Want to wander into your yard to gather your own juicy oyster and shiitake mushrooms? You can! Mushrooms add a delicious earthy taste to your dishes, they don’t take up a lot of space and don’t require a lot of work to grow. Any shady, moist spot in your garden will do.
On April 10, 2011, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, we will be offering a mushroom growing workshop. There are many ways to grow mushrooms, and many kinds you can grow. This workshop will focus on growing shiitake and oyster mushrooms using dowel plugs in hardwood logs. We will touch on some other methods very briefly, but the dowel plug method is easy to do, and provides an efficient and aesthetic way to grow.
All participants must pre-register and pay for this workshop. Each registrant will receive 250 spores of their choice of mushroom (one type) and you can order any more you like in sets of 250. So, for example, if you want to grow both oyster and shiitake mushrooms, you can register and select shiitakes, then order an additional set of oysters.
Things to bring:
For every 250 spores you want to harvest, you’ll need 5–7 rounds of hardwood (any kind) between 48 inches diameter, two to four feet long (to total about 20 feet of hardwood altogether). If you have more, please bring some for others who might not.
Your hardwood rounds must be no more than 6 weeks old; which is to say that they cannot have been cut more than six weeks ago on the date of the workshop;
Also, if you have a cordless drill, or even an electric drill, please bring it along. Waiting to drill holes can be the most time consuming part.
On Wednesday February 9, 2011, Skookum brought Carol Murray up to Powell River to spread the word about cooperatives, what they can do, and how to get them going. Carol is the Director of Co-op Development at the BC Co-operative Association, and is one of the people who helped Skookum’s initiating group find its bearings and get through the early stages of planning and incorporation.
Some of the amazing food prepared by Skookum members Jacqueline MoralesFran Cudworth
Skookum planned this public event in the spirit of the fifth principle of the International Co-operative Alliance’s Statement on the Co-operative Identity (emphasis mine): “Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public — particularly young people and opinion leaders — about the nature and benefits of co-operation.”
Skookum signed on to a very slightly amended version of these seven principles when we crafted our own statement of principles, and we endeavour to live up to themcommunicate them to members and others.
We wanted to create an opportunity for people to learn more about cooperatives, since we learned when we got started that there is a lot of misinformation and confusion out there.
A pretty full house! And somehow enough food to go around...
Carol spent most of the day on Wednesday meeting with various people and groups who had indicated that they were interested in having a sit-down meeting to talk about a cooperative idea they were thinking about. And then on Wednesday evening she made a presentation to packed room in Trinity Hall at the Powell River United Church.
But before we got to the presentation, there was food: Skookum member Jacqueline Morales prepared two delicious lasagne made with pasta from flour locally-milled by Periwinkle Granary. Fran Cudworth of Periwinkle Granary also prepared fresh garlic breadfantastic vegan pizza in honour of Carol Murray, who is vegan. Members brought salads and desserts, and amazingly we managed to feed everyone who showed up, although the turnout was somewhat larger than we anticipated. Maybe cooperatives are one more people’s minds than we thought…
Carol Murray in action
Carol presentedtook questions from the floor. You can view or download her PowerPoint presentation here. One thing is certain from the conversations that Carol had earlier in the day and from the questions that people were asking: there is considerable interest in cooperative housing and land ownership. There are a lot of people keen to farm and create collective projects requiring land, but the cost of land remains too high for many people, especially younger people in the region. Skookum hopes that we can make progress on that front, since access to land for community agricultural projects is certainly something we’re thinking about for the future.
We wish to thank the Powell River Food Security Project, First Credit Union,the BC Co-operative Association for helping us put on this event; Fran and Jacqueline for the most wonderful food I’ve ever seen at a free public event; all our members who helped with donated food and labour; and everyone who showed up. Most of all, we thank Carol, who was extremely generous with her timedid a great job of spreading the word about cooperatives.
Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative is proud to present our first event of the new year: we’re bringing in Carol Murray, Director of Co-op Development for the BC Co-operative Association.
Gorgeous poster by our very own Giovanni Spezzacatena (AKA rabideye).
There is a lot of interest around the region in forming cooperatives for various purposes: food co-ops, land co-ops, farming co-ops, housing co-ops, and more. I know, because people often ask me about how we formed Skookum, and also people are often discussing the sorts of challenges and projects that seem suited to a cooperative solution.
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about how co-ops work, how to get one started, what they are good for, and learn about some interesting existing models of co-ops that we might want to adapt in this region, please come on out. There will be a brief presentation on Skookum to let you know what we’ve been working on and where we’re heading in 2011 and beyond. We hope to sign up some new members and start talking about what we want to work on together in 2011. We’ll have plenty of time for questions and answers with Carol, who is very knowledgeable about all kinds of cooperatives. We’ll even have door prizes!
Admission is free and is open to all.
Please note that this special meeting will take place in Trinity Hall at the United Church in Powell River (6932 Crofton St., at the corner of Duncan & Michigan) at the normal time of the Kale Force meeting. With generous assistance from First Credit Union and the Powell River Food Security Project, we will be providing food at 6:00 PM. Carol’s presentation will begin at 7:00 PM.
If you are considering forming a cooperative, or if you simply have some detailed questions about cooperatives, we are setting aside time for people to meet with Carol during the day on Wednesday. If you’re interested in setting up an appointment with Carol, please contact us at skookum@skookumfood.ca
It was a beautiful, sunny October morning, crisp as the apples we were pressing into delicious cider during Skookum’s Co-op week celebratory Community “Press-Off”, outside the Community Resource Centre, as part of the weekly Saturday Winter Market. The concept was that both members and non-members could drop by, wash and press their apples into incredibly delicious cider, and pay by donation. Many people brought their own bottles and jars, but we had some sterlized bottles on hand if needed. The Skookum Cider Press is normally only available to members, and for a daily fee for use.
Skookum board members and other volunteers helped to make this event a fun time, and it even raised some $70 toward the Cider Press fund. But most importantly, we helped community members produce a great, locally processed food, from local produce. Of course, the event also showed off our cider press and increased our visibility in the community. Six quarts of juice also returned to the CRC, from apples picked through Skookum Gleaners!
It’s hard to say how many apples we collectively pressed, but I figure that at least 40 quarts of juice and a whole lot of pomace resulted from the 3-hour pressing. We plan to turn most of our own apple juice to apple cider vinegar, but some people were planning on freezing their bottled juice (making sure they were 25% empty and with a loosened lid), and others planned on adding champagne yeast to make hard cider. Apple juice will keep about a week in the refrigerator, but those who attended enjoyed immediately sipping the free samples as they watched cider being pressed on this gorgeous day.
The first pressing’s the sweetest!
We even got some help with the cider press clean-up from some energetic nearby youth engaged in a car wash fundraising event for the new Youth Resource Centre; it is set to open in a month or so, right next door to the CRC.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped out in various ways!
