Celebrating culture, cuisine and community on Salt Spring Island
Credit to Author: Dave Pottinger| Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 21:23:01 +0000
‘You have to pay to get here, but the ferry ride back from the island is free. Don’t be surprised if you decide not to take it.’ ~ Writer and Salt Springer Arthur Black
As our BC Ferry slowly approached Long Harbour on Salt Spring’s eastern shore, I was anticipating a leisurely couples’ weekend of exploring the island’s food and culture scene, along with some crisp autumnal walks in the woods thrown in for good measure. But the cool drizzle and foggy mist rolling onto the grounds of Hastings House, the charming Relais & Chateaux boutique country hotel in walking distance of Ganges, invited thoughts of cocooning in our cosy Woodland cottage on the property.
Winding country roads reminds travellers island time is about slow travel.
Despite the pull of the cottage’s wood-burning fireplace, it didn’t take long to get into the groove of laid-back island life. As we wound our way along curvy country roads, we passed wooden farm stands of green and pale grey squash and late blooming dahlia bouquets, honor boxes silently at the ready.
The farm stands were just one sign of the island’s thriving farming community, which exports products like goat cheese, lamb and organically farmed produce from pioneering Foxglove Farm. Salt Spring’s connection to the land runs deep, and there’s no better place to see that than at the Island’s legendary Farmers’ Market at Centennial Park in Ganges.
Held every Saturday from April to October, the late autumn Farmer’s Market showcases a bountiful harvest of local produce and arts and crafts of every variety. Colourful root vegetables, gourds and hardy greens like Swiss Chard and kale sit next to colourful jars of homemade preserves, craft distilled spirits, delicate jewellery and ceramics.
Market vendors have to ‘make it, bake it, or grow it,’ ensuring that attendees are getting the most local of Salt Spring experiences in every way, including the intoxicating smell of a ham and gruyere crepe cooking on a portable hotplate.
Breakfast at Hastings House.
Locals chat up market vendors like old friends, which they likely are on this island of 10,000 residents. Everyone seems to know everyone else or know of each other others’ families, relations and history on the island. These connections often surprise in a ‘Salt Spring weird’ way that draw roots back to the Island’s past.
In Coast Salish, the Island was originally called Klaathem (salt) by the Cowichan and Cuan (mountains at each end) by the Saanich First Nations. In 1905, it became known as Salt Spring, for the salt springs at the island’s north end. Many of the first non-First Nations settlers were African-Americans fleeing north from California in 1859, as well as Hawaiian and Japanese.
Hastings House Country House Hotel is situated on 22 acres of oceanfront property.
Tourists began coming here in the 1930s, and during the 1960s a wave of artists and American draft dodgers arrived, many of whom never left. The artistic and cultural strength of Salt Spring, Canada’s ‘Island of the Arts’ has stretched into the 21stcentury and can be found everywhere, from the Market to renowned art galleries and annual cultural festivals throughout the year.
Connections to community and the land were evident at the 8thannual Sip & Savour event, held in a large, airy barn at the Island’s Farmers’ Institute. We grazed and sipped our way through helpings of prawn tostadas, lamb meatballs, spicy Indian papadums, locally-pressed ciders, brewed ales, and knockout gluten-free brownies from local vendors, restauranteurs, cideries and distillers.
The biennial Salt Spring National Art Prize showcased the power of the local arts community even more profoundly. As the largest non-governmental art prize in Canada, the Salt Spring Arts Council is powered by volunteers and patrons who represent and celebrate the strength of the Island’s artistic community.
Its supporters, many of whom work in the arts or have retired to Salt Spring from creative and academic professions around the world, have found kindred spirits looking to foster a cultural haven in this lush place of spectacular rolling hills, mist-covered mountains, and towering fir forests.
Such patrons also power Salt Spring’s ArtSpring facility, which hosts nearly 300 events annually, including community theatre, children’s performances, art exhibitions, opera, and professional touring shows.
From art galleries and markets showcasing the work of local artisans and craftspeople, to studios dotting every bend in the road, myriad festivals celebrating everything from apples to fine art and films, a vibrant farm life and food and drink cornucopias, Salt Spring Island offers a welcome escape into a rich and abundant haven of culture, cuisine and community.