How do my Food Scraps Become Compost?

June 8, 2021

Feeding the land, not the landfill in the Bow Valley. Shannon Ripley, from the volunteer group Canmore Organics Recycling (CORE) and the Bow Valley Climate Action Society shows in this 20-minute video the journey your food scraps take from being generated in your home or business to becoming compost that can be used on a garden or farm. Big thanks to all citizens, businesses & institutions in Canmore & Banff who participate in 'completing the organic matter loop' by sending their food scraps to the compost bin!

Correction to the video: On the FCM Sustainable Communities Award slide, Mayor Borrowman is with Canmore artist Pascale Ouellette who created the beautiful design for the residential organics bins around Canmore.

Bow Valley Root Cellar

Dec 28, 2020

The Community Food Market was a pilot project organized by the Bow Valley Food Alliance during the months of October and November 2020 that introduced an affordable fresh produce market to the community of Canmore. In an effort to support the produce vendors impacted by the delayed re-opening and early closure of the Banff/Canmore Markets due to COVID-19, the BVFA hosted three produce vendors for the remainder of the harvest season: Shirley's Greenhouses, A Fork in the Rowed and Rogers' Farm bringing fresh local food to the valley.

Everything purchased from the vendors was offered using a "sliding scale system", with the reduced end being 30% off the retail price. As a customer, you got to choose what you would like to pay in that range, with no questions asked by us.

By paying the retail end of the scale, customers were helping to subsidize the reduced end for others in the community. The Community Food Market attempted to tackle the issue of affordability by reducing the cost of food, providing greater access to healthy, fresh, local and affordable foods to the Bow Valley community.

We are thrilled to have inspired action in our community through this pilot project. A female entrepreneur from Banff is gearing up to continue to operate the market at the Canmore Opera House in Spring Creek in February 2021 as she launches her new business, Bow Valley Root Cellar. The BVFA will be continuing to provide a 30% subsidy for those impacted by COVID-19 in an attempt to support our local food producers. Stay tuned for more details coming soon!