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The SOYL year started early with a trip to the Vancouver Winter Farmers Market.

That’s right folks, Vancouver has a WINTER market!

Located at the Nat Bailey Stadium (Main & 30th), the winter market is the largest of the Vancouver Farmer’s markets. At the market there are tons of vendors selling everything from fresh greens, root vegetables, honey, cheese, ginger beer, you name it! There are also food trucks, musical acts, and just all around good vibes that are sure to make you Saturday mornings fun in the winter. Who knew our local food scene could be so vibrant in the winter?!

What did we get up to at the Market?

In fact, one of our very own SOYL employees, Tamara, works at the market and put together a scavenger hunt. We thought a scavenger hunt would be a fun, interactive way for the interns to familiarize themselves with the market. Here’s an example:

Visit the farmers who have CSA shares. What’s a CSA? If you were to get one of the boxes for your family, which would you choose and why?

In case you don’t know…

Community Supported Agriculture, often shortened to CSA, is a prepaid subscription to a farm’s produce for the season. Most CSAs give shareholders a weekly supply of veggies, herbs, fruits and sometimes even eggs and meat. You know it’s fresh and you get to meet the farm and people who grew your food! The prepaid CSA arrangements also makes it a source of financial security for the farmer. Some CSAs also incorporate farm workdays for shareholders. Pickup days vary by farm and some offer pickups at a VFM (Vancouver Farmers Market) location. (retrieved from: http://eatlocal.org/category/markets/winter-market/#csa-share-fair-jan-17)

It’s really incredible (and quite rare) to interact with the people who grow our food, and for the growers to talk directly to their customers!

After the scavenger hunt, the interns received a challenge.

The challenge: to prepare a snack for the group to share on a budget of $40

Here’s what the interns purchased:

2 loaves of bread
Creamed clover honey
Goat cheese
Apples (Ambrosia, Granny Smith, Pink Lady)
Smoked salmon
Mmmmmmm, it was a delicious snack indeed!

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