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2023

Winter Market, Vancouver

I’ve made a couple of delicious visits to Riley Park Winter Market and here are some of the sights I’ve seen…..

My first foray was in early March, when Vancouver had received an unwelcome dump of snow. Which didn’t deter shoppers or stallholders!

 

Market stalls and people with snowy foreground

Baker at market stall
Lisa Virtue, baker
Different varieties of winter squash displayed in boxes
Lovely winter squash
Cabbage and assorted radishes in boxes at vegetable stall
Exotic radish varieties
Carrots and root vegetables on display at market stall
Roots!
Different boxes of apples on display at market stall
Organic apples
Customer filling bag with stinging nettles at market stand
Self serve nettles
Mobile cheese seller
Say cheese…
Whistler Harvest mushroom seller with boxes of mushrooms
Mushrooms!
Cardboard box with mushroom assortment
Shiitake, Lion’s Mane, Oyster, Maitake (Hen Of The Woods)

Roots & shoots

Rainforest, mossy trees
Vancouver has an abundance of parks, and I’ve been enjoying many a forested stroll in Pacific Spirit, but also got a nice walk in somewhere up the side of Cypress Mountain, on the north shore, which has many trails.

At Pacific Spirit Park I’m particularly taken by the determination of young trees to grow from the stumps of the old giants who were long felled here. The elders nurture the new growth until they dissolve, leaving the youngsters to sort out their root system which is far above ground level.

Tree roots covering a stump Roots covering a stump Roots covering a stumpRoots covering a stump

 

 

 

Seed season

I’m in Vancouver at the moment, so will be missing the annual Seedy Sunday that my community food security group will be holding this weekend. It’s lower key than some of the fancy schmancy ones we used to enjoy in the beforetimes; no speakers or commercial vendors, just a good honest seed swap. Most of the seeds are harvested from local gardens, meaning they are well adapted to local (though ever-changing!) conditions and pests, and are open-pollinated, aside from the surplus from seed packets retrieved from drawers and cupboards.

However, making a pre-emptive strike, I irresponsibly wandered into a  community seed swap here last month, at the Britannia Centre, on Commercial Drive. I say irresponsible given the quantity of seeds I have in my seed box back home… but I did bring contributions (parsley and cherry tomato seeds). Came away with a few packages of some new and interesting things to try: Ethiopian kale; Tokyo long white onion; Flamingo Pink Swiss Chard; Scarlet Nantes Carrots (well, I’ll try again!).

Two people with packages of seeds on a table
The seed table.. before!
Group of people standing around a table
The seed table… with seed-lovers!