Congratulations to Kelly Smith! She’s the winner of our BowFEAST recipe contest.

The idea was a fun recipe using local island-grown ingredients. We asked folks to drop a recipe in a BowFEAST contest box at Phoenix.

***FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE RECIPES USING PRODUCE FROM THE GARDEN HERE!!!

It was tough to choose the best one (thanks to everyone who submitted!), but we chose Kelly’s recipe for its tasty use of zucchini/squash–that pesky veggie that runs amok taking over the entire garden, and then you have no idea what to do with all of it. I’ve heard it said that you can tell a Bowen Islander by whether he keeps his car windows rolled up and the car locked in summer or not. If not, someone will drop a giant bag of squash on the front seat and run!

Kelly wrote: “For all of us who have an abundance of zucchini sized like baseball bats or normal squash.”
Without any ado, here’s her recipe…

And see below for the two runners-up: Heather Prittie’s recipe for Roasted Pattypan Squash and farmer Jane Ferguson’s Rhubarb and Tayberry Preserves. (Emily van Lidth de Jeude had a super creative Slug and Blackberry Salad for the adventurous foodies among us.) The prize, donated generously by Phoenix on Bowen, is a cookbook called FRESH–Seasonal Recipes Made with Local Foods by BC locavore pioneer/restaurateur John Bishop.

Kelly Smith’s Baked Zuchini
1 lg zucchini or 1 reg squash
1 onion chopped fine
4 tomatoes skinned if desired, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup basil, chopped
3/4 cup Feta with herbs or other cheese to taste
salt & pepper
1/2 cup approx. bread crumbs

Cut zucchini/squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out center leaving about 1/2″ skin and flesh. Chop flesh roughly. Cook onion, tomatoes and garlic in a sm amount of oil. When soft, add flesh of squash and cook until soft. Stir in basil, cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and bread crumbs to bind the mixture. Pack back into shells and put squash back together. Wrap in foil and BBQ or in oven 375 degrees 15-20 mins. Serve in thick slices. Great hot or cold as side or on its own for lunch or supper.

Heather Prittie’s Roasted Pattypan Squash
I came home from BowFEAST with an uplifted spirit — and a gorgeous array of veggies, including a small pile of pattypan squash. Cute and colourful, and just radiating the aura of early August garden, they were not to be resisted. This loose recipe aims to release the flavour of just-picked pattypans while preserving a firmish texture. The garlic is a must — this dish was partly conceived to fully exploit the fabulously big and fragrant bulbs we bought at Marg and Drew Burgess’s (Bowen Brook Farm) table.

Ingredients
* 1 to 2 pounds of pattypan squash (leave them whole if “baby” size, quarter if medium, and cut into sixths or eights if on the large side)
* 1 to 3 large (elephant) garlic cloves, unpeeled, ends trimmed
* 1 medium or large red or white onion, coarsely chopped
* Olive oil for tossing
* Balsamic vinegar or balsamic reduction for tossing (Nonna Pia’s balsamic reduction, made in Whistler, recommended)
* 1 or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped in quarters lengthwise
* Chopped fresh basil to taste
* Shaved parmesan (or any hard local cheese) to taste
* Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 415. (Convection if available.)
2. Place pattypan squash in an appropriate sized roasting pan
3. Add chopped onion and tomatoes and stir to blend.
4. Drop in garlic cloves.
5. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
6. Roast until veggies begin to caramelize on pan bottom, approx. 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the heat of your oven and size of squash pieces. Stir gently, then return to roast 5 to 7 more minutes. Objective: golden on the outside, firm on the inside.
7. Remove pan from oven, deglaze with balsamic. Stir gently.
8. Slip garlic cloves out of their skin, mash and gently mix into squash.
9. Garnish with shaved parmesan and chopped fresh basil and serve immediately from the roasting pan.

Jane Ferguson’s Rhubarb and Tayberry Preserves
5 cups of chopped rhubarb
2 cups of tayberries (or raspberries)
6 cups of sugar
1 lemon (juice)

Put chopped rhubarb, tayberries and lemon juice in large saucepan and simmer covered for 40 minutes. When rhubarb is softened to the right consistency you desire, add sugar and simmer for another 15 mins. Remove from heat and fill sterile jars immediately. Great tasting preserve; eat on its own or with ice cream.

