The annual Eastside Flea Market is back in the new SUB and this year is welcoming back old favourites and new friends.
Tea Lani
Tea Lani is an organic tea shop run by Mayumi Sugano who is tea lover and Chinese herb expert.
Mayumi is on a mission to educate people about real organic tea.
“For me, tea is a way of relaxation and socializing. I found many cultures have this tradition,” she said. “It is sad because many people drink artificially produced tea which is not good.”
With an aspiration to change that, Mayuni, after working at a tea shop in Victoria, took an online course to learn more about herbs and started her own company. Founded at the beginning of August of 2015, Tea Lani now offers a variety of organic, handcrafted blends of tea from detox and sleeping teas to comforting chai and soothing lavender cream earl grey.
Mayumi’s goal is to show that artificial flavouring is unnecessary because purely organic teas can taste just as good or even better while also nourishing the body and improving the health.
Biota Fermentation
Specialized in brewing her hipster brew of choice, kombucha, Biota Fermentation is an organic fermentation company. They also provide a variety of pickling vegetables such as kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled beets and cucumbers.
Passionate about food and fermentation, James Kidd and Bradley Henderson, having a total of 30 years in the food industry between them, founded the company in February 2015 and had finally began brewing and pickling the following March. Both former chefs working together side by side at three different restaurants, Kidd and Henderson found their passion in organic fermenting.
“Biology and food put together —it’s beautiful,” said Kidd.
The Biota Fermentation booth is living proof of the fact. Along with a delicious variety of kombuchas, they are offering seasonal sauerkraut and brussels sprout kimchi — fermented using local probiotics and crafted with love. Currently developing their own mustard recipe along with working on Christmas specials, Kidd and Henderson are hoping to establish a retail space of their own one day to share their passion with their customers.
Traveling Fox Aromatherapy
“Aromatherapy oils can treat everything from restless babies to anxious adults,” said Leigh Girodat, founder of the Traveling Fox Aromatherapy.
Many of the Traveling Fox Aromatherapy’s oils can be used as perfumes, but the main purpose behind each carefully selected blend is to heal or benefit some part of the body either physically or mentally. Girodat believes that many people move away from listening to their intuition because they try to label their sicknesses. Consequently, they loose touch with their bodies.
Starting from small farmers markets and now starting her own online store, she hopes to share her philosophy with her customers.
Simply Neglectable
Bringing the “flower power” to the people, Ron Pobran is a founder of the mobile store Simply Neglectable which specializes in desert plants. A fourth generation farmer from Saskatchewan with 11 years in farming experience, he is on a quest to fight against chemical pesticides and genetically modified fertilizers. Pobran uses nothing on his plants that he wouldn't use in his own hom.
Through Simply Neglectable, Pobran hopes to share his passion for organic farming and prove that sometimes it can be done effortlessly.
“I realized that people don’t want to water their plants all the time and be married to them. So I started working with desert plants which are very forgiving,” he said.
A large variety of desert plants are available for sale at Simply Neglectable. They are a strikingly beautiful, diverse and colourful spectacle of organic farming proving that nature got it just right.