Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association

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Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers

The Tale of a Fallen Oak Branch …

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From the Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmer’s (CHUFF) team.
A branch fell off your oak tree last Fall. It’s been on the ground for at least six months. You’ve been meaning to haul it to the Saanich yard.
 
In that time, it’s become an apartment building of sorts.
 
Year one: Fungi colonize the exposed wood. You can see the first brackets forming on the bark — small, shelf-like growths that are breaking down the lignin and cellulose inside. The branch is getting softer.
 
By year two or three: Beetle larvae have tunneled into the softened wood. Their galleries — winding channels the width of a pencil lead — aerate the interior. Woodpeckers find the branch and drill into it to extract the larvae.
 
By year five: A salamander has moved into one of the beetle galleries. She lives in the damp, rotting wood and hunts pill bugs, mites, and springtails on the surface. The branch is now a hunting ground and a shelter.
 
By year ten: The branch is mostly soil. The fungi, the beetles, the salamander, the woodpecker — they converted a fallen limb into nutrients that are feeding the tree it fell from.
 
🌿 A fallen branch is not debris — it’s a building under construction
🌿 If it’s not blocking a path, leave it where it fell
🌿 The fungi that colonize it aren’t disease — they’re decomposers doing their job
🌿 One fallen branch can support more than thirty species over its lifetime

CHUFF – Garden Tour & Plant Giveaway

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The Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers (CHUFF) is hosting a Food Grower’s Garden Tour & Plant Giveaway.

Each CHUFF member has grown a flat or pack of extra vegetable seedlings.  The goal is to invite our neighbours and the general public to come tour a member’s beautifully productive garden and and takeaway a few vegetable starts or seeds to try growing food in their own backyard / front porch / balcony. 
 
It’s Not Too Late to Plant!
 
Last year’s event was so much fun.  Lots of folks came.  Dozens, maybe hundreds of veggie starts were given away – tomatoes, peas, squash, celery, cilantro, peppers, herbs,  plus seeds, and flowers, and plant divisions in pots.
 
People are making the connection between affordability, food security, climate catastrophe, and growing one’s own food.  CHUFF, in this once a year fun event, gives it a great big happy nudge in our own neighbourhood. 
 
Date:  Saturday, May 23, 2026
Time:  10am to 2pm
Place:  Little Wicklow Valley Farm at 3267 Wicklow Street 

 

WHAT’S CHUFF – 2025 Year in Review

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2025 marked the 4th year of this kindly community of food growing friends in our Quadra Cedar Hill neighbourhood.  CHUFF – the Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers – sprouted April 2022 as an initiative of our Community Association’s Climate Action group.  In Saanich, food and our food systems are the third greatest contributor to carbon emissions after transportation and buildings.  Food waste plays a significant role.  CHUFF’s goal is to encourage our neighbours to grow more food, consume more local foods, eat more of what’s in season, and prevent wasting food.  Luckily for us, on southern Vancouver Island we can grow and purchase good, locally grown food year round and this contributes to a climate solution.  CHUFF members gather most months of the year on Sunday mornings.  Here are some of what CHUFF offered in its 4th year of operation.  Curious about what’s coming in 2026?  New Quadra Cedar Hill members are always welcome!  Get in touch with an email to qchca.chuff@gmail.com

January 2025

Extending the variety of nutritious foods we grow in winter was our goal at this evening workshop on How to Grow Microgreens and Sprouts led by the Compost Education Centre’s delightful Kayla.  Here we are gathered in CEC’s warm ‘n cosy straw bale learning centre. Participant comments: Great workshop. Really enjoyed it. I learned lots. Will definitely try growing sprouts. Workshop was good. I'm motivated now! Kayla was lovely. Great to see CHUFF friends again.

If you are new to food growing, we heartily recommend taking one of the Compost Education Centre’s many workshops.  Or, join CHUFF!

March 2025

CHUFF-ians braved a downpour for our annual Seed Swap and tour of our host’s garden.

Lisa was looking for advice on how to maximize production in a backyard which is semi-shaded by Garry Oaks.  Getting into each other’s gardens to share members’ years of experience, in differing grow situations, is one of the benefits that keeps CHUFF growers engaged.

Lisa’s comment on the day: I feel very fortunate to have had so many lovely folks who love to grow food come to our garden.

