Episode 34- Composting with Patty Rose

A little bit of a different show for Edible Valley, in the model of the show featuring Arzeena Hamir back in the fall about winter gardening, we welcome local compost educator Patty Rose. Patty is a familiar face in the community, teaching a variety of composting and organic gardening courses through out the year. She has a passion for local food, and clean eating. And ,of course, her worm bins. Thanks you Patty, it was a great learning experience for us! Thanks for listening to the Edible Valley podcast. We gratefully accept donations to help with our hosting, as well as contributions of food ingredients to the Edible Valley test kitchen. Please feel free to contact us by email ediblevalley@gmail.com, follow our twitter feed (@ediblevalley) and like our facebook page

Episode 33- Chef Joseph Forest of Innisfree Farm

After much hard work completed by Jon, the Edible Valley studio is up and running and it was time to invite a guest to join us in studio. We were lucky to be joined by chef and author Joseph Forest, chef-in-resident at Innisfree Farm in Royston. After 25 plus years in the conventional restaurant and catering business, Joseph was chosen to join the team at Innisfree. He is now learning about food as medicine, ancestral ways of eating, and traditional ways of preserving the harvest. Joseph and Blayne could talk for hours about these subjects and will have many more meetings over the summer. Thanks Joseph!
Thanks for listening to the Edible Valley podcast. We gratefully accept donations to help with our hosting, as well as contributions of food ingredients to the Edible Valley test kitchen. Please feel free to contact us by email ediblevalley@gmail.com, follow our twitter feed (@ediblevalley) and like our facebook page

Episode 32: Shellfish Festival Gala Dinner, and other current events.

This week Jon and Blayne met to discuss some current events and to experiment with some more new equipment. Exciting news including the menu for the BC Shellfish Festival Gala dinner, and a very lucrative contest! Also the North Vancouver Island Chefs Associations Pasta Day is sold out, Blayne is back on Facebook with a new group for Comox Valley Paleos, and Jon is soon getting some much needed rest with a maintenance closure of Atlas Cafe.
Thanks for listening to the Edible Valley podcast. We gratefully accept donations to help with our hosting, as well as contributions of food ingredients to the Edible Valley test kitchen. Please feel free to contact us by email ediblevalley@gmail.com, follow our twitter feed (@ediblevalley) and like our facebook page.

Episode 31: Cooking demo, catch-up and playing with new equipment

Hi all. After many weeks of research and learning, we are back in business. We now have the ability to do a much broader media show with the addition of an iMac and the GarageBand program! It is exciting to get back into the swing of things, and move forward with bringing attention to the food culture of the Comox Valley, to the area and beyond.
This week found Jon and Blayne in studio together with some events to chat about, including Dine Around Comox Valley and Jon's cooking demo at Beyond the Kitchen Door. News of the North Vancouver Island Chefs Associations Pasta Day is coming out, and we also touch on cooking oysters.
Thanks for listening to the Edible Valley podcast. We gratefully accept donations to help with our hosting, as well as contributions of food ingredients to the Edible Valley test kitchen. Please feel free to contact us by email ediblevalley@gmail.com, follow our twitter feed (@ediblevalley) and like our facebook page.

Episode 30- Freestyle chat about soup and more

The guys at Edible Valley are still working on building a real studio, and had time to sit down together to chat about a favorite dish of the season, Home-made soup. Blayne also chats about his weekend away in Victoria, exploring several new to him food vendors.
Events
Dine Around Comox Valley February 20th until March 17th. Check out your favorite restaurant for special menu items for the month. Come celebrate your local food scene.
Thanks for listening to Edible Valley. Please feel free to contact us with comments or suggestion by email ediblevalley@gmail.com

Episode 29: Update on Edible Valley

After a longer than expected hiatus, we are working hard to get Edible Valley back to being a regularily scheduled podcast. We lost our much appreciated producer, Drex, over the holidays due to some unfortunate events with the radio station, and we are no longer able to access the studio. We would like to thank Drex for all his dedication and for putting himself out there to help us out in getting Edible Valley off the ground. Now we are re-grouping and plan on making some interesting changes, as well as continuing to bring you the chefs, farmers and producers in our wonderful Valley. Thanks for listening and supporting our journey! Stay tuned.

