Jo and Carol for welcoming me and for organizing the event; and to Mark & Samara for hosting everyone at UBC Farm, and to Vikram & Meeru Vij for filling our stomachs with such tasty Indian cuisine (and for that chick pea & mung bean recipe that I have yet to perfect, but will continue to try!). And thank you of course to Michael Pollan for being part of this movement towards more local, more nutritious, food.

The market season is kicking off at UBC Farm this Saturday June 13th, and I’m not just talking about produce for sale, though I’m looking forward to picking up some locally grown strawberries! There will be lots of entertainment and activities to do, a pancake breakfast, and it’s also the official launch of the Vancouver 100-Mile diet Foodshed Map.

UBC Farm Produce this weekend will include arugula, lettuce heads, eggs (these always go fast), garlic scapes, herbs, rhubarb, radishes, ruby streaks, salad mix and strawberries.

Here’s is the schedule of events for the day:

• UBC Farm Saturday Market   9:00am to 1:00pm

• 100-Mile Pancake Breakfast    9:00am to 11:00am (or until they run out, get’em early!) with Chef Ian Lai

• Speakers: Mark Bomford and Kelly Kuryk   9:30am to 9:45am

• UBC Farm Tours    10:00am – 10:30am

• Beehive Tours   11:00am – 12:00pm

• Music – Upbeat acoustic roots: Betz  9:00-11:00; Old-time string band: Shout! White Dragon  11:00am-1:00pm

• Ongoing Tool sharpening with Henk Suys from Lee Valley ($5/tool), bike maintenance provided by the UBC Bike Co-op (by donation), children’s activities.

And if you haven’t taken a wander past the market, past the greenhouse, and the next greenhouse, and hang a left through the clay archway you’ll find the Children’s Garden. It’s pretty awesome to see what they’ve plated over there, and there’s a picnic table to sit and enjoy a picnic lunch with the garden as your backdrop. Beautiful!

UBC Farm address: 6182 South Campus Road; here is a map.

See you there!

A while back I did some research into food related books and posted what I found over several posts. Clearly this is something that people are interested in because the posts got some much appreciated responses and some great traffic. I took up reading one of the books, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by the award winning author Michael Pollan and I must say that book is making me think; I love it. I mean, it’s always nice to to have spare time entertainment, whether it be books or movies, that are somewhat spoon-fed and allow you to turn off your brain for a little while, but I love a book that makes me really question things; and especially question things about what I eat. Pollan has written another book called In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (love the cover photo), and if you are familiar with Pollan or his books you may want to check out this upcoming Vancouver event:

In partnership with Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks, the UBC Farm is pleased to announce a Saturday afternoon presentation and book signing with award-winning author, Michael Pollan. Vancouver will be Michael’s only Canadian city on his book tour for the paperback version of In Defense of Food.

This unique opportunity to meet Michael takes place at UBC Farm on Saturday, June 6 at 1:00 p.m. At this fundraiser for UBC Farm, Michael will share his manifesto of: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” He will also be available to sign copies of In Defense of Food.

This exciting afternoon includes a signed copy of In Defense of Food , guided tours of UBC Farm and live music and entertainment. All are encouraged to bring a picnic lunch and a blanket to sit on.

Tickets to this rain or shine event are $45 (includes GST) and are sold exclusively through Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks. The ticket price includes a paperback version of In Defense of Food, and all proceeds from the event will go to support the UBC Farm.

For more information about this and other events, visit Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks website and please call 604-688-6755 to purchase tickets to hear Michael Pollan speak.

If you have ever been out to the farm at UBC, or attended the Feast of Fields event held in early September at the UBC farm for the past 14 years, or even if you don’t make it out to that neck of the woods but you are supportive of local farming and the people who grow, tend, and provide us with healthy, fresh food options on a regular basis your help is needed now.

The UBC Farm is a 24 hectare student-driven learning and research farm located on the University of British Columbia’s campus, and integrated with the wider community and is the only working farmland within the city of Vancouver. It hosted over 2000 students and 100 sustainable food systems related research projects in 2007 alone. Many campus social events, educational programs for children, community outreach programs and a weekly farmers’ market run here. The ultimate goal of the farm is to retain and re-create existing farm and forest lands at the University of British Columbia into an internationally significant centre for sustainable agriculture, forestry and food systems.

However, the farm is slated as a ‘future housing reserve’, which leaves this valuable resource threatened. Please visit the petition here and join myself and over 2,700 others to sign your name as a supporter to keep the UBC farmland untouched by housing development.

Their last 2008 market is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th, and this is just another way you can help support the farm. To receive updates on the farms progress, you can sign up for their email list on this web page, or check their blog or website for updates.