 

May 2025

Late in May CHUFF hosted its first ever, super successful Garden Tour & Plant Giveaway.  This event was open to the public!  Dubbed ‘It’s Not Too Late to Plant’, the tour and veggie starts giveaway attracted over 50 Quadra Cedar Hill neighbours.  Karen’s Wicklow Village Plant & Seed stand overflowed with free vegetable starts and seeds, and even some native pollinators.  All thanks to CHUFF members who started way back in March seeding dozens and dozens and dozens of extra tomatoes, peas, celery, zucchini and much more – all for the giveaway.

One lovely story comes from Marian who brought her granddaughter who was visiting from out of town.  The youngster took home a cucumber seedling in a 4 inch pot, her first experience with trying to grow food.  Later that summer Marian shared this photo of her very proud granddaughter with her Gigantic Cuke.  Wow!  Congratulations to this new generation food grower.

Watch for CHUFF’s 2nd annual public Garden Tour & Giveaway coming late May 2026.

June 2025

Members returned to Jeannette and Gavin’s newly renovated food, herb, and fruit garden to learn what they’d decided to change things up after many years growing in the same location, and why.  A family of scientists who are always experimenting, these folks seek maximum calories for a vegetarian diet and have much knowledge to share.

August 2025

Each late summer or early autumn CHUFF hosts Taste Testing Our Garden’s Best. Members bring their favorite ‘fruits of the season’ for everyone to taste-test. There is usually a plethora of tomato varieties for instance, and when a particular favorite is found the grower will usually save seeds for others to plant next year. Folks share preserved foods too – we dipped into fig chutney with goat cheese, a new pesto recipe, and even a lightly-smoked tomato sauce.Eric’s biggest ever garlic was the 2025 show stopper with a circumference of 16.5cm and weighing in at 870 grams. Wow!

October 2025

October marks our annual Harvest Potluck and member garden tour.  Not all CHUFF members have expansive backyards and folks were impressed by how much food Delma grows in pots on a sunny south facing balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the potluck, urban farmers know not only how to grow good food but also how to cook it! What better dish to celebrate another great growing season than strawberry rhubarb pie?

November 2025

CHUFF closed out the 2025 season with a member survey, asking What folks want to learn and share, next year? This reflecting CHUFF’s credo: our activities will reflect what engenders the interest of members.

Highlights to watch for in 2026 include: a Beginner’s Garden “Advice Please” tour; a farm visit featuring native pollinator plants & indigenous medicinals; the ever-popular Taste-Testing, Harvest Potluck, and member Seed Swap. In the Let’s Investigate category CHUFF members hope to also tour a nearby allotment garden, potentially take a group field trip to Saltspring for its fabulous Apple Fest, learn more from each other about growing avocados, yams, ginger and mushrooms, learn how to better utilizing the winter greenhouse, and up folks’ success with winter brassicas.

We encourage our QCH Community Association neighbours to watch for CHUFF’s 2 nd annual, open to the public It’s Not Too Late to Plant Garden Tour & Veggie Starts Giveaway, in late May.

 

 

 

‘Til then, as Sarah’s T-shirt advises, we hope you can:
Romaine Calm 🌿Be Sage 🌿 Take Thyme 🌿Squash Fear 🌿 & Stay Peas-ful while growing your own good
food, and/or consuming locally grown foods to support our local farmers.

For more information – contact qchca.chuff@gmail.com

Diagnose your Soil – Before Planting

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Important information from CHUFF (Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers).
 
Check before you do your Spring planting.
 
The weeds in your garden beds aren’t random. Every species thriving right now is a soil report you didn’t ask for.
 
Pull them if you want. But read them first.
 
Also, your soil conditions may be a combo of problems.
 
If you’re interested in urban food farming find more information here.

 

WHAT’S CHUFF ? – 2024 Year in Review

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CHUFF sprouted April 2022 as an initiative of our community association’s Climate Action group. In Saanich, food and our food systems are the third greatest contributor to carbon emissions after transportation and buildings. Food waste plays a significant role. We all eat, and we each have the power to be part of the solution.  CHUFF’s goal is to encourage our neighbours to grow more food, consume more local foods, eat more of what is in-season, and to stop wasting food. Luckily for us, on southern Vancouver Island we can grow and purchase good, locally-grown food year round. CHUFF members gather most months, on a Sunday morning. Here is some of what CHUFF offered in its third year, 2024. New members welcome

January 2024
CHUFFians greeted the new year and each other with our very own Social Seed Swap. Most seeds were saved from member’s own gardens, the intent being to share locally-successful and favorite varieties.

