December 1, 2018
Whole-animal butcher offers series on broths, braising and buying local meat With the right butcher behind the counter, butcher shops can be a great place to learn about the meat you are purchasing. Brad Doiron, a whole animal butcher specializing in grass fed, grass finished organic cattle, is working in collaboration with the PEI Certified Organic Producers Cooperative (COPC) to…
November 1, 2018
2018 ACORN conference aims to build bridges across Atlantic Canada Charlottetown, PEI has been chosen as the site of the annual regional conference for organic agriculture this year. From November 26th to 28th, conference delegates will join together at the Delta Prince Edward to participate in the 2018 Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network’s (ACORN) conference. Since 2000, ACORN has been…
October 1, 2018
Challenging for many institutions to buy local and organic produce Increasingly we are seeing local, organic products in restaurants and retail shops across PEI. Bistro chalkboards and gourmet grocery shelves featuring Island-grown organics confirm that the ‘buy-local movement’ is happening close to home. Meanwhile institutions providing meals for the elderly, the ill, and the young on PEI, appear to have…
August 1, 2018
Fatta A Mano’s wood-fired pizzeria on wheels rolling to a location near you You need only to look at their faces when they talk about their prep kitchen in Pinette, the beauty of their PEI ingredients, the process of making their pizzas, and the local farmers that they purchase their products from, to know that Alex and Sam Bevan-Baker are…
July 1, 2018
A Q&A with Marc and Krista Schurman Take a drive down Route 104 just north of Kensington and you will come across a large farming operation unlike any other in PEI. Just before the paved road turns to dirt, you will see a large collection of greenhouses, the home of Atlantic Grown Organics. Combine a determination to farm organically with…
June 1, 2018
Nurturing community through celebrating food and career exploration Rows of bench tables filled the Bluefield High School cafeteria. Each individual place setting was distinguished by a menu of the evening’s fare and carefully arranged tableware. Burlap wrapped mason jars holding small, glowing tealight candles spanned the tables. Conversation hummed at booths around the perimeter of the room. Here education, industry,…
June 1, 2018
What does ‘Certified Organic’ mean? On PEI, ‘certified organic’ means food grown on a farm according to specific organic practices as defined by the Canadian Organic Standards and regulated nationally by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Each farm is inspected annually by a qualified third party inspector and each inspected farm is issued a certificate. General principles of organic…
May 1, 2018
A glimpse at agricultural labour shortages in PEI After meeting with Laurie Loane, executive director of the PEI Agriculture Sector Council, the take-home message was this: labour shortage in agriculture is a complex topic. Family farms without successors, increasing use of automated systems, erratic employment for labourers, and barriers for minority groups to enter the sector are a few of…
March 1, 2018
Epekwitk Gardens & Preserves engages youth through land stewardship The Epekwitk Gardens and Preserves project began five years ago when leaders of the First Nation community felt it was important to create an opportunity for their future generations. Reconnecting youth to their ancestral roots of stewardship and community was identified as a priority for the Band. According to Chief Brian…
February 1, 2018
Matt Dykerman: running a split operation farm Why do you choose to do what you do? For some, work is not ‘work’ at all but rather, getting paid to do what they love to do; for others, work is a full time, teeth-gritting, clock-watching event endured for reasons merely logistical in nature. The truth of it is that there are…