| Untagged | 3 Dec 2008 1:15 PM |
| Cowichan Valley: Land of Plenty by Sandys | Comment (0) |
Chocolate, cheese & bees, cider, wine and berries, Cowichan offers a bountiful buffet of decadent delicacies. Cowichan’s ever increasing wineries have been receiving praise as the Provence of Canada, or Napa of the North. Enjoy our many varieties of fruit and grape wines and an ever expanding choice of back yard Bistro’s. As we tend to change everything around us, baby boomers have made an art form out of good clean wholesome food, be gone saturated fats and trans fats and plastic additives that our bodies don’t know what to do with so it stores them in unsightly bulges. We have some of the best and most plentiful water on the planet as well as the warmest average temperatures in Canada, not a bad start to growing great food. We are fortunate to have three farmers markets in the Valley. It is fairly easy to live the hundred mile, field to fork diet in Cowichan at least of six months of the year, for the other six we need to get a little more creative, I have been experimenting with the many options available to extend the season, just a little glass gives a month earlier planting and a month later growing season. It is almost December and we have just eaten our last fresh tomato’s and pea’s from the garden. The Warm Land (Cowichan) has approximately a quarter of Vancouver Island’s cultivated land and it is a local tradition to sell produce, eggs and meat right off the farm.
Port Renfrew is a favorite place to retreat to for a couple of days. It is a mystical magical place to visit there is something about the Sea to give us a fresh perspective on life. Not to mention all the great sea food. Some of my best days have been at Renfrew on Sombrio Beach, last trip there I watched a whale lounge around most of the afternoon, we saw Bear and Eagles and a Big Owl on the way home. Usually you see Elk coming closer to home out at Cottonwood Creek at the end of Lake Cowichan. On another visit we were out on the boat near the Carmana and there was a bait ball of herring and the Eagles where diving it and the whales where munching there way through as well as porpoise and sea lions, we where halibut fishing but could not keep the Salmon off the line. It is days like that that make you think all is well with the world. The road to Renfrew is a easy 45 minutes from Cowichan Lake see the circle Route Map attached.
Come have your adventure.
