Each for All: The Co-operative Connection

In developing local food security, communities have been organizing farmer’s markets, food box delivery programs, collective kitchens, and community gardens: All great ways to build relationships between neighbours, farmers, and their food. However, what about naturally-derived consumer products that aren’t for eating? And what about the products, edible and otherwise, that are wildcrafted from forests, meadows, and other landscapes that are closer to nature than a farmed plot?

This is what we’ll be looking at today: Two initiatives that are developing local markets for renewable natural resources.

First, we have the pleasure of talking with Holly Caine, director of the Aromatic Farm Co-operative. Holly is also the cordinator of the Buy BCwild initiative, which is the topic of part two of this episode!

The Aromatic Farm Co-operative is a community-based cooperative located in the Cowichan Valley, where its members practice sustainable aromatic plant management and ethical production of organic essential oils. They are bringing together organic growers, expert distillers, health practitioners, value-based businesses, and supporters of locally produced organics to form a network of knowledge, skills, and sustainability.

In the second half of our show, we hear from Tim Brigham, coordinator of education and capacity building for the Centre for Non-Timber Resources at Royal Roads University. This research centre supports the sustainable growth of the expanding wild products sector. One of its projects is the Buy BCwild initiative, which hosts conferences and events to bring together individuals, organizations and communities involved with the sustainable utilization of forest resources, publishes the annual Buy BCwild products and services directory (see below for link to download as a PDF) and enhancing public awareness of wild products through 'Shop the Wild' events in support of the economic development of the sector, advances the sustainable use of non-timber forest resources by developing innovative training programs, advocating for policies that support sustainable use and liaising with the many stakeholders that are part of this emerging sector, and develops market research and quantifies the economic value of the sector through interdisciplinary research in all areas of non-timber resource utilization, including commercial, subsistence, recreational and traditional uses.

To download the 2007-2008 Buy BCwild Directory, please click here (PDF, 5.3 MB)

Buy BCwild Harvest Festival and Market