CV Collective Fall
Back in 2013, I started shopping around for healthy nutrition options to supplement my gym goals. I’d never given much thought to what I put in my body beyond the main food groups and plenty of water, so gluten wasn’t on my radar. When I was growing up, we ate homemade bread, and I didn’t […]
Words by Bevin ClempsonPhotos by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Intro Summer
When LOVE was suggested as our summer theme, I jumped on it. I planned to write an inspiring intro that would bring the whole valley together in shared appreciation for how blessed we are to live here. I would remind every reader that our time on earth is short, we are more similar than we […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Fall
The ashen moon hung low that brisk October night. Despite the obscuring fog, I could see my breath. The chill cut me a little deeper than the rest of my neighbours, as I was bereft of any clothing, planting my garlic naked, in the time-honoured tradition. Or so I had mis-read. It turns out planting […]
Words by Darren HowlettPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Fall
Bannock: a simple quick bread made with a few ingredients most people will have on hand. But bannock, for all its simplicity, holds a much greater story. For food is culture. And every culture has some form of bread. This simple staple is ours—a small, common thread found throughout the countless independent and, sometimes, vastly […]
Words by Lyndsey BellPhotos by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Opening Introduction Spring
Welcome to the 25th volume of our ongoing love letter to the Comox Valley. In 2014, Ross Bodenmann had the honour of writing the first editor’s introduction, which he closed by saying, “Come in, get comfortable, and welcome to the collective.” Since then, we’ve added dozens of contributors and the invitation still stands. We want […]
Words by Jen GroundwaterPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Fall
There’s something that connects me to a greater world when I fire up the smoker. I can’t put my finger on it. Words like “pastoral,” “holistic,” and “terrestrial” spring to mind, but they aren’t quite what I’m looking for. Maybe “connected” is the word. Smoking food connects me to my forebears: I’m using the preservation […]
Words by Darren HowlettPhotos by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Spring
I’ve always loved eggs. Hard-boiled. Scrambled. Sunny-side up. Anything but poached—well, unless they’re smothered in hollandaise. As a kid, I got to enjoy eggs straight from the henhouse. You see, my grandparents had two dozen or so chickens that produced plenty of eggs for the whole family. Since I spent a great deal of time […]
Words by Bevin ClempsonPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Featured Words Spring
Curled against you under the night sky your touch reminds me that my flesh is made from the spark and dust of inaccessible stars Dawn takes a deep breath and pulls us close whispering promises I will be back, soon, with the ideas you planted Life bursts into flower without warming our tangled hair keeps […]
Poem by Meaghan CursonsPhoto by Jennifer Brazil
CV Collective Winter
Q: What do beets, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, carrots, yuca (cassava), kohlrabi, onions, garlic, celery root (or celeriac), horseradish, turmeric, jicama, Jerusalem artichokes, radishes, ginger, yams, and sweet potatoes have in common? A: Generations of children have sat at the dinner table for lengthy periods of protest over these outcast foods. But there’s a lot to […]
Words by Bevin ClempsonPhotos by Jennifer Brazil