In honour of BowFEAST ‘09, we’re holding a recipe contest at Phoenix on Bowen!

It’s as easy as 1-2-3: just photocopy or write up your favourite recipe that uses ingredients you can farm or grown on the island (blackberry-rosemary pie, fennel salad, tomato and corn salad, artichoke dip, roasted chicken with potatoes, pickled beets… you get the picture).

Drop your recipe entry into the contest box at Phoenix. You have until this Sunday, Aug. 23.

Then our esteemed panel of judges will select the best recipe and pick a winner. The prize? A fabulous eat-local cookbook donated by Phoenix (thanks, Angela and Julia!).

Afterwards, we’ll post the entries here, so we can all share our tips on cooking with our impressive island bounty. Bon appetit!

(BowFEAST is an eat-local celebration of the island harvest, honouring our island farmers. We just hosted the 3rd annual BowFEAST, including a farmers market in the cove, Aug. 15. BowFEAST is produced by OneDayBowen.ca, in partnership with Bowen Island Community Recreation — thanks to a grant from the Bowen Island Municipality.)

The Undercurrent published an abbreviated version of this story.

Bowen actually has quite a few farmers. To name two: Vivian Pearce with husband David. We dropped in recently at the couple’s 3 ½-acre Shady Acre Farm mid-island.

How long have you been farming?
Seriously, for 12 years.

How did you get into it?
We started with a dozen chickens. From there, people wanted more eggs. So we expanded and built a double coop. As people started buying eggs, we got more and more chickens. Now we’ve got egg-laying chickens, a veggie garden, fruit trees, horses and manure (we sell a lot!).

What do you love about it?
I really like producing good food for people. I get a lot of satisfaction from that. It’s definitely not to make money! I’m also interested in how everything goes around. We feed the chickens weeds out of the garden; the chickens give us eggs and compost; and the compost goes back in the garden. We don’t waste anything! That’s one of my favourite things: that we’re able to produce so much. Our green house is totally full.

Why should folks buy local?
Oh, jeez! Quality. Knowing where your food comes from. Environmentally. Gas. Transportation. All that. The whole sustainability of the island depends on people buying locally.

What’s your pet peeve these days when it comes to food and agriculture?
One of the biggest problems is people having no concept of where their food comes from. There’s no concept that you have to start with a seed, then harvest, etc. They’ll phone and say, “I need six dozen eggs tomorrow.” They’re thinking here is like a store. It’s really a serious flaw in the whole system. Because what’s more important than food? We cannot live without it. Then there’s the whole plight of the farmers…

What’s your favourite island-grown fruit or veggie to enjoy in August?
Broccoli and zucchini. Maybe tomatoes.

Can islanders buy from you?
I cannot produce enough eggs to satisfy the market. (She has a loyal bunch of customers for eggs and chicken meat, including UBC, islanders and the Miller’s Landing Buying Group.) We sell manure in the spring, but we’re all sold out now.

The Undercurrent published an abbreviated version of this story.

Bowen actually has quite a few farmers. To name one: Clemencia Braraten. We dropped in recently at Primrose Farm on Harding Road to talk with Clemencia. She was busy grinding barley for her chickens with a metate y mano (a flat stone and rock used for grinding corn in Mexico).

How long have you been farming?
Since I married Mike—23 years ago. I started out with chicks and chickens first. But I don’t do commercial scale. (She also has just about everything you can imagine: vegetables, apples, pears, berries, soya beans, bees, goats, turkeys.)


How did you get into it?
I’ve been farming since I was born. My mother raised cows and pigs in Mexico. I learned everything from her.


What do you love about it?
Everything! I like plants and everything that goes with them. I leave the mess in the house, and I go! I like the animals, too. I have 27 goats.


Why should folks buy local?
Because it’s clean. I don’t use any pesticides. I don’t spray nothing. I only use goat manure. I don’t like chemicals in my garden. Mine is natural.


What’s your pet peeve these days when it comes to food and agriculture?
They put so much fertilizer and chemicals in everything. It’s not right! It’s why we are getting cancer in our bodies. Why? We think we’re eating good, and we’re not. It’s terrible.


What’s your favourite island-grown fruit or veggie to enjoy in August?
Beans, beets, broccoli, fresh potatoes, corn…


Can islanders buy from you?
Anybody can drop by. Any time.

