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Saturday March 4th Market Day

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March is finally upon us! Last year, we were walking about town in our short sleeved shirts enjoying the sunshine and an early spring. But Alas!

Join us on Saturday March 4th from 11am to 3pm on Belmont Street between 6th Street and 7th Street. Our location is nestled in the heart of Uptown New Westminster and is accessible by transit, car, bike and for those of you walking from nearby neighbourhoods.

Be sure to visit the vendors situated in our big marquee tent sponsored by the wonderful folks of the Uptown Business Association. You’ll find many of your favourite vendors under the tent as well as some new faces.

Driving to the market? FREE PARKING is available at Westminster Centre, directly across the street from Belmont Street. If you are taking transit the #106 bus stops at 5th avenue and 6th street.

Join us on Belmont Street for lunch! Enjoy a relaxing chai tea at the recently re-opened Uptown Parklet!

A list of our vendors for March 4th can be found below. Please check out Facebook Page or Twitter for any last minute cancellations or updates.

What’s happening at the Market?

  • Stop by the Your Paramedics booth! Your Paramedics is an Elections BC petition to include Ambulance Paramedics as an essential services. By updating the Fire and Police bargaining act to include Ambulance Paramedics.

Entertainment 

 

Farm Fresh Produce

  • Ossome Acres – winter squash, pea shoots, walnuts, candied walnuts, eggs
  • Your Wildest Foods – foraged mushrooms, dried teas and fresh mushrooms
  • Nutrigreens – microgreens

Beef, Eggs, Poultry and Seafood

  • Rockweld Farm – BCSPCA-certified frozen chicken and chicken products including eggs, dog and cat food
  • Wheelhouse Seafoods – seafood pasta and crab cakes, frozen salmon and spot prawns
  • Local Beef & Eggs – eggs

Artisan Breads

  • A Bread Affair – breads, baguettes, ciabattas, rolls, scones (Certified Organic)

Bakery

  • Sweet Thea Cakes – tarts, pies, cookies and cakes
  • Simply Scones – traditional English-style scones
  • Samaya Delights – turmeric muffins, baklava
  • Half Pint Pies – delicious little mason jar pies
  • Sable Shortbread – shortbreads
  • Baguette & Co. – french breads and pastries

Snacks

  • Gary’s Kettlecorn – kettle corn (traditional and caramel)
  • Handworks Coffee – single drip and hand-whisked matcha teas
  • KICS Lemonade – delicious lemonades and syrups

Eat On Site

  • Wheelhouse Seafoods – salmon burgers
  • Country Village Market – pakoras!
  • Eli’s Serious Sausage – hot dogs galore!

Prepared Foods (Pantry Staples)

  • Jam Shack Preservery – savoury spreads and jams
  • Lilise Applesauce -delicious gourmet applesauces
  • Old Country Pierogi –frozen pierogies (gluten free and vegan options available)
  • Muy Rico – salsas, mayonaise, mole sauces, tortilla chips and corn tortillas
  • BobAli – tasty dips and hummus spreads
  • Anne’s Gallery – the best jams, chutneys and preserves and spiced peach jam!
  • Tasty & Nourishing – soups and stews
  • Sidney’s Smokehouse – locally made jerky
  • Jam ‘n Music – award winning jams
  • The Salt Dispensary – flavoured craft salts

Jewelry & Artisan Crafts

  • New World Felting -beautifully made felted scarves & hats
  • Ildiko Jewelry – handforged sterling silver jewelry
  • Quality Oak Accents – handmade quality cutting boards
  • Bits & Keys – quirky jewelry and cross-stitch

Health, Beauty & Services

  • Oh La La Cosmetics – all natural facial and haircare products

Wine, Beer & Spirits

  • Dragon Mist Distillery – locally made vodka and gin

 

Special Thanks to our Music Stage Sponsor Roland Kaulfuss:

rolandkaulfuss logo

2017 AGM – March 12 2:30-4pm at the Library

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Please consider this official notice of our AGM:

March 12 from 2:30pm-4:00pm at New Westminster Public Library 

Our Annual General Meeting is March 12 from 2:30 to 4:00pm at New Westminster Public Library, located at 716 Sixth Street. The meeting will take place in the Auditorium (downstairs) which is accessible via stairs and an elevator. You don’t need to register to attend, and we hope you’ll bring a friend! There will be tea and coffee and cookies for you.

