Eat Local – Learn What’s Available This Winter

Whoa weather, what have you done with the garden? My mother in-law’s magic green thumb meant we were still getting tomatoes, strawberries, even swiss chard and other loveliness out of the garden as late as last week.
I though we might just have veggies all Winter this year. Alas, Mother Nature took a dump in our [...]

Taking The Farmers Market Indoors for Winter

I was only half joking yesterday when I updated my Facebook status to “It’s now officially toque season.” It’s COLD outside and it will take me a bit to adjust from the luxurious amount of gorgeous Fall sun that marked the end of September.
When the toques, gloves and scarves come out, I tend to start [...]

Farm to Family – Nature’s Way Farm

It’s a tale that’s become the stuff of childhood legend in the Comox Valley. That moment when George Ehrler slips a slick glass pebble into a kid’s hand and something magical begins for them as they’ve just acquired their first dragon tear.
The story of fairies and guardians, dragons and blueberries may live for tiny people [...]

Farm to Family – Go Organic at Pattison Farms

When Gerry and Dagmar Pattison broke the news to their family 14 years ago that farming was their future, disbelief seemed the appropriate response.
After decades as a marketing professional, Gerry knew his decision to get back to the land would spark some wrinkled eyebrows.
But, they bought their first piece of land at Saratoga Beach and [...]

8 Days, 4 Restaurants, Double Stamps to Eat Local

Editor’s note: Whoa, I hope it is a bit less sauna-like outside today – especially since the Comox Valley Regional District Compost Education Centre is hosting a fun afternoon open house as part of the Know Where Your Food Comes From tour. Drop by the centre between 1 and 7 p.m. to check out the [...]

Top Questions to Ask Producers About Local Food

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. Today we are out at Simms Park for NeighbourWood Eats and the Wednesday Farmers Market. Folks from the Comox Valley Regional District will be on hand teaching adults and kids alike about the food lifecycle and composting. So, come join us from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. over by the covered [...]

Family Eats – A Day of Local Food Meals

Editor’s Note: Good morning. There are some seriously exciting events going on today as a part of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. Join us out at Simms Park near the Kiwanis BBQ for NeighbourWood Eats where families gather for a potluck lunch and are learning how to Winter garden with the Comox [...]

Getaways – The Mini Comox Valley Wine Tour

Editor’s Note: As a part of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge, you can cool off at the Courtenay Museum at 2 p.m. today with the showing (in partnership with World Community Development Education Society) of Deborah Koons Garcia’s The Future of Food. It’s a great film on food security that is sure [...]

5 Chefs, A Week of Local Family Fun & Food

Editor’s Note: Good Morning. It’s an amazing weekend to mix food and funk as you get your local eating groove on at MusicFest. While you are down at the Exhibition Grounds, make sure to hit the Comox Valley Farmers Market today as the 30-Day Food Challenge will be out there – aprons on and recipes [...]

Food Through the Generations

Editor’s Note: Bite-Sized Specialty Foods is going to be at Brambles from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. There is some serious yumminess going on, so I would head in the direction of downtown Courtenay and check it out.
I would also like to encourage you to take some time out at Noon today and attend [...]

Bambu Disposable Plates

Editor’s Note: Oh, Summer rains. They are so refreshing. While Mother Nature is giving us little cool down today, it’s the perfect time to hit two of the hottest event on the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge.
Natural Pastures Cheese Company kicks off its Featured Producer events with the first of its Taste The [...]

A Great Day In Union Bay & a Foodie Film Today

Good morning. Another hot, sticky Summer day means that it’s the perfect time to sneak away this afternoon to catch the first in our Chew On This Film Series – Nick Versteeg’s Island On The Edge. Check out the trailer for this fantastic Vancouver Island film on food security HERE.
The showing, in partnership with World [...]

Learning to Make Summer’s Bounty Last

Editor’s Note: Today is a BIG day in the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge Universe.
Besides the obvious continuation of date night at one of our featured restaurants, you can go check out Island View Lavender right on the Old Island Highway in Union Bay. Kathleen will be hosting a lavender extravaganza from [...]

Eat Local, Comox Valley – The Locavores at Locals

Editor’s Note: Locals – Food from the Heart of the Island is a Featured Restaurant in the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. You can earn a stamp and cast your vote for the 2009 Yummy Awards at Locals as well as Bisque, The Great Escape and Anderton Bistro-Pub throughout the month.
If you [...]

Eat Local, Comox Valley – Day One

Good morning and welcome to Day 1 of the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge. We will be here all month bringing you the ins and outs of local food.
TODAY’S LOCAL FOOD FUN:
- Plan a lunch or dinner at Locals-Food from the Heart of the Island, Anderton Bistro-Pub, The Great Escape or Bisque and [...]

