Building Community Through Food Preservation in Port Coquitlam
Planning and executing our recent cooking and preserving workshop in Port Coquitlam was both a rewarding and educational experience. The idea started with a vision to connect our community to the local farms while equipping them with practical skills to make their own bread and preserve seasonal produce.
Planning and Collaboration
The first step was securing a venue and sourcing produce. We partnered with a local blueberry farm (Beckmans Farm), who provided us with beautiful, fresh blueberries for our attendees. We held the event after business hours in downtown Port Coquitlam at Cassandra Cake Co to make it accessible to our attendees.
The workshop combined demonstrations with hands-on practice, ensuring attendees could apply what they learned at home.
Challenges and Solutions
We were overwhelmed with the amount of people who wanted to take part in this event! To make it fair we decided to hold a draw for the free tickets. Over 275 people signed up! We could only accommodate 12 people. We wished we had a bigger space so more could have attended.
Lessons Learned
Overall, the workshop exceeded our expectations. Not only did it empower attendees with new skills, but it also strengthened connections within our community. We would love to host more workshops in the future so we applied for a Poco Community Foundation Grant and have received funding to continue with more classes in 2025! It’s very clear to us that there are many folks in our community who crave a connection to not only local food, but to each other.