We have lots to report on at our AGM, and as a result, we won’t be having a guest speaker. There are some exciting changes coming up for RCFM as we enter our tenth year of operation and we can’t wait to talk with you about them.

Below is an outline of what to expect, but if you’re just looking for the AGM Agenda, here it is. The Minutes from the 2015 AGM are here.

If you need any help in getting to the AGM, please reach out to us at info@newwestfarmers.ca. We will do our best to arrange rides to make sure you can be there with us.

What to expect at our AGM this year:

Reports on Our Year: You’ll hear reports from two people: Valerie, our Operations Manager on some of the highlights of the market this year, and me, the President, on some of the advocacy work we completed, and some of our plans currently underway.

Approving Financial Statements: Exciting to some and boring to others, this is an important piece of business we’ll be taking care of on March 12. Our outgoing treasurer, Sheila, will be providing a report on our financials. This past year we have completely redeveloped how we do our bookkeeping so that it is more efficient, and we’ve also made a few spending decisions we weren’t expecting. For example, training for our new market manager, Valerie, added some additional personnel time we hadn’t budgeted for. We opted to update our database and application system for vendors and rebuild our website (launching soon!), and hire a bookkeeper and a communications contractor. We also hadn’t anticipated paying mandatory police officers to staff barricades at last year’s winter market. As a board, we have been democratic, thoughtful, and pragmatic in our financial decision-making, but we want to talk to our members a bit about what some of those spends mean for the long-term viability of RCFM and how we came to make them. It’s good news we’re sharing, but transparency is important to us.

Bylaws and Constitution Changes Proposed:  In late 2016, a new BC Societies Act came into effect. At the AGM, Royal City Farmers Market’s Board of Directors will be making a motion to replace our current bylaws and constitution (here) with the new version set out in Schedule B of the new Act, for a few reasons:

  1. There’s nothing in Schedule B that would negatively impact our society and the way we currently operate.
  2. Some of the changes will actually professionalize and provide flexibility to our society. For example, under the new Act, directors are required to provide written confirmation that they agree to serve on our board. This also gives us a chance to include a clause about confidentiality, terms of service, etc. Additionally, the new Bylaws and Constitution will provide flexibility for future iterations of the board in terms of how many directors are required and their term lengths. Currently, we have a very specific and somewhat complicated list of positions and responsibilities for our directors. The new Bylaws and Constitution will allow for the group to adapt based on the volunteers who would like to commit, rather than having to adapt to meet the Bylaws and Constitution.
  3. By doing this, our Bylaws and Constitution will always be up-to-date to whatever is the most current version. Right now, there’s some parts of our current Bylaws and Constitution that are a bit outdated, especially as it relates to communication with our members (Use a facsimile machine? Does anyone have one anymore?). By adopting the Schedule B Bylaws and Constitution, the updates will be automatic and be one less thing for the board to worry about.

New Name Proposed: That’s right. After ten years in operation as Royal City Farmers Market, our Board of Directors will be putting forth a motion to initiate the process to change our name to New Westminster Farmers Market Society, or New West Farmers Market casually. How come? Well, part of our Strategic Plan is to build relationships with new vendors and new shoppers. The truth is, the “Royal City” moniker is a bit of a New Westminsterism that people outside of New West don’t quite understand, and even some people here in New West don’t really understand. Very few people outside of New West call us Royal City Farmers Market. Almost of them call us New West Farmers Market, and we’ve struggled a bit to make our marketing and communications work clear. A lot has changed in ten years, and we aim for proactive changes, rather than reactive ones. The time is right: if we are transitioning to the new Societies Act anyway, this is a good time to do a bit of organizational housekeeping at the same time. So, we will be seeking approval to begin that process.

Elect or Acclaim a Revised Board: Some of the most basic business of an AGM is to elect a new board. We do not take nominations from the floor, and haven’t for a few years. We are losing a few of our directors this year due to new jobs and changes in their personal lives which is a loss for RCFM, but we have a couple of new faces who are willing to step forward. Nominations closed March 4, and here are the nominees. As only six nominees have agreed to stand, they will be acclaimed. As president, I am in a two-year term, and do not require re-election this year as my term doesn’t end until our next AGM.

After that, there will be cookies and socializing.

Phew! It’s going to be a good one. We hope you can join us on March 12.

