JETTING AWAY BEHIND THE SCENES AT YQQ GUERRILLA FOOD CO. BUSINESS
IS
GOES FROM LOCAL FARM TO (FROZEN) TABLE
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CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR ERIN HALUSCHAK erin.haluschak@comoxvalleyrecord.com As a full-time journalist at The Comox Valley Record, Erin is excited to take on the editor position for Trio magazine. She’s inspired by the stories of local businesses and entrepreneurs in the Valley and looks forward to bringing these stories to you in a variety of different ways. You can also find her at comoxvalleyrecord.com RENEE ANDOR Raised in the Comox Valley, Renee is a regular contributor to Trio magazine.
SARAH MILLIGAN Sarah is grateful to her children for the joy they inspire. She can be found at iheartstitchart.com
LESLIE COX Leslie loves to share her gardening experiences through her writing. Visit her at duchessofdirt.ca
HANS PETER MEYER Hans is a social media creative and the producer of the #WeAreYQQ community economic development project.
LEIF JASON Leif runs Mastermynde and enjoys figuring out 'now what' for all kinds of businesses. He is also involved with the #WeAreYQQ project.
DIANNE HAWKINS Dianne is the CEO of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce since 2004. NAZ DIZAI Naz woks alongside the #WeAreYQQ team, maintains her Her Girl Meets Island blog and 50th Parallel Public Relations.
JEFF LUCAS Jeff is the general manager at Cascadia Liquor Store in Crown Isle Plaza. PUBLISHER CHRISSIE BOWKER chrissie.bowker@comoxvalleyrecord.com CREATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT SUSAN GRANBERG DEBBIE SALMON JACOBA PRIMROSE LESLIE EATON LENORE LOWE
ADVERTISING SALES LIZ ROYER liz.royer@comoxvalleyrecord.com PETER DIESPECKER pdiespecker@comoxvalleyrecord.com DONNA LAFONTAINE dlafontaine@comoxvalleyrecord.com TRACEY LAWRENCE tlawrence@comoxvalleyrecord.com
COVER PHOTO BY: NEVILLE BLACK PHOTOGRAPHY Trio is produced by:
a division of
Available online: comoxvalleyrecord.com/eeditions/ PHONE: 1-250-338-5811 MAILING ADDRESS: 765 McPhee Ave., Courtenay, B.C. V9N 2Z7
Trio magazine is published quarterly by Black Press. The points of view or opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necesssarily reflect the views of the publisher of Trio. The contents of Trio magazine are protected by copyright, including the designed advertising. Reproduction is prohibited without written consent of the publisher.
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CONTENTS SPRING 2016 EDITION
6 8 10 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 22
FRESH. FROZEN. LOCAL. Guerrilla Food Company serving local food from farm to (frozen) plate.
JETTING UP, UP & AWAY Behind the scenes at the Comox Valley Airport
UNMASKING WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY Neville Black share his styles and trends
ONLINE AUTHENTICITY Leif Jason explores what sets your business apart
INNOVATORS Imagining a talent-driven economy
GRAPES & GRAINS Wine and beer trends in spring sips
PARENTING PERSPECTIVE Growing gardening lessons with young children
INSPIRED Chamber connection with Dianne Hawkins
DUTCHESS OF DIRT Springing ahead to celebrate the Easter flower
SPROUTING GREEN GROWTH Eatmore Sprouts showcases Valley agriculture
GIRL MEETS ISLAND Atlas Café celebrates 20 years of success
C R E AT I V E B U S I N E S S
{
LOCAL FOOD from farm to (frozen) plate
}
Fresh. Frozen. Local.
GUERRILLA FOOD CO.
