Category: members’ social

Skookum Summer Sunday Social: BBQ Potluck on June 30 starting at 12 noon

800px-Thomas_Cole's_-The_Picnic-,_Brooklyn_Museum_IMG_3787
Thomas Cole’s “The Picnic”, 1846.

It’s official! The next Skookum social is an outdoor picnic at member Lyn Adamson’s “Salty Dog” property just north of town (on the way to Lund) on Sunday June 30 starting at 12 noon!

Lyn suggests a BBQ potluck on the beach, a swim or a kayak paddle if anybody wants to.

This is a members-only event (but members’ families are more than welcome) and we ask you to kindly RSVP to event organizer Jacqueline Huddleston via email at  jaxhuddleston@icloud.com as it will make planning a bit easier. Bring something to nibble on/BBQ and to share if you can, plus a lawn chair and a beach chair, a towel and bathing suit if you want to take a dip or kayak out.

Plus you can shop for cover crop seeds and Tattler Canning Lids.

It is all set to be a beach BBQ, here is some inspiration: Jacqueline is planning on making grilled local lamb with chimichurri or perhaps maple glazed salmon (if she can’t find local meat) or both!

Due to the public nature of this blog, the full address and directions to the north of town location will be sent via email to members, plus we will add our own markers to make this more obvious.

Hope to see you there (and remember to RSVP Jacqueline, please). This could be a great time to connect with fellow cooperative members and to enjoy a picnic in a waterfront park setting, and this will run rain or shine! It’s going to be a “zero waste event” .
So besides the towel and beach chair please bring your own dishes, cutlery and glassware (there’s a sink to wash up so you won’t have to take them home dirty).
Hope to see you there, it’s going to be fun and delicious!

Let us know (email giovanni@rabideye.com) if you would like to purchase any cover crop seeds or Tattler lids, as these can be made available to you at this event or by special appointment.
Find out what we have on offer for pick-up at the event
547 Peas 4010 and Oats 50/50 Mix Organic ($3 for a half-pound bag; very few available)

Best green manure for spring seeding. Very effective Nitrogen and biomass builder. 4010 peas are the best leafy forage peas for plowdown, producing over 40″ of green mass in 10 weeks. Oats will utilize available nitrogen, building soil structure, suppress weeds and provide quick growth while the peas fix nitrogen for following crop. Well suited for late summer/ fall seedlings as well. It is best practice to allow three weeks before seeding following crops. Mow down and work into soil at flowering. Seeding Rate: 2-3lb per 1000 sq. ft, 80-100lbs/acre drilled, 100-120lbs/acre broadcast.

Aside from adding organic matter to the soil, cover crops have many other purposes:

  • They reduce soil loss from water erosion.
  • They maintain soil surface infiltration, so it does not compact.
  • Cover crops improve soil tilth (structure).
  • They scavenge nutrients that might otherwise leach from the field.
  • They feed and provide shelter for birds, wildlife, and beneficial insects.
  • They fix nitrogen in the soil.

We also are  selling Tattler lids at even lower prices! They’re about half the price you’d pay via Amazon.ca (and 15% of the cost goes to support Skookum). We ask members to limit purchases to 100 lids ea. at this point, to allow more members to take advantage. We offer the lids on a per-order basis, until they run out; there is no planned bulk purchase in 2013/14.

We have:

  • 24-packs of regular lids + rubber rings .60 ea ($14.50); 50-packs ($30);
  • 24-pack wide mouth lids + rubber rings  .70 ea ($17.00); 50-packs ($35);
  • Individual extra rubber rings (wide and regular) .22 each in packs of 5  ($1.10 per pack).

Survey Results

surveyTop 5 Interests indicated by our members from our Skookum Members’ Skills Survey held in late 2012/early 2013

5. (TIE!) Seed-Saving and Cider/Wine-Making
4. (TIE!) Bulk Food Buying and Public Outreach + Facilitation
3. Food Preparation (cooking/baking)
2. Food Preserving (canning, smoking, dehydrating, pickling, lacto-fermentation, cheese-making, salting/ packing in sugar)
1. Gardening!

32 members responded to our recent survey (feel free to respond anytime as well), and we already have some positive action from several members, including:

  • A generous offer to fix and maintain our cider press, along with a backup option
  • An offer to host a summertime Skookum picnic on a member’s seaside property (more on this soon!)
  • And several members said they would keep an eye out for the materials we need to complete the Skookum Cider Press kit (see here for what we need; you can also donate money to the project via PayPal (accepting credit and debit card donations as well, and cheques too– click the PayPal link for more info).

Remember that a big ongoing Skookum project, The Abundant Pantry Bulk Food Buying Club (TAP), is taking orders until Sunday, May 12 at 11 pm. Make sure you get your orders in before this. The next order after this will be in July. For more information, contact the coordinator Wendy Pelton at bulkbuying@skokoumfood.ca.

Appreciating Participation

Powell River Dollars are here! Click for more info.
Powell River Dollars

Powell River Dollars have come into our community. This exciting initiative is, in my view, a welcome addition to our local economy offering diversity and adding another piece to the foundation of a sustainable community. My thanks to the PR Money Society for their initiative and their efforts!

What does this mean for Skookum?

Since the launch of PR$, Skookum has received many contributions from businesses and individuals who have exchanged their Canadian Dollars for PR$ and directed their exchange towards our cooperative.  Thank you to those who have already done this.

townsite brewery logo

Our cooperative has also, recently, been the beneficiary of a substantial donation made by Townsite Brewing through their initiative from the sale of ‘growlers’.  The $338 will be put to good use and I thank them for their generosity and participation in our thriving community.