The Undercurrent published an abbreviated version of this story.

Bowen actually has quite a few farmers and growers. To name two: home gardener extraordinaire Reidun van Kervel with husband Bob Kerr. We dropped in recently at the couple’s place on Harding Road. Reidun served up scrumptious homemade muffins, lemonade and fresh-picked peas and carrots. She has four gardens on 4 ¾ acres, including a giant veggie patch with raised beds, and a peony and rose garden with pond, greenhouse and chickens in back.

How long have you been farming?
Ever since we moved here, in 1980.

How did you get into it?
I thought it’d be cool to plant seeds and eat the food I grew. I guess because I like healthy eating and I was picky about what the kids ate. Bob is “Mr. Dirt,” and likes “building” the garden. I plan, plant, weed and harvest.

What do you love about it?
Being able to walk out the door and pick my supper. Being able to dry, then replant some of the seeds the next year.

Why should folks buy local?
A million reasons. It’s good for the soul. It’s good for the environment. I think people should eat food native to the land they live on. I’m trying to use squash, chard and kale into the winter in a more creative way. This is the climate where they grow well. When you grow this way, you’re in tune with your environment.

What’s your pet peeve these days when it comes to food and agriculture?
Pesticides and un-organic gardening that drains into our waterways and destroys the integrity of the soil.

What’s your favourite island-grown fruit or veggie to enjoy in August?
Tomatoes—in Greek salad.

Can islanders buy from you?
We eat what we grow and give it away to friends.

Adapted from a version published in The Undercurrent.

Bowen actually has quite a few farmers. To name two: Aubin and David van Berckel, who farm about two acres (all organic) in the Cates Hill neighbourhood. We talked with Aubin recently.

How long have you been farming?
We started 12 years ago. We initially wanted to plant only-edible plants. We didn’t know anything about gardening. If we’d known, we never would have taken it on! It’s only in the past five years we’ve done vegetables and raised beds. This is our first year growing amaranth (similar to quinoa). It will be ripe in October or November. We want to become closer to being self-sustaining.

How did you get into it?
We wanted to do something in our ripe old age. There’s an old Chinese proverb that goes something like, grow a garden, keep a man happy and healthy all his life. It’s been a very transformative experience.

What do you love about it?
It certainly has completely changed my concept of time. I’ve learned a great deal of patience. And there’s a tremendous amount of natural unfolding. It sounds completely New Age-y, but there’s something remarkably satisfying and incredibly enriching about being surrounded by life.

This was a clear-cut when we took on this piece of land, an incredibly steep scar of a slope. There was no shade anywhere. To think now…

Why should folks buy local?
Because from an environmental perspective, the closer we keep our food sources, the less wear and tear on the earth there is. Also for freshness, the social aspect of supporting your neighbours and our community. Eating local builds a sense of community and puts you back in touch with the earth.

What’s your pet peeve these days when it comes to food and agriculture?
Everything, practically! The agro-business, in general; the whole corporate conglomerate that has turned agriculture, the basis of our life, into something totally alien. It’s terrifying.

What’s your favourite island-grown fruit or veggie to enjoy in August?
Our artichokes. When they’re young, you can use the stalk: you just have to peel it and it tastes just like the heart.

Can islanders buy from you?
We sell at the BowFEAST farmers’ market. Otherwise, we’re mostly self-sustaining and we share with our friends who come to pick.

The Bowen Island Cold Beer and Wine store has a special offer this weekend, just in time for your BowFEAST. Check it out:

In conjunction with the BowFEAST ‘eat local’ celebration, this weekend is our annual BC wine tasting showcase at Bowen Island Cold Beer and Wine. This is our largest tasting event of the year and will feature up to 16 wines over two days.

Saturday & Sunday August 15/16, 1pm to 5pm at the store.

Anticipated line up (subject to change)

Wines from:

Black Widow - Sauvignon Blanc (new to store)
Stags Hollow - Sauvignon Blanc (new to store)
BlackCloud - Pinot Noir
Stoneboat - Pinotage (red), Chorus (white blend) and Pinot Blanc (new to store)
Joie Farm - Rose & Noble Blend
Thornhaven - Gewurztraminer
Church & State - Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc
Hester Creek - Pinot Gris
Tinhorn Creek - Chardonnay
8th Generation - Riesling, Pinot Gris and Merlot

Running order for each day will be different so come both days to taste the entire showcase.

