Dear Local Food Box Members and Supporters,
We are happy to announce that registration for this year’s Local Food Box is open. You can read the updates below and find out about some changes to the box program this year or just skip on ahead to register here.
We are proud to be working with a great team of local farmers and producers to offer you a beautiful, fresh and delicious assortment of local food and flowers. Our farmers work hard and are committed to creating local food resiliency and high quality products.
This year’s box program includes:
- Meats (pork, chicken and lamb) from Parry Bay Sheep Farm and Stillmeadow Farm
- Flower bouquets from Ninebark Farm
- Honey from Windweaver Farm
- Mushrooms from West Coast Mycology
- Flour from Nootka Rose
- Eggs from Ridgeview Farm and Starlit Ridge Farm (egg producers may vary depending on availability)
- Fruits and vegetables from Wind Whipped Farm
Women Leading Change Video
We are excited to be able to share a short video about The Local Food Box that was filmed last summer as part of a project by The Open Food Network called Women Leading Change. There are also separate videos about some of our farm partners: Parry Bay sheep Farm, West Coast Mycology, Wind Whipped Farm and the Nootka Rose Mill. We hope you enjoy watching! Please share with anyone you think would be interested.
Smaller Portions – Vegetable box and Mushrooms
We have heard from some members that the weekly vegetable box and weekly mushrooms options are more than they can handle. So we have added the option to receive vegetables and/or mushrooms every 2 weeks. In the Shop section of our registration page you will find “bi-weekly” options for both these items. If you select only bi-weekly options we will make sure that they are all available on the same bi-weekly basis, so you only have to come once every two weeks to pick them up.
More flexibility – Administrative Deposit
We have received feedback that some members want more flexible and convenient pickup schedules. We understand that it can be challenging to keep to a regular pickup schedule. Accommodating small changes for up to one hundred members can add up to a lot of time and record keeping work during our busy growing season. It has a cost and so we are reflecting that with a small fee. In order to accommodate more flexibility, we are introducing an Administrative Deposit of $25 that will be added to your order at checkout. During the season you may arrange to skip a pickup (and receive extra produce at the end of the season), change your pick up day, or arrange for a late pickup. Each time a $5 fee will be deducted from the deposit. If you use up the deposit, a second $25 deposit will be added to your account. At the end of the season if you haven’t used up the deposit you will be credited for the remainder. If you don’t make any changes to your pickup schedule during the season, we don’t have to do any extra work and you don’t have to pay the extra fee.
Cancelation Fee
The Administrative Deposit will also serve as a cancellation fee. If you would like to cancel your order at any time, you will be refunded for the portion of your order that you have not received and we will keep the full deposit amount as a cancellation fee.
Pods – Vic West and Oaklands
We are hoping to offer pod pickups in Vic West and Oaklands again this year. If you are interested in Vic West or Oaklands please select the corresponding Wait List option form the Shipping list. We will contact you once we have more details sorted out.
Pods – New Locations?
If you have a new pickup location to suggest, would like to host a pickup, or help with picking up and delivering boxes, please get in touch. Pickup hosts and drivers receive 50% off the cost of their vegetable box for the season.
Solidarity Share & Lifecycles – Food Rescue Project
Last year we introduced the Solidarity Share option. 14 members signed up to donate a week’s worth of vegetables to a family facing financial difficulty. Metchosin Councilor Shelly Donaldson helped us find a family in Metchosin to receive the Solidarity Share. They were very grateful for the fresh food and generosity. We are offering the Solidarity Share option again this year. If you would like to contribute you can add a week or more worth of vegetables to your order. If you know a local family that you think would benefit from receiving the Solidarity Share please get in touch.
In 2024 we also connected with the Lifecycles Farm Gleaning project which distributes fresh, local food through the Capital Region Food Share Network’s Food Rescue Project. Every week a volunteer came to our farm to pick up extra produce. Over the course of the season we were able to contribute $2,115 worth of vegetables to families facing food insecurity.
We value being able to contribute to food security in our community and region and we really appreciate your support in doing this.
Wind Whipped Farm Expansion
After several years of incremental progress preparing for expansion, we have finally got our first crops growing in the new field. There is still some work to do to get deer fencing finished before summer but we are excited to have more room to grow this year and to start growing more fruit crops!
Thanks for reading through all these updates! We hope you will be joining us in the box program this year and we really appreciate it if you can recommend The Local Food Box to your friends and in your networks.
Sincerely,
Alex and Virginie on behalf of The Local Food Box partners.
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