January / February 2024
A handful of able volunteers organized CHUFF’S 2 ND EAT LOCAL Winter Recipe Contest open this year to all Saanich residents. Contest rules required that 75% of ingredients be BC grown produce, and in-season. The contest attracted 55 fabulous recipes and was featured in the T-C by food columnist Eric Akis. 1 st place prize (by random draw) went to Saanich resident Nancy D’s delicious Hungarian Mushroom Soup. See all contest recipes here qchca.org/winter-veggie-recipes/

In April
Members gathered to troubleshoot a challenging, food-on-a-budget grow site. Ashlie’s backyard has a gigantic glacially-scoured rocky outcropping right in the middle of it. While her initial intent was to create habitat for pollinators she soon decided that that much work should produce people food too. Despite pests, pernicious weeds, too much heat, and zero soil she is creating a food forest with child-friendly play places throughout, a resilient garden for a working mom that won’t be too time-consuming or expensive to maintain.

May
Paige and Tommy of Fullmoon Farmstand on Maplewood opened their backyard to CHUFF members and the public for the community association’s Lower Your Carbon Footprint Neighbourhood Tour. Paige works with HAT (Habitat Acquisition Trust) and Tommy with Satin Flower Nursery and their garden exemplifies the benefits of biodiversity. As they say: We have tended to and expanded our garden on this rental property for the last 4 years. Here we produce 75% of the vegetables we consume in summer, plus enough to give away to family and friends and to sell at our farmstand. About half the backyard garden is devoted to vegetables; half the yard is lawn for the dogs and backyard hangouts, with the perimeters being native plants for pollinators and biodiversity. About 50 QCH neighbours took advantage of the all day tour. Thanks Paige & Tommy!

June
An early summer visit to Judy & Ian’s garden carved out of a blackberry thicket along the Galloping Goose Trail – surely ironic for food growers who describe themselves as aspirationally lazy gardeners!

Here the focus was strategies for maximum yield with minimum effort, benefits to co-growing with family members or neighbours whose garden plots are nearby but separate, and balancing living next to a wildlife sanctuary with the desire for a reasonably productive garden.

CHUFF-ians gloried in Judy’s garden art and re-named Ian the McGiver of Growers for his talent in fashioning tool solutions from found objects.

September
The highlight of 2024 was CHUFF’s tour to ALM Farm; Full Circle Seeds in Sooke! Enthralling … Inspiring … I had no idea what’s required to be a certified organic farm … I want to go back to volunteer … Mary-Alice is amazing! were some of the comments shared.

Buckwheat in full bloom, seeded mere weeks earlier as a green manure /cover crop following potato harvest.

Established 30-plus years ago, ALM Farm offered the South Island’s first organic CSA box program which continues today. Many of our region’s organic farmers got their start with Mary-Alice via ALM’s on-farm apprenticeship program. “Townies’ can find ALM produce at the Moss Street Market every Saturday.

November

Undaunted by October rain, CHUFF’s annual Harvest Potluck Lunch moved indoors a month later. Always a delicious social event, members bring a dish concocted from their own garden produce. A treat this year was taste testing Gregor’s sparkling plum cider! For dessert, the CHUFF pie-guys provided a choice of wild-foraged blueberry, or orchard apple pie!

Appreciating that one in every three bites of foods we eat is reliant on pollinators, after our Harvest Potluck lunch we toured the Community Association’s latest climate action – an in-progress, native plants for pollinators boulevard garden, Astoria Street at Willerton.

Quadra Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers, or CHUFF, gathers on a Sunday morning most months in the growing seasons. Activities reflect what garners the support of our members. New members welcome, especially new-to-food growing families. Contact qchca.chuff@gmail.com

Eat Local Winter Veggie Recipe Winners

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Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter CHUFF’s Eat Local Winter Veggie Recipe contest or even paused to consider the significance of eating locally-grown produce, in season. Our food system is responsible for 30% of carbon emissions globally and our daily food choices do make a difference!

 

Find all the recipes HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WINTER VEGGIE RECIPES

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Be inspired – and Eat Local – and ENJOY!

All veggie recipes contain at least 75% local (BC grown) ingredients.

