Salt Spring Island is dotted with small family-run farms which produce small amounts of dairy, poultry and produce for local consumption. The cows below were at a small dairy we visited and I was very pleased to know that our cheese came from "those cows right over there" as it is easy to have a disconnect between a food source and our plates.
Our bed and breakfast had several dozen chickens scratching around the grounds and one morning we were treated to free-range eggs laid that very morning. I also got a pretty nice portrait of the rooster, which I think gives an air of majesty which poultry is rarely considered to possess.
Our bed and breakfast also had a number of sheep, and while these individuals were more for the entertainment of guests as part of the hobby farm, we did pass several fields where quite a few sheep were out grazing, and sheepskin was for sale at the Saturday market.
Not shown here, but worth mentioning, Salt Spring Island has dozens of small produce stands along the roads. Running on an honor system, farmers will leave their surplus eggs, fruits, and vegetables in wooden stands along the roads and passersby can help themselves and leave the appropriate payment.
In Vancouver, such a system would be quickly looted and vandalized, and while I'm sure there are some problems with that on Salt Spring, there was enough of it going on that its clearly a reasonably profitable venture without too much of a cost.
