From our farm to your table.
I’ve said those words many times to…
- Family
- Companions
- Friends
- And our loyal followers who’ve been with Fortune Creek since our start at local farmers’ markets.
Simple words, to the point but packed with meaning, especially in today’s world when big business and industrial farming tend to overpower the market.
At no other time in history is it as important as now! Locally sourcing and producing our ingredients is a lifeline that benefits our ranch, the Okanagan region and even Canada. It is for all of these benefits that our Fortune Creek fresh products rely on locally sourced, produced and processed ingredients that expands our family to all of the growers within and around the Okanagan.
So, let’s stop, and take a moment to look at the top seven benefits that help us create the quality Fortune Creek fresh products you expect while supporting our friends and family.
Benefit Number One: Supporting Communities
Blessed to be part of the Fortune Creek Okanagan family of growers, Fortune Creek has a history with the community. We’ve been here for decades, way back into the 1900’s…okay, 1981 to be exact, but with over 40 years of history, we know this area. We are part of the landscape and the communities around us and need to be a support to it.
This support is more important than it has ever been!
Wildfires, floods, and other tragedies have struck BC and the Fortune Creek Okanagan area over the last few years. It has been devastating to many. We understand the hardships our communities have and are facing.
Now is the time to:
- Rebuild our farms.
- Reinvigorate our environment.
- Support our local growers by sourcing all our ingredients locally.
- And support our communities.
No matter if it comes from our ranch or surrounding farms, we are supporting communities and helping to maintain traditions, and sustainability all while innovating for the future. This support will make the Fortune Creek communities stronger.
And that is really what you are doing yourself when you are purchasing Fortune Creek fresh products…you are supporting the communities that are the heart and soul of our great country.
Benefit Number Two: Quality Control
Quality control is a huge benefit! Often, we minimize quality control into one area. We think of the end product that comes through our storefront. However, quality control is something that should be thought of through all stages of creating our Fortune Creek fresh products. Sourcing locally, we can go to the farm and check that quality ourselves.
Focusing on quality control, we can:
- See how our ingredients are grown.
- Choose growers who share Fortune Creek values.
- Find growers throughout Fortune Creek Kelowna with the very best ingredients.
Having quality control means that every single Fortune Creek fresh product is the perfect blend of high quality ingredients creating an amazing taste with every bite.
Without locally sourcing, there would be a lot of unknowns, and could lead to less quality in our products…something that is unacceptable.
Benefit Number Three: Providing Employment and Education
Community.
That says it all and, yes, we’ve talked about it. But it is good to look at how we are supporting community, and this is in two important ways.
- Locally sourced equals better education opportunities.
Providing places for youth to grow and learn gives them educational opportunities many kids don’t have. Kids learn on the farms and they learn off the farms as well. Locally sourced means more funding for our public education systems. Kids who grow up in a flourishing community have greater access to quality education, which means greater opportunities in employment.
That means that:
- Locally sourced equals greater employment.
Firstly, there will be jobs for our future generations.
Secondly, farms feed communities by providing employment.
Fortune Creek Kelowna has always provided agriculture employment and continues to do so to. Farmers, pickers, cowboys…the list of job opportunities is endless. In fact, the BC agriculture industry creates 50,000 jobs per year.
50,000 families have stability and a continued way of life!
And that doesn’t count all the industries supported by farmers, growers, and ranchers. Buying locally means that jobs are created here at home and not sent overseas.
Benefit Number Four: Excellent for the Environment
- Sustainability
- Carbon footprint
- Emissions
- Food miles
- Climate change
Important words that growers in the Fortune Creek Okanagan area take to heart. We are changing how we farm so our environment thrives for centuries to come.
This means using innovation at Fortune Creek and combining it with tradition. This allows us to find that perfect balance for the environment. One thing that nurtures our environment is locally sourcing ingredients when it can’t come from our ranch itself.
But how does it nurture our environment?
Locally sourced ingredients produce less carbon emissions. This is due to a number of reasons, including:
- Better farming practices right here in Fortune Creek Kelowna.
- Shorter travel distances for ingredients.
- Fewer fossil fuels are burned to get your amazing Fortune Creek fresh products from farm to your table.
- Lower food miles mean lower greenhouse gases.
And that is a win for all of us.
Benefit Number Five: Knowing Our Products
We know our products. This is because we know the growers we work with and we know what our rich valley has to offer us.
We know foods we find on Amazon, in online catalogues, or in grocery stores have a hidden point of origin. Most of the products, or their ingredients come from overseas…and that means they are going the distance with very little knowledge of that journey.
Lax farming practices and regulations often mean that producers have no idea what is going on with their ingredients. This means more risk for the consumer.
Instead, we must rely on the information corporations give us. Let’s face it…corporations aren’t always the most honest about those practices.
However, Fortune Creek has peace of mind. We source from local growers in Fortune Creek Kelowna and neighbouring areas. We know our growers and can travel to see their operations. We know the laws and practices in place that produce high quality ingredients. We know the growers in Fortune Creek are as passionate about quality, sustainability, and community as we are.
While we aren’t there for the whole process, we partner with growers who put as much care into their process as we do. That means, you, our customer, are getting the very best in quality, taste and knowledge.
Benefit Number Six: The Ingredients are Safer
Surprise! Safety is affected when it isn’t locally grown.
How is that possible? After all, an apple is an apple is an apple, isn’t it?
If you’ve ever walked through one of the many orchards in the Fortune Creek Okanagan, then you know that that statement isn’t true. Facts:
- How the apple is grown affects quality!
- Where the apple is grown affects taste!
- Distances travelled for that apple affects quality, taste and safety!
This is applied to all ingredients.
Locally sourced ingredients, which we prefer at Fortune Creek, go through few hands. In fact, it goes from the grower’s hands straight into ours.
Internationally sourced ingredients go through many hands. There is no telling the number of hands touching that ingredient from growers to pickers to shippers to boarder agents…that is a lot of hands!
Every time food goes into a different set of hands, it opens the ingredients up to contamination and reduces the safety and overall quality. Pesticides used around the world, many banned in Canada, are making their way into ingredients we purchase and ship from overseas. This increases health risks for Canadian consumers.
Bottom line…locally sourced ingredients are fresher, healthier, and safer for you and your family.
Benefit Number Seven: Family
Sourcing ingredients locally means family and extends to wherever our Fortune Creek fresh products go through our mail order service.
When I was a kid, I remember the Heritage Moments on television. Funny, yes…meaningful, sometimes. One that stands in my mind is that “Canada means village.” We make our country great by being a village—by being a family.
At Fortune Creek, we take that belief further—everyone in the Fortune Creek Okanagan valley is family. Same dreams, desires and history that we have at Fortune Creek. Our growers are an extension of the Fortune Creek family.
When our family of growers thrive, we thrive. Sourcing locally means that all of us benefit. That our farms and ranches remain sustainable—for you, our customers, for our community and for our family.
There are so many reasons why growing and sourcing our ingredients locally are beneficial. More than we’ve even listed!
The proof of those benefits is in the quality of the Fortune Creek fresh products all of you have come to not only expect from us…but love.