BY ERIN HALUSCHAK erin.haluschak@comoxvalleyrecord.com
J
ason Uglanica clearly recalls his first customers - a pair who worked on Mount Washington who purchased some food on a Tuesday afternoon. He made $60 that day - his worst on record. But more importantly, those same customers still come back. "It was kind of like jumping blind," he says, while sipping coffee during one of his regular Saturday morning meetings. Uglanica is the owner and creator behind The Guerrilla Food Company, who along with chefs Christopher Matthews and Jake Galbraith, create scratch, locally-made frozen food for their Fifth Street location, and fresh pizza for Pizzeria Guerrilla inside the home of Gladstone Brewing Company on Fourth Street. Raised in the Comox Valley, Uglanica had a vision of making people happy with food, and a few years ago, knew he needed a change from work in Vancouver’s film industry where he worked long days on large productions in cinematography. “I was just finishing off my last movie 6
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when I started talking with another guy in town about more options of looking at a small kitchen or a small restaurant and I wanted to move into food but didn't know how.” He says the appeal of the food industry stemmed from wanting people to enjoy better food. “I was sick and tired of my old job that doesn’t give back the way it should. I wanted to help people in some way or fashion, be it the farmers we're supporting locally or the person that comes in to get
something better to eat. We want to give them a better product and we want them to enjoy it and smile when they eat our food. I want it to make you grin - I want the food to make you happy.” After what he calls his “epiphany moment,” Uglanica began researching frozen food, which quickly snowballed once he admits he got the idea in his head. “This is happening; this is what I’m going to do. I presented it to my family, and all of a sudden I was opening bank accounts and cashing things in.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN HALUSCHAK
Six months after opening, Matthews, an experienced chef who has worked in both the Calgary and Vancouver restaurant scenes as sous chef and chef, walked through the door. He was the not only the perfect person to have, says Uglanica, but “way too qualified for the job and could be working anywhere.” “We hit it off right away - he came in for an interview and it has allowed us to put into action all the things that I thought that I wanted, but I didn't know how to do. But he had the know-how to do those things and needed a place to do them.” While Matthews knew the concept of high-quality frozen food was unlike anything he had worked with previously, he was up for the challenge. “It’s not entirely in my wheelhouse, but frozen food is all the same sensibilities and practices, but it’s just the plate that’s different.” Meanwhile Galbraith - who knew Matthews since high school - was working in other restaurants in Vancouver and Victoria, learning the art of butchering and creating changing menus on a daily basis. All the while, Matthews was hoping to be able to bring him on board to Guerrilla. Eventually, Galbraith joined the team, and notes the job strikes the balance between working in the food industry without the stress of a restaurant kitchen. “This job scratches that itch without having to deal with a nightmare of a printer screeching at you and telling you what to do … What I do well with, is actually cooking and I can handle that. That happens here.” Unglanica calls it “the anti-kitchen.” “We have the quality without any of the chaos. The work environment in here is low stress and high creatively,” he adds. He says he’s trying to change minds about the concept of frozen food, and that begins with sourcing the right ingredients. Within the first few weeks of operation, food distributor Sysco had disappeared from use. “All of a sudden, we were butchering our own stuff. Guerrilla is far more to do with being connected with where this business is operating. We've put so much time into getting the things we need from our neighbours and not relying on giant rolling box stores. It's about us supporting the community and directly supporting the agriculture here.” Unglanica adds many times people don’t realize where their food is coming from, and wants to ensure his food - whether it’s frozen at the store or the ingredients in his fresh pizza - is good quality. “The quality of product that they're getting - is only as good as the produce that we're getting. And the produce that we're getting is the best.” For more information, visit The Guerrilla Food Company at 534 5th St. or Pizza Guerrilla at 244 4th St., or tgfc.ca.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
PHOTO SUBMITTED
JETTING UP, UP & AWAY AT THE COMOX VALLEY AIRPORT BY RENEE ANDOR Special to the Comox Valley Record
W
hen I walked into the Comox Valley Airport for a look behind the scenes, one of the first things that surprised me was the number of separate companies that all work together on site. “When people go to the airport, we think, ‘Oh, it’s all the airport.’ It’s not actually,” says Alex Robertson, Comox Valley Airport (YQQ) manager of operations, as he points out airport staff work with more than 10 other companies. There’s the four airlines — WestJet, Central Mountain Air, Air Canada and Pacific Coastal Airlines — security services company G4S, the gift shop, the coffee shop, three car rental agencies and Canada Border Services Agency, plus a Department of National Defence office on site. “An airport always seems to be a little bit of a dance or an orchestra, where the 8
TR IO M AG A Z IN E | S PR I NG 2 016
pieces together don’t seem like they’ll work ... (but) it all seems to mesh,” says Robertson, noting some airline employees, for example, are different people from one day to the next since they come in with the flights. “Then our (airport) staff are a bit of the problem solvers, the conductors of this orchestra, and manage to look after the little problems as they come up, keeping the whole thing going.” Airport staff is broken into three groups: management, operations and maintenance. Operations staff lead hand Leslie Paul greets me as I walk in, which is certainly fitting as a large part of the role of operations centres around customer service. “We’re basically trying to help the people from the time they drive in the entrance,” says Paul, noting many people tend to become stressed when travelling.
