Earth Day at Steep Hill
April 9, 2026
On April 2, 2026, Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman looked out the window of their spacecraft and took this amazing photo of our precious planet. What a timely reminder of how beautiful and unique our home is.
In 1970, two American senators organized a day of teach-ins on college campuses to raise awareness about health and environmental impacts of pollution held on April 22. The simple initiative named a moment - 20 million people across the USA held learning events in their own communities on that first Earth Day. Individuals concerned about our planet’s health were creating a world-wide peoples’ movement that continues to work for change. April 22 has become an international day of recognition and action. Steep Hill Food Co-op is one of the many initiatives that has its roots in the 1970s movement. You could even say that every day is Earth Day here: our focus on local, organic, fairtrade, co-operative products and pantry basics supports healthy people, healthy ecosystems and a caring community.
Victoria Day Holiday
Please note - Steep Hill will be closed on Monday, May 18, Victoria Day.
New Products and Suppliers
Blossom Grove Family Farm is dedicated to providing fresh and healthy food options to the local community through the use of sustainable farming practices. We are happy to announce that we now carry a variety of their seasonal squashes and potatoes.
We have plenty of Blossom Grove’s products in store today, including Milva potatoes, Caribe potatoes, red kuri squash, the classic butternut squash, and Blossom Grove’s sweet mama winter squash.
Grassroots Vertical Farm, based in Saskatoon provides hydroponically grown leafy greens including lettuce, Bok Choy, Purple Mustard Greens, and Baby Chard. Grassroots Vertical Farm’s products are amazingly fresh and never flown. We hope you’ll love them as much as we do!
Happy Spring Cleaning to Those Who Celebrate!
Steep Hill has all of your spring (or regular, every day) cleaning supplies covered. We’re proud to offer a wide selection of eco-friendly, Canadian-made products for you to choose from.
Currently, the store has Simply Clean washing and baking soda, soap flakes, and stain remover in stock, as well as Attitude stain remover. Eco-Max and Nature Clean both offer dish washing and laundry supplies. For your home, Myni has a number of cleaning supply concentrate tablets: degreaser and bathroom cleaners, as well as glass and stainless steel cleaners. For all of these, simply add water and a concentrate tablet to a container or spray bottle for minimal waste cleaning. The Unscented Company toilet bowl cleaner is also in stock.
If you haven’t tried these items before, now is a great time to discover a new favourite cleaning product! As always, if you know of other products that Steep Hill could consider bringing in, contact the store at 306-664-4455 or at hello@steephillfood.ca.
Joan Hepting and Seven Meadows Farm
We’re pleased to continue our Year of the Woman Farmer profile series with another of our suppliers. Joan Hepting, along with her husband and sons, operates Seven Meadows Farm, a greenhouse business near Regina Beach.
Joan grew up in a small Saskatchewan town, spending most of her time outside helping her family with their multiple gardens or performing what she affectionately calls “child labour” on her uncles’ farms. She believes that her varied life experiences: being a stay-at-home mom on a farm, years of business and property management, and volunteer work in a small community, have taught her the value of hard work and tenacity, a tremendous help in her current role.
Joan and her family’s journey to starting a greenhouse began in 2019 with the question, “what if we…?” With the family’s generational background in agriculture, they didn’t hesitate. Construction began in 2021 on a header house and an attached 6000 square foot greenhouse. In 2023, they produced their first crop of cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers using a hydroponic high wire system. This type of system was a new concept for them, but they were excited to grow fresh, vine-ripened produce and are very happy with their decision to proceed in this direction. As a business, Seven Meadows Farm prides itself in the chemical free, fresh and delicious produce.
Along with fresh produce, Joan and her family produce hand-crafted salsas, sauces, relishes and pickled products. The jarred products are made in-house with fresh produce that has been picked that day. Recently, Seven Meadows has further diversified into producing hard apple cider! Currently, five flavours of cider are available at liquor stores in Regina Beach, Lumsden, and Regina.
An important aspect of Seven Meadows has always been their presence at farmers’ markets throughout Saskatchewan, summer and winter. Joan enjoys seeing the customers, especially the ‘regulars’, and values their continued support. Seven Farms also partners with a number of stores (including Steep Hill) and restaurants throughout the province who sell and use their produce and products.
Joan’s role in Seven Meadows covers everything: pruning, harvesting, greenhouse management, bookkeeping, making handcrafted products, and producing cider! She credits the amazing workers during the growing season and their team effort with making every day a great one to go to work.
As Joan looks to the future, she looks back with gratitude on the legacy of hard work and perseverance of the previous generations and how these values have shaped her family’s life. She and her family work to lay their own strong foundation, ensuring a connection to their roots while offering the community fresh, high quality products.
Be a Part of Spring Fling
Broadway BID’s annual Spring Fling is a celebration of both spring and the spirit of the Broadway district. This year’s event, scheduled for Saturday, June 13, will feature musicians, dancers, family-friendly activities, and food, and well as booths set up by craftspeople, artists, and Broadway merchants.
If you’d like to be part of Steep Hill’s presence at this event, sign up now! We’ll need at least 10 volunteers to operate our booth, sell drinks and snacks, and spread the word about Steep Hill. This is a fun event – it’s a great way to meet other Steep Hill members (and future members) and experience the vibrancy of Broadway! If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact Amielle. We’d like to have volunteers in place as quickly as possible, so don’t delay!
Two hours of volunteer work gives you working member status for the following month, which provides you with the working member discount (6% off the shelf price). For in-store volunteer work, sign up for a shift in the store or by calling 306-664-4455 or emailing hello@steephillfood.ca to request a shift.
View April 2026 Volunteer Schedule
View May 2026 Volunteer Schedule
Baked Tofu
Baked Sheet Pan Veggies
View Baked Sheet Pan Veggies Recipe
Community Potluck, Music, Spoken Word and Jam Session!
Catch the Wave on the last Friday of every month at Grace Westminster church! Brian Paul DG and friends host a potluck (6 PM), variety show (7:15 PM) and music jam (9:30 - 10 PM). On April 24 the variety show features spoken word artist Zhe the Free and the music of Lachlan Neville, in addition to open-mic performers. Everyone is welcome! This is a great way to meet neighbours, share some food and enjoy the artistry of our community members. Grace Westminster is one block west of Steep Hill on the corner of Eastlake and 10th Street.
Like Steep Hill?
Between monthly newsletters, Steep Hill staff post new product information, staff picks, supplier news, and timely updates on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. If you like Steep Hill - “like us” on Social Media too. You can go to the home pages to check in on the latest, and share posts from there or from your newsfeed with your own network. You can help expand our online reach by tagging Steep Hill in your own posts too.
Put Your Pop Cans To Work
You can use SARCAN’s Drop and Donate program to help Steep Hill! To “volunteer” your pop cans and returnable bottles, go to the Drop and Go entrance off to the side of the main doors. Fill in the computer screen form, and put the phrase “Steep Hill Food” to tell SARCAN where your donation should go. The machine will print a barcode sticker for your bag or box of cans/bottles. SARCAN will calculate the value of your donation and e-transfer it to Steep Hill.
We Want to Hear From You!
For information about products and the store, email us at hello@steephillfood.ca or call 306-664-4455.
To contact the Board of Directors with ideas, feedback, concerns or questions, email board@steephillfood.ca or fill out a “How did we do today” card when you are in the store.
Thanks to Amielle Christopherson, Adam Douglas, Cathy Holtslander, Brian Paul, and Maryann Scott, and Karen Weingeist for contributing to this Newsletter! If you would like to join the newsletter crew, email board@steephillfood.ca.
Your grocery store on Broadway!