A new online market is linking Nanaimo shoppers to freshly harvested farm food.
Nanaimo Farmers Market Online was launched in September, allowing residents from Lantzville to Cedar to buy local produce and have it delivered directly to their doorstep.
Sarah Silver, owner, said it’s a way of getting local foods that would normally be found in a farmer’s market to the customer, instead of the customer going to a farmers’ market, which doesn’t work for lots of people that, for example, may have mobility issues or busy schedules.
The community is responding “quite well,” said Silver, whose offerings span honey and cranberries to kale, beats, carrots and bread.
“For people who can’t or don’t want to go to farmers’ markets, but still really want to support local and want the freshest, best quality they can get, this is perfect.”
People place their orders online before 9 p.m. Monday through an online website, Thriving Locally, and Silver picks the food and goods up from producers on Wednesday and brings it to customers. Often when she’s driving out to the farms, boxes are just being prepped, she said.
“So that stuff is fresh picked. It’s great,” she said. “And then there’s no wastage either…They can literally harvest what’s been asked for.”
Isabelle Morris, a Farmship Growers Cooperative director and farm manager, said online shopping is something the cooperative has wanted to do itself for awhile, but it’s better if several farms are brought together and someone else takes on the delivering and organizing, which is what Silver did.
She said the online market is “wonderful” and will help the cooperative sell produce through the winter.
Farmers’ markets are almost all finished now and while there’s the Island Roots Market, open on Wednesdays from 3- 6 p.m., Morris points out it’s not always convenient for people.
To visit Nanaimo Farmers Market online see www.nanaimofarmersmarketonline.ca.