The Sunshine Coast Local Foodbox Program
Update: 2024 Foodbox program is sold out, but there’s a waitlist!
Requests for subsidies will be confirmed the first week of June, 2024.
CSA: The Revolutionaries for Food
At its core, this is Community Supported Agriculture (a “CSA”). CSAs worldwide are the earth’s renegades reclaiming sovereignty over our food system. At a grassroots level, the CSA movement stops corporations from controlling the world’s food, the exploitation of earth’s most vulnerable people and animals, and the destruction of our water, land, and ecosystems.
In a CSA, community members invest in local agriculture in early spring (essentially, “pre-buying” the farmers’ produce). When the harvest comes, they reap the rewards with weekly boxes of freshly harvested fruit and veggies… a direct connection to the seeds, soil and people that nourish us.
Seasonal eating isn’t something many of us are used to. Here, It’s more greens in June, and more squash in the fall, and it can take getting used to! We’ll help with a weekly newsletter about what’s growing, what’s affecting food locally, and inspiring ways to prepare and eat your beautiful bounty! Change the world, one bite at a time.
You
You get fresh, local produce from a collection of local farms every week without having to shop, and because you’re eating only what’s in season, you learn fun ways to chef it up with what grows here and now. You also get to sleep soundly knowing you’re supporting something bigger.
Farmers
Farms get cash up front when they need it most – to get seeds in the ground & invest in infrastructure. Farms plan crops and support each other, benefitting from a stable income, market diversification, reduced marketing costs, and a connection to YOU. Their consumers.
Our planet
Your veggies are coming from down the road instead of across the globe where industrial agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation, soil degradation, pollution, and loss of biodiversity. YOUR food is from right here… grown in this beautiful soil by people you know.
Resiliency
Sourcing food locally and from a collective of farms adds diversity, resilience, and strength to our food system. It mitigates risk when crisis hits a crop or region, simplifies your food supply chain, and provides farmers with direct community investment and support.
The Details
Foodboxes are packed & ready for you every Friday, all season long.
2024’s Season is 14 weeks: July 5 to October 4
$595 for the whole season
What's in the bin?
The basics, and what’s in season: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, potatoes, beets, peas, beans, garlic, onions, etc. Bounty will vary, but will average 8 different items (a bunch of carrots, head of lettuce, or pint of cherry tomatoes are examples of items – each valued around $5.20). Weekly produce averages $40.
Along with the staples, you may get a few items that grow well locally that are new to you – we’ll send you recipe ideas to inspire your culinary exploration! Prepare to dazzle!
Pickup
FRIDAYS 3-6 pm
Gibsons | Persephone Brewing 1053 Stewart Rd
Roberts Creek | One Tiny Farm 1041 Roberts Creek Rd
Sechelt | Brickers Cider 6642 Norwest Bay Rd
Halfmoon Bay | Firehall 8972 Redrooffs Rd
Foodie Sampler & Bread Add-on
For even more local goodness, add on…
- Freshly baked artisan bread – usually, traditional sourdough, with occasional focaccia, buns, or other breads. (all dairy-free).
- A “foodie sampler” of local organic chocolates, jams, salsa, hot sauce, flatbreads, spice blends, tea, fresh pastries… it’s different every week!
Dignified & Inclusive Food
Our priority is accessible, healthy, local food for everyone, without stigma. No income testing, no lineups.
We believe that a truly inclusive community provides the support that people need, simply within the resources that everyone else uses, rather than separately just for people facing poverty or barriers. This props people up respectfully and quietly, providing the good food they need and opportunities to contribute and give back when they’re able.
If you can not afford a Foodbox, request a subsidy and pay what you can. Everyone picks up their Foodbox together, and no one knows who paid what.
This program often has a waitlist, and is dependent on donations.
Since 2020, we’ve provided over 1400 subsidized and free fresh food boxes to families, seniors, and individuals living with illness, family loss, poverty, isolation, and disabilities. Foodbox subsidies have been supported by: community donations, Second Harvest Canada, Halfmoon Bay Community Association, Lyft Commodity Trading, Reeve Family (Foundation), & Sunshine Coast Community Services Society.
Donate to feed others
If you or someone you know would like to help feed a local family facing poverty, a senior living alone, people with disabilities, and people facing critical and terminal illnesses, find out more here.
THIS is true “healthcare”.
Meet your farmers
What an amazing team of farms involved from 2020 to today! Here are your heroes, giving all of us full bellies and good health.
From east to west…
- Persephone Beer Farm (Langdale)*
- Farmer Dan’s Farm (Gibsons)
- Harvest Heart (Gibsons)
- Gibsons Farm (Gibsons)*
- Grounded Acres Organic Farm (Gibsons)*
- Little Red Wagon Farm (Roberts Creek)*
- One Tiny Farm (One Straw Society, Roberts Creek)*
- Coastal Sun Farm (Roberts Creek)*
- Salish Sea Regenerative Farm (Shíshálh Nation)*
- Ruby’s Run Urban Farm (Downtown Sechelt)*
- The Farm (West Sechelt)*
- Waddling Duck Farm (West Sechelt)
- Brickers’ Cider (West Sechelt)*
- Heart & Sol Farm (West Sechelt)*
- and sister fruit farms in the Okanagan*
* This year’s partners
Get Involved
Members get first access to sign up for this and many other programs and events, and becoming a member supports this important work!
