By Margo Peill
Are you thinking of starting a food business in Terrace or the Northwest? If 2020 was the year you decided to take your hobby to the next level and turn it into a business, you’re in luck! There is an incredible workshop coming right here to Terrace in a few weeks to help you do just that.
Farm Food Drink, based out of Nanaimo, B.C. is traveling around the province this winter to provide the workshops to communities. In Terrace, Farm Food Drink has partnered with The Terrace Food Association, Coast Mountain College, Community Futures 16/37 and the Skeena Valley Farmers Market to bring the two-day workshop right here on March 14 and 15.
This workshop is being offered just a few weeks after another incredible learning opportunity that happened here in Terrace from the Terrace Food Association. Incorporating Organic and Good Agricultural Practices Workshop, was a one-day event, held at the Terrace Sportsplex and saw over 50 participants come out to learn about small-scale organic growing practices.
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Presentations included John Stevenson from the Ministry of Agriculture discussing resources available to small food producers in our area; Jolene Swain, an Organic Inspector and Northern Land Matcher with Young Agrarians, who discussed some of the specifics and things to think about when going through the organic certification process.
Judy Walker with Green Skills and Kevin Murphy of Remo Harvest Farm both provided some very practical insights on good agricultural practices, with Judy proving a wealth of knowledge and experience on how to build soil and successfully grow a veggie garden; and Kevin providing the lessons and stories of how Remo Harvest became the only certified organic farm in the area.
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The day was finished off with a presentation by Carol-Ann and Gunther Rauschenberger sharing beautiful photos and how-to’s on building huge lkultur beds (for anyone curious, it’s a method of building garden beds and soil by stacking up logs and other natural debris to allow it to break down naturally and produce rich, living soil)
With the attendance of over 50 people, the Terrace Food Association saw that there was definitely interest in these topics, so when the opportunity with Farm Food Drink came up, they made it happen!
If you were thinking about starting a food business this year, or maybe just wanting to learn more about what it takes — this is such a great opportunity coming right here to Terrace.
Our community needs all the local food and small business we can get!