When we announced we were going ‘homegrown for a year’ we were met with A LOT of questions from friends and family, some of which we found we didn’t have the answers to. In justifying our cause to them it’s left us with a set of guidelines to help us navigate the rocky road ahead. We’ve tried to be realistic about the guidelines we’ve set and as such have scaled back our objective from ’100% B.C. grown’, to ‘B.C. grown at home’.

1// Homegrown, at home

We’ve recognized that there are facets of our lives we’re not able to control completely, like what’s served at a friend’s dinner party, or where you go for a family members’ birthday brunch. When so many key moments revolve around eating, limiting what and where you eat can be alienating, and we don’t want to alienate ourselves based on our food choices. So we’ve made the conscious decision to limit our challenge to our home. Of course we’ll do our best to choose local restaurants and dishes over non-local, but for now we’re going homegrown, at home.

2 // Four Food Groups

I think it’s important to mention here that we may not be able to ensure that everything we consume is made in B.C., and because of that we’ve committed to finding local dairy, meats, produce, grains, as well as beer and wine. (And we think that’s pretty swell, seeing as it covers all 4 food groups in Canada’s Food Guide). Other items such as oils, vinegars, and sauces may not be available to us if we’re to apply the ‘B.C. or bust’ concept, yet they’re fairly vital to preparing basic dishes, so until we can source local alternatives the imports will remain in stock for ‘other’ items. Overall, the idea is to only bring those ‘foreign’ items into the house that we absolutely must, otherwise it’s local all the way.

3 // I can’t stop drinking the coffee

Sadly there are some wonderful things that B.C. isn’t able to produce; coffee is one of them. Unfortunately coffee doesn’t grow in B.C., however, coffee does get roasted in B.C. so we’ll take advantage of local roasts, but, to be clear, we’re not giving up coffee.

…I’m not that dependent, I’ve actually taken to drinking decaf but I love the ritual nevertheless.

4 // Consume what remains

At the onset, I’m not about to dump everything from my fridge and pantry for the sake of eating just BC grown for this year. First of all, that would be wasteful. And second, I just don’t see the point, especially since our challenge serves no objective other than raising awareness and supporting local products, farmers, and retailers. So we’ll consume what remains, then move forward with B.C. brands only.

As we venture into the unknown we’ll undoubtedly refine our guidelines, as nothing is perfect, and this, like most things is a work-in-progress. Wish us luck!

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