“They’re excited, they’re nervous. It seems like they don’t think the same as soon as they drive in the entrance. “People aren’t always travelling for good reasons, death — there’s multiple reasons — people that have just got laid off, (or) maybe they’ve had too much alcohol,” continues Paul. “So, we deal with those things front line. Anytime there’s a feeling of escalation we always call 911.” As we head back into the baggage screening area, Paul points out the G4S employees screening checked luggage. The images on the X-ray monitors look nothing like I had expected; there’s no way I would be able to tell what any object would be, never mind noticing something that could be considered dangerous on a flight. Robertson explains these employees must go through rigorous training.
“They’re very well trained and they practise all the time,” he says. “We take tours of the kids down there and we put our little bag through with different items that (staff ) haven’t been told or cued about, and they can figure them all out.” We move back to the baggage loading area of the airport and I meet Steve Peters, owner/operator of Airline Support Services, which is a sub-contractor to three of the airlines at YQQ. He says his team starts its shift with a game of hacky sack to warm up before lifting the heavy bags onto the various trolleys, bound for different destinations. When an incoming WestJet flight is preparing to taxi in, we head outside, into the wind and rain. Each member of the team has their job to do, with a couple guiding the plane in and others readying the ramp for passengers to disembark, among other tasks. They use hand signals to communicate due to the enormous noise from the jet engines, and clearly work well as a team. Following safety procedures is a vital part of the job, says Peters, noting accidents are not unheard of in this
occupation, and proper training is key. “They’ve got lines painted on the aircraft, the engine ingestion zone, there’s lines painted where you could potentially get sucked in,” he says of the WestJet plane for example, noting he and his crew were trained by WestJet. “So, they stress that in the training, and they really rely on people to pass the training course.” As the passengers leave the aircraft, Peters’ crew quickly unloads the checked luggage and gets it to the luggage pickup area of the airport. They seem busy, and there’s only one plane on the ground; Peters says there can be up to five planes on the ground at a time, which makes the job much trickier. “It’s kind of a juggling act and it’s always different depending on the situation,” he says, adding working with a fun crew is important. “We have a lot of fun, and that comes back to having a good group of guys, like we enjoy coming to work. It’s not one of those jobs where you wake up and regret having to go in, except maybe when it’s blowing 80 kilometres an hour and raining,” Peters says with a laugh.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RENEE ANDOR
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UNM ASKING WEDDI N G P HOTOGR APHY
“
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”
PHOTOS BY NEVILLE BLACK PHOTOGRAPHY
VALLEY PHOTOGRAPHER SHARES
styles & trends BY ERIN HALUSCHAK erin.haluschak@comoxvalleyrecord.com
T
wo unicorns, a crow, a chicken, one rabbit, one horse, a deer and a dog. Those masks made their appearance in front of Neville Black's camera during a fall wedding and photo of a bridal party at the Deep Bay
Marine Field Station a few years ago. "They brought out the animal masks and asked, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Just do it.’ I love it when couples are just so free to try anything. It's their big day." Not only did the masks make their
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Ottawa, now calls the Comox Valley home. Some of Black's favourite moments are when he can combine his two passions into one: documenting people and his love of the landscape of Vancouver Island. He says ultimately some of his favourite photos come from when a couple put their trust in him, and he produces images which blend a couple in stunning landscapes. "I don't just stick to the Comox Valley. We can go to the West Coast, hike, take a boat ride … once we get to a destination, I look at what's around and see what I can do. The adventure - that's what I'm documenting too. The environment is always changing, especially on the West Coast, and the fog, the sun, the rain each give a different mood." Black says traditional trends - and how they apply to wedding photography - are changing, and adds couples are now looking for more moody images, and more of a connection between the couple and their surroundings. "I want them to laugh, have fun and look back on their images and see an intimate moment when they forget I'm even there." He adds elopements are on the rise, which makes the moment more about the two people celebrating. "Many traditions are going out the window. There's much around the first look too (a moment set up by the photographer for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony). It's all part of the adventure." For more information or to view more of Black's wedding portfolio, visit nevilleblack.com.