Canada = Community = Family-Friendly Local Food Guide

Editor’s Note: The Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge officially kicks off tomorrow morning! If you have your passport and haven’t registered, get on it! You have to be registered to be eligible for prizes and you get access to lots of local eating info when you do so. Click HERE for the registration [...]

Challenge Yourself – Get Your Yummy On

Happy Sunday! While you are all out enjoying this gorgeous Sunday on a sort of-kind of holiday weekend, I wanted to tempt you inside a bit (starting this Thursday) with some details on the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge Featured Restaurants.
Taking a weekend away is nearly impossible for Ken and me. But, we [...]

Family Local Food, NeighbourWood Eats

Good morning. Registration for the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge is in full swing and we are excited to see people gearing up for the next month of learning how to eat local. If you’ve picked your challenge passport up from Brambles Market, be sure to register online here at OBE in order [...]

Register – Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge

Good morning and welcome to everyone who is joining us here on Our Big Earth for the Eat Real. Eat Local 30-Day Food Challenge.
We’re getting right to the point today:
Need the scoop on the challenge? Go HERE
Want to check out the calendar of events? Click HERE
Having trouble finding the registration form? Go HERE to get [...]

Eat Real. Eat Local. Take the 30-Day Challenge

It’s a big day here at Our Big Earth as we have long been waiting to announce what we think is one of the most exciting community events in the Comox Valley this Summer.
Our Big Earth, Brambles Market and EatRealEatLocal.ca are excited to announce that – from July 2-31 – we’ll be hosting the EatRealEatLocal [...]

Farm to Family – ASHBerry Farm

Don and Louisa McClellan once saw themselves as the unlikeliest of farmers.
Globe hopping with the Canadian Armed Forces, they lived in corners of the Earth most North Americans rarely see. But, it was that time away, and the start of a family, that brought a military pilot and his self-professed “B.C. hippie” bride back to [...]

Restaurant Review – April Point Resort

I have this general theory these days that, once a month, we need to get the heck off of the island.
With the ferry to Vancouver forcing us to take a personal loan out to go to the aquarium, we’ve decided that means island hopping of the more local kind.
The Discovery Islands are awesome, and I’m [...]

Can’t-Miss Canadian Food Bloggers (giveaway)

I swear I’ll wrap my foodie thing up this week. Well, maybe not. I mean, check out this steak:

I’m still day dreaming about the bacon doughnut I ate last weekend.
Anyway, to wrap up the Toronto adventure, I wanted to plug you guys in today to some of the coolest Canadian food bloggers out there.
You’ve already [...]

Farm to Family – Island View Lavender

Editor’s Note: Good morning. As we dig into our regular Farm to Family column this morning, I’ve got to say that my eyes were opened last week as to how truly special the food system in the Comox Valley is.
I went to Toronto with an open mind, and came out surprised for the better having [...]

Getaways – Plan for June: Family Farms, Food & Wine

Welcome to my 30-day reminder that another month has escaped us (gasp!). Nearly HALF of 2009 is over and I still think it’s January.
While I realize this could be construed as a personal issue, I seriously suspect that time is simply speeding up and laughing at me as it whizzes by.
In an effort to [...]

For the Love of it – Good Earth Farms

One day, not so long ago, there was a couple who would soon know that a life in the garden would be something they made together.
On that first date, the guy – Simon Toole – brought with him some home grown gems and seeds he’d saved and offered them to a gal named Heather.
That day, [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Aline Wittwer of Benino Gelato

Editor’s Note: Happy Mother’s Day!!!
I could wax on for days about motherhood. But, this year – I have to say – is the year of inspired motherhood for me. The women in my life – so many of them mothers even if they do not have their own children – are remarkable.
They have guided [...]

Mom Poll – B.C. Coffees, Who’s Got The Best?

Good Morning. If there is ever a day of the week to talk shop about coffee, it’s Monday morning. I am a non-functioning blob of glue without my morning jolt of java and in the years since university where we’d drink anything remotely full of caffeine, I’ve become a little bit more fussy about my [...]

Register Today for Family Community Garden Plots

I have a huge confession to make. My thumb, it’s brown. I’ve perfected the art of picking and eating veggies, am a big fan of the farmer’s market and all things farm stand related. But, please, don’t give me something and ask me to make it grow. The chance of seeds actually becoming veggies is [...]

Green-e-ology – Equitable Eating’s Many Forms

Genetic engineering. Antibiotics. Pesticides. Additives. Air pollution. Animal welfare. Economics. Irradiation. Hormones. rBGH. Water pollution.
Now that I’ve got your attention, do you think about any of the above before making food choices?
If so, then you’ve likely been far ahead of me for years. I’m a little slow with the food.

