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New West Farmers Market 2018 AGM

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Our 2018 annual general meeting will take place on Sunday, February 18, 2018. As well as appointing a new Board of Directors, we will report on the market’s last year and exciting plans for the future. Light refreshments will be provided.
Not a NWFM member yet? You can sign up at the market, online, or at the AGM for just $10 and have a say in the future of the market, as well as lots of other perks!

New West Farmers Market AGM 2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018

Registration: 12:30pm
Meeting: 1pm-3pm
Location: 625 5th ave suite 701
(Billard Architecture’s offices)

 

Agenda

Download the Agenda for the 2018 NWFM AGM here. Hard copies will be provided at the meeting.

Board of Directors

The New West Farmers Market Board of Directors would like to acknowledge the incredible work Jen Arbo (our outgoing President) has contributed to our organization. Jen has worked as a Market Manager, Director, and President and has worked for over nine years  to engage the New Westminster community in food safety and security, sustainability, and the importance of buying local.

Thank you Jen for all of the work behind the scenes and on the ground to grow NWFM to what we are today.

We also bid farewell to long-serving member Kevin McConnell, our Secretary Katie Bartel, and Alex McCarthy. Thank you for all your hard work!

As only five nominees have come forward, there will be no need for an election and the nominees will be acclaimed at the AGM.

Incumbents

Matt Lorenzi (President)

Originally from Alberta, Matt Lorenzi has fallen in love with New Westminster since moving here almost 10 years ago. The sense of history and community is a big factor on why he’s chosen to raise his family here. Matt has is interested in sustainability, food security and community building. Volunteering has always been a big part of Matt’s “spare” time. In past he has served with New Westminster Environmental Partners and Brow of the Hill Residents Association. Serving on the board of NWFM feels like giving back to the community while being extremely rewarding at the same time.

New Nominees

Biography coming soon.

Greater Vancouver Food Bank Partnership

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The New West Farmers Market is proud to partner with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank to launch a Low-Cost Produce Stand. This program provides fresh BC produce to our community each week at the Food Bank.

The Greater Vancouver Food Bank provides access to healthy food through community hubs in New Westminster. Our community hub is located at Olivet Baptist Church and takes place each week, empowering clients to nourish themselves by providing access to healthy food, education, and training.

Each week, the New West Farmers Market provides local produce to the community at a discounted cost, making wholesome produce accessible to those in need. We provide a selection of fresh-picked produce grown at a BC farm or community garden at very affordable prices alongside the typical food bank items. So far, the program has been very successful; many are thankful to have access to high-quality fruits and vegetables, and they appreciate their value. The act of choosing and purchasing produce has much more dignity than simply being handed a hamper.

“We’re very grateful for the partnership with the New West Farmers Market to offer and ultra-low cost produce market to our members. Together, we’re able to increase access to healthy, affordable, fresh produce for our members at the New West Food Hub as well as engagement opportunities around food.”

—Zsuzsi Fodor, Community Partnership Manager, Greater Vancouver Food Bank

How can you help? 

The New West Farmers Market is collecting produce from farmers and community gardens. Please consider growing an extra row for the Low-Cost Produce Stand! Any funds raised from the program will be allocated to purchasing more produce in future weeks.

It’s important that our community has access to healthy and sustainable food in a dignified manner, and the New West Farmers Market is proud to be able to play a part in providing support in this area.

For more information and to support our program, please contact jennifer@newwestfarmers.ca

 

Farmers Market Challenge Week #16

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by Mario Bartel

The New West Farmers Market is idyllic, a refuge from the bright fluorescent lights and hurly burly of the grocery store. It’s a place to meet your neighbours, chat with the vendors, linger in the sunshine. So why has it suddenly become so stressful?

Now that school is in full swing, and the end-of-summer traffic has slowed the commute, squeezing in market day has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Doing the market shopping is a race against a tuckered five-year-old who has not yet developed time management skills, hunger pangs from the long day and a lack of adequate pre-planning because of, well, life.

