On this exciting series, Deconstructing Dinner shares the evolution of a project which successfully established a viable local grain market within the mountains of British Columbia – the Kootenay Grain CSA. Matt Lowe of Nelson’s West Kootenay EcoSociety and Brenda Bruns of the Creston branch of Wildsight teamed up in late 2007 with a number of farmers, processors, bakers and eaters, to see if such an idea was indeed possible.
Using the model of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), the project’s first year saw three Creston-area farmers commit to growing five types of grain. Two-hundred member shares were issued to 180 people and in year 2, that number jumped to 450 members and 10 businesses. For many of the harvests since the project’s inception, the grain is transported fossil-fuel-free via sailboat.