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APART? BY LEIF JASON Special to the Comox Valley Record
W
hy would I do business with you instead of your competition? Seriously, if I’m figuring out whether to work with you versus your closest competition what sets you apart? Are you nimble and small with low overhead versus their slow, processdriven business with high overhead? Are you the quirky and passionate new business success story? Are you the group of friends that built a business together straight out of high school? Or is it something about how you do your business: unparalleled customer service, a no-questions-asked exchange policy, a lack of contracts in an industry that usually requires customer lock-in, or significant contributions back to your local community? Or maybe you have a focus on a particular type of client or industry that isn’t matched by a competitor with a broader service reach? Once you’ve determined some of the interesting elements of your story it becomes much more fun to market your business. It will make it more fun to run your business as well - this is your flavour! Keep adding and refining your flavour over time. Often businesses struggling with how to creatively market their business don’t see the value of social media; this is because they haven’t figured out how to articulate their story yet. Social media suddenly makes perfect sense once you have a story to tell. It is the perfect opportunity to talk about what makes you different and what makes you passionate, to a worldwide audience.
PHOTO BY BILL JORGENSEN PHOTOGRAPHY
You can create a connection with your clients through telling your story and sharing your passion. The flavour that makes up your business and how you conduct your business is the difference between someone working with you and your competition. Your flavour is what convinces a customer to shop with you even if the initial price tag is higher than your competition. That flavour brings people back the next time they need what you offer. Social media is your opportunity to express your flavour to existing and prospective clients. Tell people what you’re passionate about. Ask for feedback, support your community, talk about your customer’s successes. Care about what you do, who you work with, and where you’re located, and do it publicly. Even if you’re not going to get clients directly out of the process it creates a positive feedback loop between articulating your story, and figuring out what is next in your story. I can't wait to hear all about you. Leif runs online marketing company Mastermynde, and enjoys figuring out ‘now what' for all kinds of businesses. He enjoys connecting people and is passionate about community building. Visit him at mastermynde.com
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ITEM ONE: In January the Chamber of Commerce hosted the 'Eyes on the Future' luncheon. Economist Susan Mowbray referenced three growth opportunities for the Comox Valley. Two were old school (recreation, retirement services). The third: the 'knowledge sector.' ITEM TWO: Mowbray said the Comox Valley is growing faster than anticipated. But we're getting older. And research by the Comox Valley Social Planning Society says we lost about 200 young families last year. Our 3Rs economy (retail, retirement, recreation) isn't generating the jobs and incomes to hold young families. The Comox Valley has been attracting a lot of smart, creative people for a long time. They're the keys to any knowledge sector we may eventually create. Many of us in this talent pool have created thriving businesses. The problem is they're mostly cottage businesses. If we have a knowledge industry, it's not big enough to attract or retain significant numbers of young people. Yet. For a knowledge industry to grow, the greatest resource is our local talent pool. For the Comox Valley to thrive, we need to start investing in our creatives and entrepreneurs.