All BC VQA wines will be 10% off this weekend so come down, taste and stock up!

Kind regards
Paul Rickett
Bowen Island Cold Beer and Wine

BowFEAST annual local food celebration is coming this summer. The highlight is a farmers’ market Aug. 15.

The time to feast on Bowen blackberries, tomatoes, carrots, crab and kale is coming soon! BowFEAST 09 is Aug. 10-16, with a special farmers’ market on Sat., Aug. 15. Here’s a quick Frequently Asked Questions to get you ready. See you at the feast!

What is BowFEAST, anyway?
A celebration of local eating honouring our island farmers. The highlight: do-it-yourself feasts around the island. The challenge is to serve as much local—or regional—food and drink as you can. We’re also hosting a Saturday growers’ market open to all.

When is it?
You can feast all week, but the farmers’ market is Sat., Aug. 15, from 9 am to noon, on the library grass.

What’s in it for me?
Meet your island farmers and growers face-to-face (Marg & Drew Burgess, Stacey Leigh, Vivian Pearce, Clemencia Braraten, Aubin & David van Berckel, Alderwood Farm, Rosie Montgomery, Suzan Phillipe, Jane Ferguson…); make plans to buy direct in future.

Sell your own backyard bounty at the community table (donate the proceeds to the BICS student garden, if you choose). Celebrate the harvest. Have fun!

Plus, the whole community is jumping onboard, so why not join in?
For example, the Ruddy Potato grocer is highlighting special Bowen-grown produce… Phoenix on Bowen will have local eating books on display, plus a recipe contest to win a terrific cookbook… the wine store is giving discounts on BC wines and doing tastings… Cocoa West may do a Bowen berry truffle in honour of BowFEAST… Tuscany and Artisan Eats, Happy Isle Cafe and the Flower Shop will all be selling goodies at the farmer’s market… and it looks like Chris Corrigan will show up with a medicine woman from Squamish to tell about wildcrafting (foraging) on Bowen…

Why eat local?
Eating locally grown food tastes better, is better for you, preserves a diverse food supply, supports local farming families, supports a clean environment, ensures a healthy and secure food supply for future, benefits wildlife and builds community (from www.eatlocalnow.org). Why not eat local?

Who puts on BowFEAST?
OneDayBowen in partnership with Bowen Island Community Recreation. Made possible by a grant from the Bowen Island Municipality. OneDayBowen is a grassroots group pursuing local solutions to global challenges.

Where can I get more info?
www.onedaybowen.ca

(Adapted from the original published in the Undercurrent newspaper.)

Everyone BowFEAST! The time has come, so start planning your menu and collecting your recipes!

BowFEAST 09 is officially Aug. 10-16. And we’re hosting a special farmers’ market on Sat., Aug. 15, 9 am to noon, on the grass in front of the library. But of course, you can invite your friends and family over for a Bowen-produced feast any time. (We hope you will.)

In case you haven’t heard, BowFEAST is a celebration of local eating honouring our island farmers. The highlight is do-it-yourself feasts around the island. The challenge: to serve as much local—or regional—food and drink as you can. The Saturday growers’ market is free and open to all. Meet your island farmers in person! Sell some of your own garden bounty!

OneDayBowen presents BowFEAST in partnership with Bowen Island Community Recreation. The community event is made possible by a grant from the Bowen Island Municipality. OneDayBowen is a grassroots group pursuing local solutions to global challenges.

Looks like the Ruddy potato grocery is hosting casual farmers’ markets this summer in front of the store — every Saturday morning. Anyone can show up (with their own table) and sell produce. Fantastic!

For details on the Ruddy farmers’ market, call Sandra at 604-947-0998.

And don’t forget about our very special farmers’ market, in honour of BowFEAST 09, this August. It’s Sat., Aug. 15 from 9 am to noon, on the grass in front of the library. Everyone is welcome, tables are free and we’ll have tents and umbrellas so no one’s lettuce will grizzle in the sun.

We’ll have a community table to, where anyone can sell their garden bounty. You can pocket the cash or we’ll donate it to the BICS garden.

For info on the BowFEAST farmers’ market, e-mail me at elle@glave.com. See you at the market!