Author: Skookum

Dehydrating Feast!

         Drying Foods Naturally

           Day 1                                                              Day 2

– Why dehydrate?                                         -How to wrapstore

– Using your dehydrator year round           -Divide portions

-Features of a good dehydrator                   -How dry is dry?

-Temperature, time & attention                  -What else can I dehydrate?

-Prep  work                                                    -Reconstituting

-Dry leather, fruit bars & spaghetti            -Tasting the fruit of our labor

-Marinate meatfish overnight             -Sharing more recipes

Fee: Skookum members $30
Non-members $45*

Payable to “Skookum Food Provisioner’s Cooperative”
Purchase at Kingfisher Used Books by
November 20th 2011

*(SFPC Lifetime memberships are $20: to apply, click here)


Skookum Partners with The Urban Farmer to Offer Local Permaculture Course

Permaculture Design Course – Creating Community Abundance
Join us for the first ever Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) to be offered in the community of Powell River!

Based on the international 72-hour permaculture design curriculum, this course will be spread out over four seasons, with four 3-day weekends beginning November 18 – 20, 2011. This intense and inspiring program will provide the knowledge and the tools for you, your family and your community to move boldly down the path towards self-sufficiency, resilience, and community abundance.

Included in this adventure of discovery will be:

  • Permaculture design ethics and principles
  • Methods of design and ecological patterns
  • Annual and perennial food growing and preserving strategies
  • Animals in rural and urban areas
  • Soil, water and energy systems
  • Appropriate technologies and green building
  • Ecosystems and ecological restoration
  • Settlement design and community strategies
  • Alternative economies and resilience
  • And much more … !

The course will be taught by Ron Berezan (The Urban Farmer, www.theurbanfarmer.ca) and Erin Innes (Passionate Permaculture, (www.passionatepermaculture.ca) who collectively bring many years of permaculture teaching and experience to the table. We will be hosted by St. David and St. Paul Anglican church in Townsite, Powell River. All participants will have the opportunity to participate in the design and implementation of a permaculture garden on the church grounds, providing a community resource for years to come! This initiative is also being undertaken with the support of Transition Town Powell River and Skookum Food Provisioners Cooperative.

All Skookum members will receive $100 off the cost of registration.

Please download the brochure at: http://theurbanfarmer.ca/education/upcoming-workshops-events-new/.

For more information please contact:

Ron Berezan, theurbanfarmer@shaw.ca, 604 223 4800 or

Erin Innes, rin@passionatepermaculture.ca, 778 707 4848.

Ça presse!

Cider-making by the letter: Jacqueline Huddleston and Sharon Deane pouring hot cider into bottles.

Members of the cooperative were up at the Fall Fair this past weekend pressing and selling delicious fresh apple cider, using Skookum’s cider press. Thanks so much to all our volunteers and to everyone who dropped by to say hi and enjoy some hot or cold cider. Special thanks to Jan & Gary Burnikell for service above & beyond the call of duty; and to Jacqueline Huddleston for dealing with the permit and creating an organized kitchen. (Click here to see more of our pictures.)

We made a gr total of $129.86 for Skookum. This would have been more if we had not had to buy apples from Bernie — although it’s a good thing we did, because otherwise we would have run out of apples to press. Next year we’ll be hoping for more apples contributed by our members and from the community. We’ll be coming after you!

And don’t forget that the cider press is available for rental to Skookum members only. You can find out the details here, but the basic bottom line is that at $20/day, this is the best deal ever!

Buen provecho!
David Parkinson
Treasurer, Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative

REMINDER: Less than one week to go on our Rancho Vignola order!!

Hello again,

Don’t forget that the deadline for ordering nuts, dried fruits, and related products from Rancho Vignola is Monday September 26. If you are interested but have questions or concerns, please contact me soon rather than at the last minute.

Here are the basic facts:

  • Rancho Vignola makes their product list available only once per year, when the nuts and fruit are at their freshest;
  • The deadline for our order to go in is September 28;
  • They will ship to us in November;
  • We need to make a minimum order of $500;
  • Shipping is free;
  • Skookum will be adding 11.11% to each member’s order, so that of each dollar spent, 5¢ goes to the coordinator (that’s me), 2.5¢ to Skookum,another 2.5¢ to the benefit of the community.

What you need to do:

  • Take a look at Rancho Vignola’s price list.
  • If you want more information on Rancho Vignola’s products, you can find a downloadable PDF here.
  • If you have questions, please contact David as soon as possible at skookum@skookumfood.ca.
  • Otherwise, print out the order form, mark the products you wish to order,calculate the total price. Don’t forget to add 11.11% at the very end.
  • (If you prefer, you may simply email me with the list of products you want and a final tally. I’ll verify the total amount and get back to you.)
  • Get the order form and payment (cash or cheque only) to Kingfisher Books at 4468 Marine Ave. in Powell River no later than 12:00 noon on Monday September 26. No money means no order!
  • If we get enough people interested, we might be able to find a way to manage splits. For example, I would like to order some of their dried tart cherries, but I might not want the whole ten pounds. Maybe someone else would want to split that amount? Let me know if you’re interested in splitting items and we’ll see if we can deal with that. No promises, though, since time is tight.

Any questions? please get in touch with me ASAP at this email address.

Thanks!
David

Skookum Needs Your Apples (and Help) at the Fall Fair

Skookum Cooperative needs local apples to press for the Fall Fair Skookum booth (Sept 24-25,2011). Learn how to press apples, make and sell cider!

Let us know if you can donate local apples (let us know how much and which day you can deliver them to the Fair (mornings only if you need to get a vehicle on the grounds) and we’ll press ’em! It’s a fundraiser for Skookum Gleaners, y’all!

Help with the Skookum Fall Fair Table RAIN OR SHINE! Sign up for:

  • Saturday September 24 from 10:30 am-1 pm /or 1 pm-5 pm

/or 

  • Sunday Sept 25 11 am-1 pm /or 1 am-5 pm