  1. Braised Winter Veg

  2. Butternut Squash Soup

  3. Uzbeki Carrots

  4. Carrot, Cumin & Coconut Soup

  5. Simple Cabbage Borsch

  6. Mom’s Butternut Squash & Ginger Soup

  7. Moroccan Carrot Dip

  8. Tangy Kohlrabi Carrot Apple Slaw

  9. Potato Cakes

  10. Winter Slaw

  11. Root Vegetable Smash

  12. Colcannon Potatoes

  13. Onion Tart

  14. BC Lentil Gardner’s Pie

  15. Black Bean & Veggie Soup

  16. Kale Chips

  17. Oven Roasted Beets

  18. Easy Vegan Coleslaw

  19. Fennel – an Italian Way

  20. Krispy Kale & Ricotta Pizza

  21. Roasted Home-Grown Butternut Squash Soup

  22. Cauliflower & Potatoes with Fenugreek & Fennel

  23. Sweet Crunch Winter Salad

  24. Roasted Beet & Feta Soup

  25. Hungarian Mushroom Soup

  26. Potato Crown: a Potato Cheese Soufflé

  27. Finocchi Gratinati (Fennel Gratin)

  28. Beet Celeriac Apple SlawBaked Leeks Au Gratin

  29. Baked Leeks Au Gratin

  30. Overnight Fridge Pickled Onions

  31. Creamy Butternut Squash & Lentil Soup

  32. Winter Veggie Miso Soup

  33. Creamy Roasted Beet Hummus

  34. Zesty Local Vegetables Soup

  35. Potato-Squash Gratin with Tomatoes

  36. Roasted Butternut Squash with Miso Peanut Butter Sauce

  37. Potato-Beet Croquettes

  38. Paprika Potatoes

  39. Leek & Carrot Fritters

  40. Carrot Tops Tempura

  41. Roast Winter Veggies with Brown Mushroom Soy Sauce Dip 

  42. Leek & Lentil Fritters

  43. Winter Salad of Red Cabbage and Dried Fruit

  44. Spaghetti Squash with Kale & Chickpeas

  45. Basic Frittata, Vegetarian Style

  46. Quick Winter Kidney Bean Stew

  47. Fragrant Winter Veg Curry

  48. Roasted Potatoes

  49. Roasted Acorn Squash

  50. BC Winter Bounty Roasted Vegetable Soup

  51. Roasted Spaghetti Squash

  52. Roasted Root Vegetables with Crispy Sage

  53. Sautéed Leek Greens with Parmigiano Reggiano

  54. Creamy Potato and Cauliflower Miso Soup

  55. Cauliflower Blueberry Smoothie

THANK YOU to all who entered, to all those that supported this contest in some way, to all who are viewing, considering and using these amazing recipes – and most of all, to all those who consider the impact that their food choices make on our only earth. YOU are making a difference!

 

 

 

 

CHUFF is a volunteer initiative of Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association’s Climate Action Group.
For more info on the wonderful work that CHUFF does and how you can get involved see: Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers

Winter Veggie Contest Rules & Regs

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Winter Veggie Contest Rules & Regulations

EAT LOCAL – WINTER VEGGIE RECIPE CONTEST RULES

1. Who Is Eligible:

The contest is open to all individuals 19 years of age and older who live in the municipality of Saanich.

As much as we’d love to receive everyone’s Eat Local recipes, we’re a small volunteer contest crew. We encourage other climate action / food security groups to spread the word and host your own Eat Local contest. It’s fun!

CHUFF’S focus is to help reduce Saanich’s carbon and ecological footprint by encouraging our neighbours to reduce food waste, grow their own food, and eat locally year round. Why? Because our food systems contribute 30% of the world’s carbon, globally, and the best place to start reducing our climate impact is close to home.

2. What Is Eligible:

For the purposes of this contest, a “Veggie” dish is a hot or cold main dish, a side dish, or even a salad.

EACH ENTRY MUST INCLUDE:

  • recipe
  • 1 or 2 original photographs of the prepared dish in .jpg, .jpeg or .png format
  • contact info including your name, street address (required to confirm Saanich residency), telephone number and email address.
    Recipes will be posted on the QCHCA.org website, on CHUFF’s Facebook and Instagram throughout the 3 week contest. Only contestant’s first names will be released publicly with the recipe.

