Includes social enterprise (tag posts “social enterprise”).

,

Pruning Workshop

Our upcoming Pruning Workshop will be held on August 23rd from 4:30 – 6:30 pm. (We will provide the address and accessibility details following registation).

In this two hour workshop we will be offering basic information about pruning techniques, followed by some hands-on experience – guided by instructors who have worked within the landscaping and horticultural industries. We will also discuss summer pruning of established trees and how to prep them for larger, more structural work in the late winter/early spring, and elaborate on how this type of pruning differs from other kinds of arboriculture. It is our hope that by encouraging regular maintenance, the trees in our community will become more resilient to the increasing stress of ever changing weather patterns.

Please feel free to bring your own tools, though we will have limited hand pruners and hand saws available for you to use. Gloves are recommended but not required.

Registration can be found on our workshop page: www.kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com/workshops/

Please note, this registration is capped at 10 individuals. Once the workshop is full, we will be starting a waitlist. If there is enough interest a second date will be added.

/by

Pruning Consultation Servicess

***This service is no longer offered***

 

Our Gleaning Abundance Program is expanding!

 

We know that it is important to take care of our trees and help them be more resilient to climate change. Annual pruning keeps fruit trees producing fruit and looking great. So we are developing a pruning program in conjunction with the GAP! We are currently offering tree pruning consultation services!
So if you have a fruit tree that needs pruning, but you’re not sure where to start we are able to help! Please email us at gleaning@kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com if you would like to schedule a one hour consultation with our lead horticulturist.
Be sure to take advantage of this soon! This service is available for free until the end of August 2022.
/by
,

We’re Hiring: Tree Trimmer/Pruner

We are hiring a Pruner/Tree Trimmer to support our GAP this summer!

 

This temporary 8-week position (~30 hours/week) will work closely with our Gleaning Abundance Coordinator to help with harvests, pruning, and tree care/maintenance! 

 

The Gleaning Abundance Program (GAP) brings people together to help harvest our local abundance of fruit and vegetables and share it with the greater community. Produce that might have gone to waste becomes a welcome source of fresh food for many who might otherwise go without. The GAP runs through the summer and fall, organizing volunteers to harvest fruit from local trees and distributing it to community organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, Family Tree Center, and Salvation Army.

 

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume to: info@kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com. Please combine both cover letter and resume into one PDF document labelled: Last Name, First Name

Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM, Friday June 17, 2022.

 

CLICK HERE for the full job posting!

/by
,

We’re Hiring: Pruner/Tree Trimmer

We are hiring a Pruner/Tree Trimmer (Arborist/Horitculturist) to support our GAP this summer!

 

This temporary 8-week position (~30 hours/week) will work closely with our Gleaning Abundance Coordinator to help with harvests, pruning, and tree care/maintenance! 

The Gleaning Abundance Program (GAP) brings people together to help harvest our local abundance of fruit and vegetables and share it with the greater community. Produce that might have gone to waste becomes a welcome source of fresh food for many who might otherwise go without. The GAP runs through the summer and fall, organizing volunteers to harvest fruit from local trees and distributing it to community organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, Family Tree Center, and Salvation Army.

 

The Kamloops Food Policy Council values diversity and is committed to providing an inclusive work environment. We are looking for qualified individuals at all job levels who represent the diversity of the people participating in the food system. We encourage applications from Indigenous peoples, individuals of all genders and sexual orientations, origin and ethnic affiliations, abilities, ages, and religions.

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume to: info@kamloopsfoodpolicycouncil.com. Please combine both cover letter and resume into one PDF document labelled: Last Name, First Name

Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM Sunday June 5, 2022

 

Click here for full job posting.

 

 

/by
,

Meet Our New Gleaning Coordinator!

We would like to introduce Mariana Guerra, who will be taking on the role of Gleaning Abundance Program Coordinator. Mariana hails from Mexico, and has a wealth of experience working with volunteers on various projects in Canada, Mexico, Peru, and China. She is a long-time advocate of social justice and keen to get behind the cause of food security.

Mariana  has been a GAP volunteer herself for several years and is eager to contribute her organizational and leadership skills to a program she loves! She is also passionate about growing food, and interested in learning more about growing organically and using permaculture principles in her garden.

 

/by
,

SHOP Volunteers Cooking Up a Storm

It’s always a pleasure to stop by the SHOP kitchen on Thursday mornings. The volunteers there cook up a delicious, nutritious meal for some of our communities most disadvantaged women and give them extra food to put in their packs. They rescue discarded produce from the food bank and this year, grew their own organic heritage tomatoes and cucumbers with plants donated by SSOL Gardens.

GAP

 

 

 

 

 

A lovely box of  GAP fruit ready to share with SHOP participants!

 

Food Recovery, Recovered Onions

 

 

 

 

Barb with some recovered onions from the food bank chopped and ready to go into a delicious meatloaf.

/by

Amazing Apricots

 

Once again, I am in awe of the incredible abundance of apricots produced in our area. Canada does not even figure in the ranks of worldwide apricot production, which is topped by countries like Turkey, Iran and the Mediterranean lands – but they certainly thrive here in the Southern Interior.

While not everyone is a fan, to me they are sweet and succulent and I enjoy every delicious morsel. An excellent source of vitamin A, and a good source of vitamin C, copper, dietary fiber and potassium, apricots are not always given the respect they deserve.

So far this year we’ve organized 16 apricot harvests and gleaned over 3000 pounds, but there are approximately 150 apricot trees on our GAP list, so that probably means a lot of unpicked fruit and disappointed tree-owners. Each year we ponder how to capitalize on this abundance and turn what is often seen as a nuisance into the cherished resource it should be. This year, through our social enterprise project, we’ve processed and frozen a small freezerful of apricots to donate to the Boys & Girls Club and also to use for product development over winter. It’s a start – and while we’re in the kitchen cooking up apricot jam or salsa or chutney, we’ll be thinking about 2019 . . .

 

 

/by
, , ,

Bike Blender Smoothies, Anyone?

The social enterprise project had its first Food Literacy Workshop with the Boys and Girls Club on July 23rd, and it was a blast. Nine children from the Club tagged along with us for the day. In the morning, they helped harvest apricots, and afterwards we joined them in the kitchen. The kids pitted and cut the fruit and we used it to make a puree for dried fruit leather. While that was being made, we busted out a pedal-powered bike blender, courtesy of TRU. Everyone had a turn at the pedals making apricot and berry fruit smoothies. Once they were done having fun on the bike, the puree was ready and the kids could fill the dehydrator. I hope they liked their fruit leathers the next morning!

 

The project was a hit, and we’ll be returning this week for another round of fruit leather fun. Yay!

Boys&Girls Club                                     

/by
, ,

Apricots in the Community!

The GAP shares a lot of gleaned fruit with our partners at JUMP.

GAP apricots

JUMP is a volunteer-run Not-For-Profit organization operating a drop in centre on the North Shore that provides free community meals, produce markets, and urban community gardens. JUMP creates opportunities for people of all ages who may be struggling economically, socially and nutritionally to stabilize their lives and meet the challenges of sustaining a healthy lifestyle. It facilitates a network of peer support that helps individuals and families build personal capacity as well as our community by participating together as volunteers to achieve food security, social integration and community development.

/by