To swing the odds in our favour, we try to simplify on market day. In our household, more often than not that means omelettes for dinner; crack a few eggs, fold in some cheese, green onions, mushrooms and basil and you’re good to go in minutes.

At least, that’s the theory.

It never quite works out that way.

Throw in chatting-with-the-neighbours time, a game or 12 of crossing the rock “bridges” in the ponds at Tipperary Park, a languid visit to the outhouse by our five-year-old (sorry to anyone he’s kept waiting; albeit he does tend to sing or keep a running commentary while he’s doing his business), the unpacking of the market haul along with any other sundry groceries acquired that day and easy-going market day inevitably descends into a race against bedtime.

This week we decided to fight fire with fire; we made our omelettes mostly from ingredients sourced from that day’s market haul. At least we wouldn’t have to pack everything away:

For the omelettes:

• 1 dozen free range eggs from pastured hens at Out West Ranches $6

• bunch of onions $3.50 from Ripple Creek

• Russian purple potatoes and German butter potatoes $9 from Ripple Creek (these didn’t show up in an omelette until the following week, after they’d been parboiled and then grilled)

• salad greens for the salad $4 from Zaklan

• Zucchini $2.20 from Zaklan (again, they didn’t make an omelette appearance until the following week)

• radishes for the salad $2 from Zaklan

• baguette $4 from A Bread Affair

• box of pears $5 from Harvest Direct

• box of apples $5 from Harvest Direct

Along with the market ingredients, our omelette also included basil from the community garden plot maintained by the New West Farmers Market, some prosciutto left over from another meal earlier in the week, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and dehydrated tomatoes, part of last week’s market discoveries blog.

Make, Bake, Grow and Build Relationships

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If you’re an avid CBC fan like the New West Farmers Market, you may have caught this recent article on farmers markets on their website and on CBC television’s Marketplace.

The New West Farmers Market strives to develop close relationships with our vendors and our community, and all good relationships are built on trust. As such, we wanted to tell you a little about how we work with our vendors.

On applying to be a vendor, there is a careful vetting process in place. We ask questions about the farm, who works there, production methods, water conservation, weed, pest, and disease management and their sources of seed and livestock feed.

Each vendor must agree to a farm visit, which we conduct as needed to verify that a vendor does indeed grow and produce the products they sell. We have conducted audits in the past with professional agrologists, and communicate with other regional markets to check in on vendors. We get to know our vendors and their products, and encourage our shoppers to do the same.

We have limited resources in terms of only a few staff and a volunteer board, so it can be challenging.

This is one of the reasons why we insist the very best way to shop at a market is for consumers to get to know the producers, ask them questions about their operations, sign up to their mailing lists, and work with them to ensure fair prices that provide a living to the vendors but provide the freshest and highest quality food to the shopper for the best possible price. It’s a relationship, not a transaction.

The New West Farmers Market is a member of the BC Association of Farmers Markets. Each of its 147 member markets in BC is approved annually, and must exclusively (100%) be composed of vendors who make, bake, grow or raise the products they sell. The reselling of wholesale products is not allowed.

Here at the New West Farmers Market we strive to provide a diverse and welcoming year-round farmers market that promotes economic wellness in our city. We appreciate each of you for being part of it.

We hope to see you at next Thursday’s market, the last of the summer season. Come by, ask questions, and meet the makers!

Enjoy some fresh herbs, on us!

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These herbs now live in plot 25. We invite you to enjoy them!

Have you visited the new community Gardens at City Hall yet? If not, today is the perfect day to check them out! We invite you to pick some free herbs today from plot #25—our “seasoning” garden plot! Drop by the market table for some scissors from 3pm-7pm, and snip off some herbs to complement your market purchases. Come see what we are growing!

Connecting with our community through food advocacy and promoting food security is both our mission and our passion, and this is a small way in which we can welcome you to enjoy how we are helping grow community.

The Gardens at City Hall are adjacent to Tipperary Park at 4th and Royal, just a few steps away from the market.

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