[give that head [...]

Earth Day – Top 10 Reasons to Eat Local

Happy Earth Day!
It’s Food & Your Family day here at Our Big Earth. With all the talk around food sustainability and the ever-increasing prices at the grocery store these days, there are a lot of questions about why local food is such a big deal.
There are a ton of scientifically significant reasons why food that [...]

Family & Freshness – Seaview Game Farm

Editor’s Note: This is a bittersweet day as Robyn Butler hangs up her OBE columnist pen when she moves into her new role as our advertising and marketing associate.
I have been inspired over the last half a year to spend way more time cruising the local farm scene. Eating local is as easy as it [...]

Go Old Skool (and delicious) at DeeKayTee Ranch

Ah, how I live for Saturday mornings. It’s become a necessary ritual to indulge in some “me-time,” and my favorite way to cap off yet another busy week is to set out to explore what’s fun on the farm market scene in our beautiful little corner of the Earth.
My latest discovery is DeeKayTee Ranch, [...]

Preserving the Comox Valley, One Bite at a Time

When Karen Pattison bottles up local crops using the age-old tradition of preserving fruits and vegetables, she’s also preserving fond memories of her childhood in Willow Point near Campbell River.
Now the owner of Bite Size Specialty Foods, she grew up eating tasty veggies from her grandparents’ garden in their neighbouring property. And after a lifetime [...]

Prontissima Pasta – A Taste of Italy in the Valley

Life is a combination of magic and pasta…
…these famous words of Italian film maker Fellini have come to life in our little slice of paradise. From their home-based commercial kitchen on Courtenay’s Fifth Street, Prontissima Pasta owners Sarah and Wally Walsh have seen their year-old business flourish so much that they’re in production four days [...]

Buy British Columbia at Courtenay’s Newest Grocer

We interrupt regularly scheduled programming today for a couple of reasons. This week, when I took a look at what was on deck for our Nature Journal, the calendar read something that we have yet to witness this year – ice.
You will not get even an ounce of whining from this direction about one of [...]

Hidden Secrets at Finlay Creek Farm

Editor’s Note: Today our intrepid local food writer Robyn Butler is revealing a true diamond in the rough when it comes to local charm and absolutely amazing products.
I had the chance to meet the women who run Finlay Creek Farm on Halloween and, I have to tell you, they are two of the most charming [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Jan Peavoy of Dark Side Chocolates

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Time to Hit the Pumpkin Patch

After waking up yesterday morning to freezing rain, my enthusiasm for taking 30 kiddos and their parents out to the pumpkin patch waned more than a little.

But, as usual, Mother Nature remembered there was one of our events going on at 12:30 p.m. So, the rain broke and we had a totally GORGEOUS afternoon out [...]

Sweet Kohlrabi Salad

Editor’s Note: Today we are joined by one of my absolute favourite Pacific Coast food bloggers, Mohini from Mango Power Girl.
A fan of all things local and fresh, Mohini comes to us via Seattle and brings with her a passion for melding the traditional food skills from her Indian upbringing with an uncanny knack for [...]

Mom-P-Inc. – Louisa McClellan of Ashberry Farm & Usborne Books

Motherhood, it changes you.
While there’s a whole list that involves sagging and wrinkled, exhausted and emotional that can be wrapped in there, for many women becoming a Mom takes life to a whole other level.
It brings out our genuine loves, forces them into places creatively and personally that reveal talents and ingenuity unrealized until that [...]

Eat Local at Comox Valley Farms

Ash Berry Farm, on Royston Road in Royston – U-pick strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries.
Blue Haven Farm, at the corner of Anderton Road and Idiens Way in Comox – U-Pick blueberries.
Seifert’s Farm Market on Knight Road in Comox has a farm market open daily and packed full of locally grown (some from BC like Okanagan fruit) [...]

“Green” Meat

OK, the first thing you think of when you see a post titled Green Meat is nothing edible, for sure.
But, while folks devote a whole lot of time to organic vegetables and fruit, switching over to free-range, drug-free and organically raised meat is – I was recently told by a friend and naturopath – actually [...]

Pattison Organic Farm Stand

I am always on the lookout for the least expensive way to eat organics.
Going the organic route with food has become more and more important to us – especially after the tiny person came along and I started reading up on the effects of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on the immune systems, mental health and [...]

Blue Haven Farm U-Pick Blueberries

It’s the season I wait for all year.
Not summer.
No, it’s blueberry season.
And there is one lovely U-Pick blueberry farm in Comox that you can hit for the next six weeks or so and snack down on those tasty blue morsels – Blue Haven Farm on Anderton Road and Idiens Way.

First off, let’s get the important [...]