S
Shannon Sulistio
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For 35 years, Apple Festival has celebrated the apples. This October, something new is joining the festival: Potato. Alongside the orchard tables and the tasting tent, visitors will find a showcase of potato diversity at UBC Botanical Garden, grown in Pemberton and rarely seen in a grocery store.
Pomme de terre is French for potato. Literally, apple of the earth, which is where the tagline comes from and a fair description of a crop that most of us buy every week and know by colour rather than by name.
Apple Festival started in 1991 because the handful of varieties on a grocery shelf did not reflect what BC growers were harvesting. Potatoes are in that position now. Dozens of varieties grow on farms across the province. Most shoppers can only name a few. Everything else is grown here and sold almost nowhere.
This year we are widening the invitation. Apple Festival is still Apple Festival, with the same growers and the same tasting tent that brought you here. What is new is a bilingual twist and a second crop to discover.
Our potatoes come from Helmer’s Organic Farm in Pemberton. The farm is certified organic and sits in a valley with an international reputation for virus-free seed potatoes, which means growers across the country plant Pemberton stock. We are starting small with a few hundred pounds of specialty varieties, chosen for flavour rather than shelf life.
Source: Helmer’s Organic Farm
Source: Helmer’s Organic Farm
Source: Helmer’s Organic Farm
Showcasing the diversity of apples while supporting local farmers is still the point of this weekend.
Harvest markets now fill the calendar every autumn, so we asked whether we could do for one other crop what 35 years of Apple Festival did for apples. The potatoes are our answer.
Come hungry. You will find poutine and baked potatoes at the food trucks, mouthwatering recipe inspiration, and warm cider to carry around while local musicians play through both days.
Thirty-five years on, Apple Festival is still a weekend about food, community and the people who grow it. The only difference this year is that what you discover does not have to come from a tree. Come for the apples you already know and take home a potato you don’t.
Written by:
Mary Dao
Marketing & Communications Assistant (Worklearn)
UBC Botanical Garden
The post Apples to Pomme de Terre: Celebrating 35 Years of BC-Grown Diversity appeared first on UBC Botanical Garden.
Apple of the Earth
Pomme de terre is French for potato. Literally, apple of the earth, which is where the tagline comes from and a fair description of a crop that most of us buy every week and know by colour rather than by name.
Apple Festival started in 1991 because the handful of varieties on a grocery shelf did not reflect what BC growers were harvesting. Potatoes are in that position now. Dozens of varieties grow on farms across the province. Most shoppers can only name a few. Everything else is grown here and sold almost nowhere.
This year we are widening the invitation. Apple Festival is still Apple Festival, with the same growers and the same tasting tent that brought you here. What is new is a bilingual twist and a second crop to discover.
From Pemberton Soil
Our potatoes come from Helmer’s Organic Farm in Pemberton. The farm is certified organic and sits in a valley with an international reputation for virus-free seed potatoes, which means growers across the country plant Pemberton stock. We are starting small with a few hundred pounds of specialty varieties, chosen for flavour rather than shelf life.
Source: Helmer’s Organic Farm
Source: Helmer’s Organic Farm
Source: Helmer’s Organic Farm
Apple Festival, with a twist
Showcasing the diversity of apples while supporting local farmers is still the point of this weekend.
Harvest markets now fill the calendar every autumn, so we asked whether we could do for one other crop what 35 years of Apple Festival did for apples. The potatoes are our answer.
Lisa Vogt, Apple Fest Chair, Friends of the garden
Come hungry. You will find poutine and baked potatoes at the food trucks, mouthwatering recipe inspiration, and warm cider to carry around while local musicians play through both days.
Thirty-five years on, Apple Festival is still a weekend about food, community and the people who grow it. The only difference this year is that what you discover does not have to come from a tree. Come for the apples you already know and take home a potato you don’t.
Written by:
Mary Dao
Marketing & Communications Assistant (Worklearn)
UBC Botanical Garden
The post Apples to Pomme de Terre: Celebrating 35 Years of BC-Grown Diversity appeared first on UBC Botanical Garden.