Everyone has heard of the 100-mile diet. But can you imagine surviving on a 10-mile diet? Now you can. Thanks to a collaboration between the Tsawwassen First Nation and Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), consumers can enjoy a diet that is much, much closer to home and features a plethora of veggies, free-range eggs and countless cuts of palate pleasing pork.
"Our Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School opened in 2015, and we've been growing ever since," quipped Kent Mullinix, director of KPU's Institute for Sustainable Food Systems.
Students in the 10-month farm school program began working an eight-hectare (20-acre) piece of land on the Tsawwassen First Nation in the spring, learning the science and business of farming plus perspectives on indigenous food systems. They have been raising market crops and small livestock (chickens and pigs), with the fruits of their labour sold at farmers markets around the Lower Mainland.
Members of the public interested in direct farm sales can also sign up for a weekly produce box with items that are in season and eggs, as well as order various pork products, from chorizo and salami to ham, bacon and chops.
All the produce is organic and the eggs are from free-range hens. As for the pork, farm pigs have access to a fenced, open area and are free to express their natural behaviours. When the time comes, the pigs are locally (Chilliwack) slaughtered to standards developed by Dr. Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University.
There are various payment options available. A weekly produce box costs $25, with the option to add a dozen eggs biweekly for $5.
The boxes can be picked up at two of KPU's four campuses (Richmond and Surrey) as well as at various farmer's markets in Vancouver.
All pork products are frozen and available for pick up from the Richmond campus. All cuts are individually selected and priced, with options for single cuts or special quarter and half orders.
Proceeds from all sales are returned to the school to support the future farmers being trained there.
Visit kpu.ca/tfnfarm/box-a-week for more information.