In 2015, with the help of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce and a number of local businesses, we launched the #WeAreYQQ Project. We hosted public events, and lots of workshops. The most exciting part? To see that it's actually growing entrepreneurs and startup businesses. We do this by emphasizing collaboration and common interest – mutual aid for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs take risks. Having a community of support makes it easier to live with the 'fail fast, learn fast' attitude it takes to succeed. A community that supports experimentation helps us to think BIGger; and thinking – and doing! BIGger is very important if we're to get past the problem of the 3R economy in the Comox Valley. We'll keep doing what's working – hosting collaborative business development and marketing workshops. We'll keep learning from other startup communities, fostering community and collaboration. If you've got a business you want to grow in the Comox Valley, you're invited to join us. See weareyqq.ca/events for upcoming workshops and events. The only requirement? A willingness to be part of the solution. For more information, visit makingshifthappencomoxvalley.ca or contact Hans directly at startups@weareyqq.ca
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onger days and warmer temperatures always get me excited for the pending B.C. wine vintage releases. Grapes that spent 2015 basking in the hot summer have completed their fermentation and are now lying on their side, resting and preparing to share their delish with their adoring fans. Now I say all of this not just because it’s spring, but it’s spring of 2016! If you think back to the weather that we had last summer, you may recall the heat the Okanagan in particular experienced, and boy was it hot. The vineyard managers have seen unprecedented yields, high sugar content and in some cases early ripening too. What does this mean for you and I as we pour this vintage into our glasses? I’m anticipating bigger, bolder reds than ever and whites that have incredible body this year. Some personal favourites I’m keen to open are Tinhorn Oldfield Rose, paired with smoked salmon or pan seared scallops, or go with a little bigger body like Baillie Grohman Blanc de Noirs. There will be some big Syrah’s coming and I can’t wait to open up both Black Hills and Poplar Grove Syrah – fire the barbecue up with pork ribs and oh la la! Finally on the warmer days of spring, I’ll be reaching for a pinot blanc from either LakeBreeze or Blue Mountain to go with my grilled chicken or halibut. Now on the other side of the fence, the
creativity of the craft beer movement never ceases to amaze me. Hot and trending again this year will be the wonderful world of sour beers. Do you remember eating Sour Patch Kids when we were younger? So now, we’ve grown up and we can still play again, but this time, with a beer twist. Old Abbey from Vancouver is just about to release their raspberry sour and many others will be soon to follow with Cherry, Blackberry, Apricot, and, and, and … These have got some fantastic complexity, big fruit, nice acidity and well balanced. If you haven’t tried this style yet, come and see us so we can start you out slowly since many of these are not what you’d call subtle. Finally, as the heavy porters and imperial stouts slow down, we’ll begin to see the release of wheat beers like Driftwood Entangled, and amber ales will come back into strong favour. At the end of the day, remember that the beer you like the best or the wine that you think is amazing, is always the best choice when you pair it with dinner. We love to offer suggestions, but you get to make the final choice. Cheers, Jeff Jeff Lucas is the store manager for the Courtenay Cascadia Liquor Stores location. Visit them at the Crown Isle location at 200-444 Lerwick Rd.
PARENTING PERSPECTIVE
GROWING PAINS BY SARAH MILLIGAN Special to the Comox Valley Record
E
very year at this time, my thoughts turn to the garden. Browsing through seed catalogues, I fold over pages, dreaming of neat rows of lettuces, organic tomatoes flourishing in the sun, and fragrant masses of lavender lining the front walk, until my reverie is abruptly shattered by a soccer ball landing with a splat in the middle of the lettuce beds. Somehow, my horticulture dreams have not yet adjusted to the reality of gardening with three young children. Gardening with kids is enjoyable, at least in theory. They are eager to get their hands dirty, enthusiastic about watering and even more so about eating. And so, each year we begin with the best of intentions; selecting seeds together, digging the garden beds, and planting with high hopes. From there, it generally goes downhill. Of course, my expectations need lowering. Considering carrot varieties, I remind myself to pick whichever matures the fastest recalling how last year, each and every carrot sprout was dug up within weeks by my over-zealous preschooler. The cherry tomatoes will likely be used as catapult fodder; the strawberries have no hope whatsoever of growing ripe before being eaten. Whatever does grow will have to survive over-watering, overweeding, over-picking, and of course the occasional flying soccer ball. In the end, it will be a miracle if anything edible makes it to our table. Suddenly, all I can picture is a swampy mess of weeds, muddy footprints, and trampled plants. I find myself asking: Is a garden really worth the effort? But then, I remember the sun-kissed cheeks of my children, their shrieks of joy at discovering a new seedling, and the immense delight they take in eating a bean they helped to grow and I know it is worth every minute. Because the true point of gardening together isn’t the results it’s the process. For every moment my children spend eating, flooding, and
trampling the garden, they are learning - learning where food comes from, learning how to nurture a living thing, and hopefully - learning to love eating green things. If the plants survive, that will be a bonus; the main crop I am cultivating in these years is children, and that is flourishing.