EACH RECIPE MUST GIVE:

  • number of servings
  • the ingredients and the quantity required (preferably by volume, e.g. cups/teaspoons)
  • brief, step-by-step directions
  • credit: recipes are to be attributed to their original source, if known. E.g. My Grandma Josie’s Favorite Veggie Casserole or Whitewater Cookbook 2021. Contestants are responsible for any infringement on third-party rights.
  • (optional) any notes or comments about your recipe, e.g. why this is your favourite dish. This is where you would explain the ingredients you noted with asterisks which were home grown or preserved (see below).

Check sample recipes at QCHCA.org for format.

3. What Ingredients are Eligible:

Recipe ingredients must be vegetarian (no meat; eggs and local cheeses, though having a higher carbon footprint than vegetables, are acceptable).

Ingredients must be 75% “local” (by volume), and available locally at this time of year. The 75% local requirement allows for 25% of ingredients to be non-local e.g. olive oil, lemon, grains, seeds, etc.

For the purpose of this Contest “local” means BC grown. If an ingredient is BC grown and preserved for winter use, e.g. green beans you grew or purchased locally in the summer and froze for winter use, or tomatoes that you grew and dried, it is deemed “local”. Please identify ingredients you grew yourself with an * asterisk and local ingredients you preserved for winter use with two ** asterisks. Go ahead, inspire us!

For the purposes of this Contest purchased greenhouse produce labelled as grown in BC is not allowable.

The Contest’s intent is to share recipes that have a low carbon and ecological footprint. Some produce labelled as BC Hot House is, in winter months, sourced from Mexico or the southern US. And, surprise,a Canadian-grown winter hothouse tomato is said to have six times the carbon footprint of imported Mexican tomatoes in hothouses heated with natural gas.

4. How to Send Your Recipe to Us:

By email: qchca.chuff@gmail.com, subject: Winter Veggie Recipe Contest Entry
Or, submit via the form provided: (LINK to come)

5. Deadline:

All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Feb 10, 2024.

6. Winners :

Winner will be chosen in a random draw, on or about Feb 12, 2024. Winners will be contacted within 7 days of the contest close date via the means of communication provided in your entry e.g. email or telephone.

Winning contestants will be identified by full name on the QCHCA/ CHUFF website, and ON CHUFF Facebook and Instagram. Entry constitutes permission to use the winner’s name, and recipe, for editorial and promotional purposes by QCHCA/CHUFF.

7. Entries:

You may enter as often as you wish but each entry must be sent as a separate entry via email, titled: Winter Veggie Recipe Contest Entry, or via the contest form.

Entries will not be acknowledged or returned. All entries become the property of QCHCA/CHUFF and may be edited, modified, adapted, published or otherwise used in any way without compensation. QCHCA/ CHUFF assumes no responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed, damaged, ineligible, or that cannot be processed for any reason.

8. Prizing:

Prizes must be accepted as awarded and are not redeemable for cash. Winners may be responsible for picking up prizes.

9. Legalese:

And now the legalese to protect our Contest partners – none of the participating sponsors, including QCHCA/CHUFF, their subsidiaries and affiliates, sponsors, prize donors, advisors or any of their representatives are responsible for or bear any liability whatsoever, in any way, attributable to any prize awarded, nor makes any warranties or representation in respect of any prize awarded except as specifically made by the participating sponsors in these Contest Rules, nor undertake any responsibility or liability for matters which may inhibit, reduce or prevent enjoyment of the prize.

Don’t delay! Get your entries in by 11:59 pm on February 10, 2024.
Send us your favourite, local ingredient Winter Veggie recipes today!

Watch for all the great Winter Veggie Recipes posted as they come in at QCHCA.org and on Facebook and Instagram.

Eat Local Winter Veggie Recipe Contest

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ENTERING IS EASY! 

BY EMAIL:
Send us:
1. your veggie recipe 

2. photograph(s) of the prepared vegetable dish

3. your complete contact info

to QCHCA.CHUFF@gmail.com

BY GOOGLE DOC FORM: at this LINK

You can see all the recipe eligibility requirements HERE. Please do take a minute to read through them.

 

Dishes must be vegetarian and contain at least 75% local (BC grown) ingredients.  Eligible recipes will be posted on Facebook, Instagram and here on the QCHCA website

See RECIPES HERE

CONTEST CLOSES: 11:59 pm, FEBRUARY 10, 2024

Enter as often as you like!

Contest is only open to Saanich residents. All contest rules and regs can be found HERE 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Root Cellar Village Green Grocer

Borden Mercantile

Full Circle Seeds

Babe’s Honey

Caffè Fantastico

Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association