For a fascinating farm-to-table foodie trip, head to Salt Spring Island, B.C.’s boho haven - Toronto Star

Here, the heartfelt food scene is rooted in passionate farmers and small-scale makers.

A view of Salt Spring Island, located in the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Victoria.

At Lost Field Farm on Salt Spring Island, B.C., tall rows of Glass Gem corn cast long shadows in the evening light. Farmer Zack Hemstreet feels each ear for firmness, then peels back the husk to reveal small red, orange and purple kernels. Hemstreet uses the rainbow-hued cobs to teach kids about pollination during summer camps and farm school Fridays.

“The farm has been through many iterations and grown many things, but the main goal is education,” says Hemstreet, who hopes hands-on activities like hand dusting pollen onto corn silks will foster a connection to the land. He points out rows of Swiss chard, radishes and carrots, honey hives lined up along a fence, and a greenhouse growing cherry tomatoes that taste like tart liquid sunshine.

The Glass Gem corn at Lost Field Farm.

Back at the barn, we eat fresh-picked apples and figs, roast organic chicken, and risotto with butternut squash prepared by chef Haidee Hart, who owns the Woodshed, a farm stand and catering company just down the road. Everything is sourced locally, including a delicious Pinot Noir from nearby Kutatás Wines.

It’s my first full day on Salt Spring Island and I have a serious case of farmer envy. On this food-themed trip with Tour Salt Spring, every stop at a farm, vineyard or restaurant is met with just-harvested veggies, crisp wine or cider, fresh-baked desserts, and folks who bring their love of honest food and drink to the table. 

“Our makers, bakers and growers are passionate about what they do,” says Jason Griffin, co-owner of the tour company. “No one moves to Salt Spring to get rich. It’s about the lifestyle.” Griffin leads travellers around the island in a van that runs entirely on waste vegetable oil, and in spring 2027, he’ll officially launch culinary tours like the one we’re on. (While you can certainly visit the island over winter, many farms/farm stands operate seasonally; plan to come from April to October for the fullest experience.)

Located in the Salish Sea, a short float plane or ferry ride from Vancouver, Salt Spring Island has a reputation as an artists’ haven. Galleries and boutiques line the streets of Ganges, the main town, selling landscape paintings, handmade jewelry, live edge tables and even wearable art. Bright murals on buildings depict marine life and coastal ecology.

That bohemian ethos extends to the hyper-local food scene, which dates back to the late 1800s when early settlers planted apple orchards, farmed the land and raised livestock. Those traditions continued into the 1960s and ’70s when a new wave of “back to the landers,” including hippies and draft dodgers, arrived because property was inexpensive.

“They stayed because it’s a nice place to live,” says Griffin. “Everyone is very focused on sustainability.”

Stowel Lake Farm grows vegetables and flowers in its regenerative market gardens, selling them directly to locals at its seasonal farm stand.

At communal enterprises like Stowel Lake Farm, that means growing cover crops to maintain soil health and selling produce directly to customers at its on-site market. At the Garden, another farm, it means catching rain water for irrigation, and turning organic waste into fertilizer for plants and energy to heat the greenhouse in winter.

The island seems to operate on a kind of symbiosis; someone is usually growing or making what somebody else needs. If not, just stop by one of the approximately 220 honour-system farm stands selling fresh eggs or wrinkly shishito peppers, or visit the seasonal Salt Spring Saturday Market, which draws customers all the way from Vancouver.

It feels like an agrarian Shangri-La, with lifestyle perks. Stow your hoe and there are rainforest trails for hiking, miles of rugged shoreline for sea kayaking, and wineries for socializing.

In the vineyard at Garry Oaks Winery. Only grapes grown on this estate are used for its wines.

“Everyone’s got their little niche here,” says Lara Truscott, pouring samples of Pinot Grigio and rosé from a horse trailer that’s been converted into a wine bar at Garry Oaks Winery.

Like most island properties, the winery has wild apple trees along the vineyard’s edges. In the late 1800s, Salt Spring was B.C.’s primary apple basket, before growing shifted to the Okanagan Valley. When demand collapsed, many orchards were left untended, but the trees survived and propagated around the island, now outnumbering people. Some of them are used to make hard cider at Salt Spring Wild, which collects excess heirloom apples from local farms.

Lara Truscott offering samples at Garry Oaks Winery.

During our tour, we try the island’s original fruit in numerous ways: a slice of apple butter cheesecake, a mug of hot chai apple cider, and during a tasting at Salt Spring Sea Salt, where we sprinkle orange zest- and lavender-flavoured sea salt (the island’s “merroir”) onto apple wedges for a briny kick.

We save the best apple for last, though. At Foxglove Farm, located on one of the island’s original homesteads, Michael Ableman slices into a Pink Pearl apple. Its insides are rosy, its flesh firm, its taste a perfect balance between sweet and tart. I’m as smitten by the apple as I am with Ableman’s story.

After falling in love with Salt Spring Island on a family cycling trip, he came for a one-year farming sabbatical and never left. In addition to growing everything from French melons to baby ginger on his land, Ableman uses it as a springboard to educate and inspire farming-curious people like me.

“Salt Spring Island, it’s one of those places,” says Ableman, who’s written numerous books about farming and sustainable food systems. “The land chooses us more than we choose it. It kept pulling us back.”

As my float plane takes off from Ganges Harbour for the 20-minute flight to Vancouver, I look down at the forests, farms and rugged coastline I’m leaving behind. I can already feel Salt Spring Island calling me back.

Lisa Kadane travelled as a guest of Destination BC, Southern Gulf Islands Tourism and Tourism Vancouver Island, which did not review or approve this article.

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