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ho inspires you? What would you do if you could not fail? These are questions we’ve heard, or been asked by coaches, counsellors, and friends as we aspire to find that 'one thing' that gets us pumped, that mission, vision which seems to make it all worthwhile. The dream which is so inspiring, it provides us with the passion and ability to face risk, and live bravely. I believe that’s the common ingredient of entrepreneurs and business owners, the excitement of being your own person, in charge of your destiny, not part of a system, but part of a grassroots collective stream of ideas and possibilities. Even more so, many business owners and entrepreneurs are driven by the passion and determination to make a contribution to the overall well-being and betterment of our community. Simply put: To make a difference. The Chamber of Commerce was built on this grassroots passion with a driven desire to connect businesses to one another, to cross promote and inspire ideas and at the same time pool collective skills and profits to form and support a strong economically driven society. Nearly 100 years later, we continue to pride ourselves in being a grassroots, business and entrepreneurial-driven
organization committed to the health and well being of the Comox Valley, complete with full-time dedicated staff to support the Comox Valley business community. I believe entrepreneurs and business owners live by daring, they embrace risk in spite of fear. This quote by Theodore Roosevelt inspires each of us citizen, business owner, entrepreneur and volunteer to live bravely: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” Many thanks to the business owners and entrepreneurs in the Comox Valley who make a significant economic contribution to our incredible community.
D U C H E SS O F D I R T
March. Spring. Easter. PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN COX
BY LESLIE COX Special to the Comox Valley Record
I
t is time to celebrate the Easter flower – Pulsatilla vulgaris. It is a pure delight to spot a freshly opened flower in this genus early in the season. I really love this plant for its numerous unique qualities. When it first appears out of the ground, the whole plant is covered in soft-as-silk, whitish-grey-coloured fuzzy down; it reminds me of the fuzzy abdomen of a bumblebee, but for the colour. Flower buds emerge on single stems watch closely from this point. Granted, a few days of spring sunshine will initiate their unfurling, each one presenting a dazzling display of mauve-purple sepals, not petals, which cup a tightly bunched circle of sunny yellow anthers, which themselves surround a pedestal of bright purple stigma. This stunning floral effect is nicely complemented by its foliar backdrop of finely dissected, green leaves which are all covered in the same silky soft, fuzzy down as the rest of the plant. Who can resist? Once a lover of gardening has seen this plant in flower, one can understand why the Easter flower, or pasqueflower as some would call it, has long been a popular plant. Indeed, it has been a part of gardening history since early days in the 16th century. Native to open meadow regions of North America, Europe and Asia, this species is hardy in zones 3 through 8 - perfectly suited for growing on the coast or on the prairies, where they thrive quite well in the wind. (Other common names for this genus are windflower and prairie crocus.)
When planting, make sure you select a sunny location in your garden and add a generous amount of organic matter to the freshly dug hole to provide good drainage. Your reward will be a multitude of flowers in early spring which will gradually mature into rounded seed heads of feathery white tufts by June. If purple is not your floral colour, there is a deep red variety - Pulsatilla vulgaris var. rubra - and two other reds of slightly lighter hue – P. v. ‘Red Clock’ and P. v. ‘Red Bells’. For the lover of white flowers, Pulsatilla vulgaris ‘Alba’ is perfect for its pristine crispness. However, you may find the impact of the bright yellow anthers is greatly diminished when on a pure white background. ‘Pearl Pink’ is a newer cultivar with pale pink blossoms. Again, the yellow anthers are not as dramatic, but it is a lovely soft pink colour. If you have children and grandchildren who like to colour Easter eggs, the purple sepals from this plant makes a nice green dye. (Watch the kids faces as the colour is changing!) As if a gardener needs more reasons to add Easter flowers to their landscape, bees are hugely attracted to this plant’s abundant resources of pollen. And do not forget to look closely inside each flower. Due to how the sepals are arranged on the stem, the sun’s rays are reflected, thereby raising the temperature by several degrees. Chances are you will spot small insects nestled inside gathering warmth.
Leslie Cox co-owns Growing Concern Cottage Garden in Black Creek. Her website is at www.duchessofdirt.ca and her column appears every second Thursday in the Record.
