News & Events

Salt Spring is home to more than 400 varieties of apples—but do you know what’s growing in your own backyard? As part of this year’s Salt Spring Apple Festival, What’s That Apple? offers islanders a hands-on introduction to the fascinating world of apple identification.

Join respected Cowichan Elder, ethnobotanist, healer, and knowledge keeper Della Rice Sylvester (Huyamise') for a guided walk along the shoreline exploring the remarkable world of coastal seaweeds. Beginning at the orchard, we'll walk together to Beddis Beach, where Della will share Cowichan teachings and stories that reveal the deep cultural relationships between people and the sea. Along the way, you'll learn to identify common local seaweeds and discover their many traditi

Turn seasonal abundance into delicious, living food. Join local fermentista Melanie Furman for a hands-on introduction to fermentation.

Luke Wallace brings people together through the power of song. Join a Workshop - Open to all ages and skill levels - or enjoy a concert on a farm that blends Luke's original songs with rich moments of guided group singing. Be inspired by many voices coming together in a spirit of connection and shared purpose.

Discover how to grow and craft your own medicinal tea garden. In this hands-on workshop, learn to identify, grow, harvest, dry, and blend flavorful, healing teas.

Learn to use and honour the animals that give life — and song. Join a daylong all-day drum making workshop with Cowichan musician and artist Hweimtun. Each student will make their own 12” elk hide drum; workshop includes teachings on respectful harvesting, Cowichan stories and ceremonies, and the opportunity to try many different drums.

Help and learn to build a brighter, healthier, hazelnuttier future!

Salt Spring Island’s foodways have supported people for thousands of years. Yet today, most of the food we eat is imported. Understanding how we arrived at this moment requires looking closely — and honestly — at the island’s agricultural past.

Learn to use unprocessed natural and recycled materials to create beautiful and healthy cooking structures. We’ll be building a traditional, wood-fired oven constructed from cob: a natural building material made of clay, sand, and straw. Cob is a fluid, sculptural material that allows for artistic expression and whimsical designs, which will result in a lasting feature at the Burgoyne Valley Community Farm for years to come.

Join facilitator Paz Rainville as he builds a 1000L compost tea brewer. Participants are invited to come onto the land to watch the process, take notes, and ask questions. We will discuss how to support our soil ecosystems to be thriving, healthy, and self-sustaining within the agroecological landscapes, and local/regional sourcing of parent material for composting, brewing, and soil input amendments

Learn to use and honour the animals that give life — and song. Join a daylong all-day drum making workshop with Cowichan musician and artist Hweimtun. Each student will make their own 12” elk hide drum; workshop includes teachings on respectful harvesting, Cowichan stories and ceremonies, and the opportunity to try many different drums.

This guided forest and nature therapy walk invites participants to attune to these unseen relationships — the living “food web” that nourishes all life, including our own inner ecosystems. Come for connection, exploration and to enjoy a wild tea blend with your community.

Learn the language of bacteria and probiotics—how cultivating diversity in our foods strengthens our bodies to fight viruses and deepens our capacity to support our communities. This hands-on workshop includes practical fermenting techniques, tips on what to plant, and guidance for planning your garden with a fall fermentation schedule in mind.

Learn the principles of regenerative agriculture and explore techniques for growing sub-tropical fruit in Canada with minimal inputs, as well as useful methods for assessing the quality of fruit, soil and compost. A unique opportunity to learn from Jane Squier at her garden and greenhouse, which integrate innovative technologies to create low-input, energy efficient and regenerative growing environments.

Choosing plants that are in season, Jared will share lore and law about stewardship and cultivation practices — from time immemorial, and contemporary — and zoom out to what settlers can learn from the plant relatives and Indigenous law/stories in order to be good ancestors.

Take a walk through the forests and fields with Indigenous chef, knoweldge keeper and foodways expert Qwustenexun, who reveals the living world of ancestral teachings, stories, law and spirit that thrives within every living thing. Learn what springtime delicacies are edible and delicious, and discover the eco-cultural understandings that have guided peoples in the Salish Sea since time immemorial.

Salt Spring’s foodways have supported people for thousands of years: yet, today, we import most of what we eat. This two-part series will look at how Indigenous foodways, and the food systems brought by settlers have intersected — and, from that understanding, imagine a way forward.

Master gardener Linda Gilkeson returns with a rare 2-part course: ABCs of Food Gardening. Learn proven strategies for resilient, sustainable food growing from one of the West Coast’s most respected experts.

Master gardener Linda Gilkeson returns with a rare 2-part course: ABCs of Food Gardening. Learn proven strategies for resilient, sustainable food growing from one of the West Coast’s most respected experts.

Learn to cook healthy and delicious dishes that feature local food from the farms and fields across Salt Spring with sustainable food educator and local food enthusiast, Jenn LeBlanc. The menu will vary depending on available produce but we will definitely be sharing the recipe and technique for Jenn's Fall Fair award-winning apple crumble, featuring our beautiful SSI heritage apples.