Congrats to Neil Walton, who submitted this photo of his wife Regeena in the Week 4 September Healthy Living Challenge! Regeena caught this fish, her first freshwater fish, at Tacheeda Lake.
With the arrival of October, we’re sad to see our September Healthy Living Challenge come to an end. But we’ve had a ton of fantastic posts go live (and you can find them all here under the ‘healthy living challenge’ tag), and we’ve seen such a variety of great challenge entries come to us, from folks from all across the region who really care about their health. Thanks to everyone who followed the posts all month and took on the challenges – we hope you’ve gotten some good ideas on how to work towards living a healthier life!
Now, what you’ve been waiting for… the random winner for our fourth and final challenge (and the grand prize of a mini freezer) is Neil Walton, from Prince George, BC! In answer to the question of “how do you source your local food,” Neil said that he and his wife hunt, fish, visit the farmers’ market and shop at local stores. They have certainly caught a nice looking fish in the photo! Congratulations Neil!
We received so many great entries this week that I had a really hard time choosing a variety of honourable mentions, so here’s more than usual for you to enjoy:
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- Jillian, Prince George – “We are teaching our “almost 3 year old” Reagan about growing food. In the picture, he proudly shows off his very first planting egg that contains a variety of herbs!”
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- Lisa, Dawson Creek – “I love to bake pies! My brother has an apple tree in his yard, so this September, I spent a Saturday in his kitchen using apples I picked right off the tree to make apple pies. I made three and froze them to be enjoyed at Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
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- Sylvia, Vanderhoof – “Sourcing local food has always been a point of pride for my family. This year my husband built me a greenhouse so now we can add fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, corn and potentially some melons next year.”
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- Marilyn, Smithers – “My favorite food to get is salmon! My hubby brings home salmon and we freeze them; my mom taught me how to can salmon, so we preserve salmon for the winter. I can’t imagine not having salmon in our freezer, pantry and in our bellies – it’s a great local food and I love it!”
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- Vincent, Prince Rupert – “Me and my wife Diane will cut up the fish and prepare them for jarring, and any extra pieces will go into the smoker and we will freeze them. We have a great neighbour that gives us crabs from his charter business too! (Thanks John!)”
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- Melissa, Prince George – “I love local food. It is so fresh, full of nutrients and allows your diet to vary with the season. I love to visit farmers’ markets and bake with local ingredients. I also have many hunters in my family that can supply me with locally sourced meat. It’s a good life!”
About Jessica Quinn
Jessica Quinn is regional manager, health promotion and community engagement for Northern Health, where she is actively involved in promoting the great work of NH staff to encourage healthy and active lifestyles. She also manages NH's social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc) and moderates all comments for the NH blog. When she's not working, Jessica stays active by exploring the beautiful outdoors around Prince George via kayak, hiking boots or snowshoes, and she has recently completed her master's degree in professional communications from Royal Roads University, with a focus on the use of social media in health care.