Episode 28: Vickey Brown of the Comox Valley Farmers Market

It was a pleasure for Edible Valley to bring Vickey Brown, manager of the Comox Valley Farmers Market, into studio for this episode. The Farmers Market is a huge draw for folks interested in local food, community support, and socializing. Now it it's 20th year listen as Vickey gives the origin story of our great market, arguably the best in the province, one of the few that runs year round, and also maintains diligent rules for vendors selling locally sourced, grown, and produced products. They also keep craft items to a minimum and focus on the agricultural side of what a Farmers Market is. Thank you Vickey, it was an honour to have you in. Visit the Comox Valley Farmers Market from 9-12 Saturdays at the Native Sons Hall in downtown Courtenay.
This week in the Edible Valley Test Kitchen, Jon surprised Blayne with making shell-less quiche. Blayne is eating a diet where he avoids grains, so anytime a meal can be made without, it is a wonderful thing. The quiche Lorraine was fantastic and contained some of Blayne's homemade bacon. Jon also made yam pav with mustard sauce and a little garnish of butter lettuce and grape tomato's, dressed with bacon vinaigrette. A quick easy meal, especially for a chef of Jon's caliber.

Episode 27: Sue Smith from Beyond the Kitchen Door

This episode we welcome Sue Smith of Beyond the Kitchen Door to the studio. Beyone the Kitchen Door is an all encompassing kitchen store that "offers hundreds of kitchen and cookware items, speciality and hard to find cooking utensils. Everything for the serious cook" They also offer very popular cooking classes, a range of artisan quality herbs and spices, including sea salt harvested and prepared in Cobble Hill. Thanks so much for joining us in studio Sue. For you holiday shopping, visit BTKD for gifts for everyone in your family and support this anchor of our downtown merchants.

Episode 26: Prontissima Pasta and Call of the Wild Seafood

A chance encounter this week by Jon and Sarah Walsh of Prontissimo Pasta at Atlas Cafe this past weekend resulted in the news that Prontissimo Pasta was re-opening after a four month hiatus. Sarah is welcoming Julie Edwards who is bringing wonderful central coast seafood to our market, via N'usi Seafood of Bella Bella. The bringing together of pasta and seafood is an easy, one stop shop for a quick dinner or a gourmet party meal for however many you can feed. Prontissimo will be scaling back some flavours and pasta shapes, and will still offer some of their proven favorites, as well as gourmet olive oils and Parmesan cheese. Call of the Wild will be offering frozen dungenese crab, shrimp, salmon and Julie hopes to bring in other gifts of the sea, such as sea cucumber and possibly dried seaweed. This is an exciting collaboration for our food community, bringing an familiar product back to the market and a new face to the scene. Stop by the location in Tin Town this Saturday from 10 until 5 at 2384 Unit C Rosewall Crescent in Courtenay. Sarah and Julie will be offering samples as well as specials on frozen crab. I might just have to show up and pick up a box!
This week in the Edible Valley Test Kitchen was a collaboration between chef and hunter. Blayne supplied some venison meat for Jon to create a delicious goulash. He added some dumplings and steamed broccoli. Goulash is a perfect meal for this time of year. Comforting and hearty.
Thanks to Hans Peter Meyer and Bon Vivant Vancouver Island for participating in Edible Valley with his collection of exciting food events for December.

Episode 25: Edible Valley Test Kitchen

This episode we had a scheduling mix up with our expected guest, so we had to make alternate plans at the last minute. We decided to ask our beloved producer, Drex, to join us in studio and talk about the Edible Valley Test Kitchen event that we did at Beyond the Kitchen Door on November 13th. We mentioned this cooking demo on the show several times, which was by invite only to give thanks to several people at Jet FM and we also included Sue and Teresa from Beyond the Kitchen Door to enjoy a meal with us. Jon runs down the whole menu during this episode. Drex was happy to give us some feedback from someone who doesn't get to see a professional chef in action. Thanks for helping us out Drex!
For our Edible Valley Test Kitchen meal before the show, we were fortunate to receive a donated whole pastured chicken from Tannadice Farm in Dove Creek. Jon brined the bird and cooked it "beer can" style. The meat turned our moist and tender, and the skin was crunchy and salty, just the way it should. A side of coleslaw made with Eatmore Sprouts purple cabbage, smashed potatoes fried in butter and garnished with Blayne's homemade bacon, and savoury muffins. A ladle of flavourful gravy topped the whole plate. As always another amazing meal showcasing Comox Valley grown food.