 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): A Partnership Between Farmers and Community

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By J. Dennis, farmer at Zaklan Heritage Farm

Have you noticed local farmers selling CSA shares and wondered what they are all about? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it is a partnership between farmers and community members who wish to support local sustainable agriculture. The idea is that community members buy a share of the harvest before the season begins and they receive their share in the form of a weekly box of vegetables (or sometimes grains, fish, eggs, fruit, meat) over the course of the farm season.

CSAs help farmers by providing revenue at the beginning of the season before there are crops to sell, but there are many input costs such as seeds. CSAs are also great for farmers as it is a guarantee that a certain quantity of product is sold and helps farmers plan what to grow. CSAs are one form of direct marketing, which means that farmers are able to sell their produce directly to a customer. This direct link between the farmer and people eating the food they grow is an essential component of CSA programs as well as farmers markets. Connecting customers with farms and farmers is a way for people to learn about where their food comes from and for individuals to support the creation of more sustainable food systems in their communities. As with farmers markets, community is an important aspect and CSAs bring community members and farmers together through food and farming.

Now is the time of year that many small-farms are selling CSA shares for the coming farm season. Zaklan Heritage Farm is a small-scale farm that practices ecological agriculture and grows a wide diversity of vegetables in Surrey. We are a vendor at the New West Farmers market and have a CSA program that is open to people in the Surrey and New West communities. Members who join our CSA can pick up their share either at the New West Farmers market during opening hours (Thursdays 3pm – 7pm) or at our farm in Surrey (Saturdays 10am-2pm). We have weekly share options or biweekly share options with the option of adding on eggs from our laying hens and fruit from an organic farm in the Okanagan. We also have three season options: spring, summer and fall programs. You can register for one, two or all seasons. We are growing our CSA program this year and are looking for new members to join us.

If you are interested in signing up for Zaklan Heritage Farm’s CSA Program you can find full program details and register on our website: http://zaklanheritagefarm.com/csa/

 

Kikis Kitchen – Serving up all the Soups

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Meet Michelle and Kathryn of Kiki’s Kitchen!

Q: How long have you been in the soup business?
A: We began at home in January of 2015 and started the commercial kitchen in January of 2016.

Q: What’s your future plans?
A: We want to offer home delivery service and expand to more farmers’ markets that are located further afield. Also moving into a brick and mortar store in 2017.

Q: Where is the kitchen located?
A: In North Vancouver in the Northshore Auto Mall.

Q: What’s your favourite soup?
A: Michele’s favourite is the roasted corn and potato. chowder (sorry – it’s offered during the summer only!)
Kathryn’s is the lentil.

Q: What excites you about your business?
A: We buy directly from farmers or from discovery organics. We’ve had the opportunity to meet and support female farmers. We also get to pick some of our own stuff to make the soups!

Q: Do you have a company mascot
A: Dogs! We have two ridgebacks and a Scout [RCFM note – Scout is a dog, not a breed!]. All soup is dog approved!

Check out their instagram for some great foodie-porn pics as well as some Scout and ridgeback photos!

They also have a website and you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Ossome Acres is pretty awesome

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Meet Noella and Aaron! They are the farmers behind Ossome Acres located in the Fraser Valley, between Abbotsford and Agassiz.

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Q: How long have you been farming?

A: Since 2010. It’s a family farm and we decided to try to make it work. Aaron was previously a welder and together we would make bread to sell at farmers markets.

Q: What’s your favourite to grow?

Noella: Nothing is my favourite to grow, but kale is my favourite to eat. I put it in a smoothie every morning.

Aaron: I like to grow kale. It’s low maintenance, it’s healthy, and you plant it once and it keeps coming.

Q: Do you have a farm mascot?

A: Llamas, cows, dogs, cats, chickens, and roosters! We have lots of animals on the farm.

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Walnuts!

 

 

Q: How can we learn more about your farm and keep in touch?

A: We have a newsletter and Facebook page and you can check us out on Pinterest for some awesome recipe ideas.

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Get your squash on

Check out their website at ossomeacres.com and say hi to Aaron and Noella at the next market!

 

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Land Acknowledgement

Our market is grateful to operate on the unceded land of the Qayqayt, Kwikwetlem, and other Halkomelem speaking Peoples. We acknowledge that colonialism has made invisible their histories and connections to the land. We acknowledge the incredible gift this land is to our market and BC Agriculture. We commit to the ongoing work of decolonization and allyship.