I ask you now to consider dropping in to CMG printing at 4691 Marine Avenue on one of your forays in town and exchanging some of your Canadian dollars for PR$, directing your transaction to Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative.  It is also possible for you to earmark your transaction directly to the Permaculture design course within the Skookum account at PR$, in either Canadian dollars or PR$.

By making the commitment to do this, you will be directly aiding the Cooperative, as well as taking the initiative to participate and strengthen PR$ within the community. It is my view that participation in initiatives such as these is essential if we are to ensure our region thrives with sustainable resilience.

Here are some businesses which accept PR$ which have connections to Skookum members.  For the full list of businesses and their terms, click here.

Let's Eat!
Let’s Eat!

On Wednesday January 23 there will be a potluck where we can get together socially. This event will take place at the United Church’s Trinity Hall (Michigan at Duncan, kitty-corner to City Hall) in Powell River starting at 7:00 pm sharp.  We’ll provide the mains, you bring the salads, sides and dessert.  I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

Pete Tebbutt, President

Skookum’s Celebratory Social

A look at the Skookum Social (Jan 31, 2012)

The members of Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative gathered at Trinity Hall in Powell River on January 31 2012 to celebrate our first public gathering for 2012, the United Nations International Year of the Cooperative. The salad/dessert pot-luck event attracted over 30 of our 101 members. The meal was centred around Jacqueline Huddleston’s delicious risotto and quiche dishes, and graciously emceed by member Alison Taplay. A special gift basket was awarded in absentia to Nansi McKay and Nancy Tyler (members #100 and 101), and presentations by Wendy Pelton, coordinator of The Abundant Pantry Bulk-Buying Project and by directors David Parkinson and Giovanni Spezzacatena provided lots of news about what’s going on with our cooperative.

Here is some of what we talked about:

    • Alison talked about 2012 Year of the Cooperative, and set up an informal agenda for the evening, ending with a call for ideas on new projects and for helping hands to organize and implement existing ones;
    • Wendy Pelton gave us a major update on The Abundant Pantry Bulk-Buying Club, which is about to be launched;
    • Giovanni Spezzacatena talked briefly about the Bulk Seed Project (deadline Feb 14, 2012), and on Skookum Members’ Survey Results;
    • The Skookum Community Bookshelf was introduced: this is a Skookum Cooperative initiative by Director Sharon Deane and Melissa Leigh where members may donate books that they feel would be appropriate to cooperative member use to this project housed in Kingfisher Used Books. A dedicated bookshelf will be set up letting only Skookum members borrow these materials. Contact Sharon at the store for more information;
    • David Parkinson reported on the Skookum Gleaners project. The upshot is that key Skookum members have devoted a lot of time and effort to this community project, to little benefit to the cooperative, while other projects more in tune with our purposes have suffered. The board of Skookum has voted to let this project go, but encourage members to reach out to us if they want to pursue this project outside of the cooperative;
    • David also briefly introduced the concept of a Community Orchard that may prove to be the evolution of Gleaners. Please reach him if you have an interest in this up-coming project.

A couple of items that got a little lost in the fray, but we’ll pick up on these in future posts and gatherings:

    •  Skookum co-presents the feature documentary film How to Make a Farm) at Powell River Film Festival;
    • Skookum’s board wants to set up a Project Selection and Development Team to help in selecting viable projects from member proposals, and guide the process;
    • We want to set up a crack team that will be focused on Fundraising Events, to help fund Skookum projects, and to engage members; contact Giovanni if you are interested.

Skookum Celebrates the Year of the Co-op… with You

International Year of Co-operatives to be launched across Canada this January!

We’re 99 members strong, and we’re inviting our members to come out and celebrate the International Year of Cooperatives. Please join us on:

Tuesday January 31, 2012 at 6:00 PM

at the United Church Trinity Hall (6932 Crofton Street, Powell River, kitty-corner to Powell River Municipal Hall at the corner of Duncan and Michigan).

Come help us celebrate the spirit of cooperatives, together. Our much-anticipated 100th member will receive a lovely gift basket at this event, so get a friend to become a member now! Here‘s how to become a member. Check out this great bilingual website on events throughout Canada for the big launch on Jan 12, 2012.

SKOOKUM MEMBERS PLEASE BRING:

  • Your appetite
  • Your partner and kids
  • Your thoughts about what you want to see Skookum doing in the coming year,what you can offer in terms of time, talent, expertise, tools, food, land, resources…
  • A salad, dessert, or other side dish; Skookum will provide the main course (one vegan, one vegetarian) and beverages
  • A musical instrument if you play one (there is a piano in the Trinity Hall)
  • Some books for the new up-coming Skookum Bookshelf (full details to come ; these are books you are willing to donate to a Skookum members-only lending library housed at Kingfisher Used Books  that have to do with growing, picking, preserving, or sharing food. Examples: How to build a greenhouse, How to cook or bake, how to grow veggies, how to prune, etc.

Please let us know if you know you will be attending, so that we can do a better job of planning the food. Just leave a comment on this blog post or email us to let us know how many people will be attending and what food you plan to bring.

Also, please plan to label the ingredients in the food you bring (for allergy/info purposes); we will have small cards on site for this as well.

We look forward to seeing you there!