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Sprouting
GREEN GROWTH BY RENEE ANDOR Special to the Comox Valley Record
S EATMORE SPROUTS SHOWCASES VALLEY AGRICULTURE
een in grocery store produce sections throughout Western Canada, Eatmore Sprouts is well known for its certified organic sprout selections. What may be less well known is that all those sprouts are grown right here, on a small farm in the Comox Valley. Located on a 3.75-acre property in north Courtenay, Eatmore Sprouts and Greens Ltd. produces a staggering amount of sprouts and greens every week in order to keep up with demand. “We grow approximately 9,000 pounds of food a week, which is pretty shocking, really,” co-owner Carmen Wakeling says with a laugh, adding vertical growing methods and layering are part of what enables Eatmore Sprouts to produce so much food in a relatively small area of greenhouse space. As well, sprout growth cycles are short. “It’s a really tight cycle. Our growing time for the alfalfa sprouts, for example, is only five days,” she continues, noting they also have the sprouts at various stages of growth, allowing them to harvest four crops of alfalfa sprouts a week, for example.
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The short growing cycle also gives Eatmore Sprouts an edge when it comes to market fluctuations, according to Wakeling. “That’s a challenge for a lot of producers; you plant your bed of beets and you have to wait until it grows, and if the buyer doesn’t want it then you’re stuck with it, and if the buyer wants more then you don’t have it,” says Wakeling. “So, we’re lucky we can be pretty nimble and make adjustments fairly quickly.” Eatmore Sprouts was established about 40 years ago, and Wakeling started working there when she was just a teenager. The company was much smaller then, with about four part-time staff. Shortly after Carmen married her husband Glenn in the-late-1980’s the newlyweds purchased the business. Since then, Eatmore Sprouts has grown dramatically, and now employs 40 people.
“We were young and enthusiastic, and pretty naive, and we just kind of jumped in with both feet and started talking to people and it just spread and grew,” recalls Carmen. “We made connections and built, over time, relationships, and because consumers obviously want our product, it’s led to our growth.” Sustainable energy systems has been a key focus for Eatmore Sprouts in more recent years. “We grow a lot of food but we use a lot of resources,” says Carmen. “We use a lot of water and we use a lot of energy, so we’re constantly trying to find ways to work around that.” The facility’s 48 solar panels are one example of sustainable energy the company employs. Wood gasification heating is used in its three year-round greenhouses, which is considered carbon neutral. It also uses a system to harvest heat from processing waste water and recycle it through heat pumps, among other energy efficient systems. As well, the company has conducted research valuable to its general industry, such as searching for alternative seed treatments and improving sprouting equipment. Sprout products include alfalfa, deli, garlic, clover, broccoli, sunflower greens, microgreens and pea shoots. Eatmore Sprouts products can be found in grocery stores and restaurants throughout Western Canada, as well as the Comox Valley Farmers’ Market. For more information, visit eatmoresprouts.com
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ATLAS CAFÉ
CELEBRATES 20 YEARS BY NAZ DIZAI Special to the Comox Valley Record PHOTO BY ROSS BODENMANN
A
tlas, our favourite community restaurant – you’ve been there. You’ve celebrated your wife’s birthday, your best friend’s engagement, your sister’s new baby, your daughter’s graduation or your new home. In April 2015, Sandra Viney and Trent McIntyre celebrated the 20th birthday of one of the Comox Valley’s pillar businesses. Atlas Café has overcome the feat of surviving in a challenging and temperamental industry. They have played an integral part of putting us at the centre of a culinary food movement that supports local growers and suppliers with a simple concept – from farm to table food.
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In the last 20 years, Sandra and Trent have operated a successful business founded on wholesome values – serve the same good-quality, fresh food you would serve your family while supporting the community. The owners and its extended family of co-workers are a collective of passionate, community-driven individuals that look for new ways to be better each year. As the restaurant begins adulthood, Sandra and Trent plan on giving Atlas a facelift, and giving the building some extra love and attention. There will be a renewed focus on working closer with farmers and building a menu that showcases the abundance of fresh, quality
food we have in our backyard. They will continue to be active supporters of local initiatives that support the betterment of others, as well as being intentional with power of interconnectedness with all individuals dedicated to elevating industry in the Comox Valley. "Our success can only happen on the backs of individuals past and present who have worked in the Atlasphere. Trent and I may have been the founders, but it truly takes a team to do what we do every day. We wouldn’t be anywhere if it weren’t for those amazing people who have become like family to us,” reflected Sandra on 20 years of business.
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