Gathering Place Trading

Gathering Place Trading We’re a family business based in Campbell River, BC. We direct source the best organic spices & more! BC local business! Vancouver Island family owned.

We sell organic & fair trade spices, vanilla, artisan sea salt, & teas. Shop online and in stores. We source only the finest hand-harvested products. We connect face-to-face with other family farms around the world so we can deliver their bounty to you. Gather 'round beautiful products from a world of family farms at www.gatheringplacetrading.com

The simplest of recipes are often the best! Our Apple Spice blend can be used for so much more than fruit!Slice beets in...
09/10/2026

The simplest of recipes are often the best! Our Apple Spice blend can be used for so much more than fruit!

Slice beets into desired thickness, I made 2cm think strips.

Toss in Olive oil, our Antarctic Pure Sea salt, and 1 to 2 Tbs of Apple Spice Powder.

Roast at 350 F in oven for 30 to 40 min, flipping at 20 minutes.

I also roasted potatoes and rutabagas and served them all together with some quinoa and a cabbage slaw.

A simple, beautiful garden meal!

This easy Apple Pie is packed with layers of thinly sliced apples and just enough light batter to hold everything togeth...
09/10/2026

This easy Apple Pie is packed with layers of thinly sliced apples and just enough light batter to hold everything together. As it bakes, the batter almost disappears between the layers of fruit, leaving you with a soft, apple-filled pie that’s somewhere between a cake and a classic apple pie.

We use our Organic Apple Spice for a warm “kick,” along with a little Organic Lemon Powder to brighten everything up.

Simple, cozy, and a very delicious way to make the most of apple season.
Find the full recipe on our website! 🍎

If there’s one spice that deserves a permanent place in your cupboard, cardamom might just be it. 💚Warm, aromatic and sl...
09/08/2026

If there’s one spice that deserves a permanent place in your cupboard, cardamom might just be it. 💚

Warm, aromatic and slightly sweet, with a beautiful hint of citrus, cardamom has a way of making almost anything taste a little more special.

Our Organic Cardamom comes from a small-scale, family-owned farm in Honduras, where the pods are hand harvested before being carefully ground to preserve their natural oils and wonderfully fragrant flavour.

Add a little to your morning coffee or chai. Stir it into cookies, cakes and muffins. Use it to add depth to curries, rice dishes, marinades and spice blends. It doesn't take much. A small spoonful brings a whole lot of flavour.

Our Cardamom Powder is certified organic, non-irradiated and non-GMO, and is hand-packed by our team here on Vancouver Island.

How do you use cardamom? We’d love some inspiration! 👇

Canadian-owned. Canadian-made. Proudly rooted on Vancouver Island. 🍁Right now, many of us are taking a closer look at wh...
09/07/2026

Canadian-owned. Canadian-made. Proudly rooted on Vancouver Island. 🍁

Right now, many of us are taking a closer look at where the products we buy come from, and where our dollars go.

Gathering Place has been a Canadian family-run business since 2003. Every spice, herb, tea and sea salt we sell is prepared and packed by our team right here in Campbell River, BC.

And whenever Canada can grow it, we choose Canadian. 🇨🇦

We source a growing collection of ingredients from Canadian farmers, while ingredients that simply can’t be grown in our climate, such as True Cinnamon, Cardamom and Vanilla, come through direct, long-term relationships with farmers and producers around the world.

So when you choose Gathering Place, your purchase reaches further than our shelves. You’re supporting Canadian jobs, Canadian agriculture, Canadian-made packaging and a locally owned business that has been part of its community for more than 20 years.

We know Canadians have choices. Thank you for choosing to put some of your grocery dollars behind Canadian businesses like ours. It truly makes a difference. ❤️🍁

From Farmer to Family, for Love of the Earth.

September is Organic Month! 🌱Choosing organic can feel like a small decision at the grocery store. But collectively, tho...
09/05/2026

September is Organic Month! 🌱

Choosing organic can feel like a small decision at the grocery store. But collectively, those choices can make a meaningful difference.

Organic agriculture is about more than the finished product. It’s an approach to farming that puts healthy soils, biodiversity and resilient growing systems at the forefront, while certified organic standards restrict synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and prohibit GMOs.

But after more than 20 years of working directly with farmers, there’s something else organic agriculture has taught us:

To think about where our food begins.
A jar of cinnamon starts with a tree.
A cup of tea starts with leaves growing on a farm.
A spoonful of ginger begins as a rhizome in the soil.

Every spice has a growing season, a harvest and a place of origin. And behind every one are people whose knowledge and hard work make it possible for those ingredients to eventually reach our kitchens.

Through the farmers and trading partners we work with around the world, we’ve been fortunate to see that side of food firsthand. It has given us an enormous appreciation for everything that happens before something as seemingly simple as a spice reaches our pantry shelves.

This Organic Month, we invite you to stay curious about your food:
Where was it grown? How was it grown? Who grew it? 🌿

Questions worth asking in September, and all year long.

We’re pretty excited to share this! 💚We’ve nominated Gathering Place Trading for a Canadian Small Business Award, and pu...
09/04/2026

We’re pretty excited to share this! 💚

We’ve nominated Gathering Place Trading for a Canadian Small Business Award, and putting the nomination together gave us a chance to reflect on just how far our little company has come.

Gathering Place started 23 years ago on a remote rural island off the coast of BC. For our first 10 years, we built the business there before moving to Campbell River on Vancouver Island.

Today, our organic spices, teas and sea salts can be found in more than 500 stores across Canada. But some of the things we’re most proud of can’t be measured by the number of stores we’re in.

🌱 We work with 15 ethical trade partners in 11 countries, including some farmers we’ve known since the very beginning.

🇨🇦 Fourteen of our products are exclusively Canadian-grown. We pay more to buy Canadian, and we’re happy to do it.

💚 We give back 1% of sales to grassroots projects in the communities where our products come from and to projects protecting our beautiful BC coastline.

🌎 We’re a Green Certified business, certified organic under the Canada Organic Regime, and HACCP and GMP certified.

And then there’s our team.

Nine of our full-time employees are women, and every leadership position in our company is held by a woman. Our team includes two women who came to Canada as refugees from Afghanistan. Ryan, my life partner and co-founder, is currently the only man in the bunch!

We didn’t set out 23 years ago knowing exactly what Gathering Place would become. We just knew we wanted to build a business that treated farmers fairly, cared for the Earth, supported our community and brought really good food to Canadian families.

We’re still doing it. And we’re still growing. ❤️

The Canada Small Business 100

From Farmer to Family, for Love of the earth!

The Canada Small Business 100

Apple season is here! 🍎There’s something about September that makes us want to turn on the oven and fill the kitchen wit...
09/03/2026

Apple season is here! 🍎

There’s something about September that makes us want to turn on the oven and fill the kitchen with the warm scent of apples and spices.

Apple crisp, a classic pie, homemade applesauce, baked apples, or simply a little extra warmth stirred into your morning oatmeal... this is the season for Cinnamon, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Ginger and Clove.

And, of course, the hero of the fall season - Apple Spice, blended with all those cozy fall favourites. 🍂

To celebrate apple harvest season, Apple Spice, Cinnamon Powder, Cardamom Powder, Nutmeg Powder, Ginger Powder and Clove Powder are all 15% off for September.

Stock your spice cupboard and make the most of this beautiful harvest season.

Shop through the link in our bio. Sale ends September 30.

Every herb, spice, and tea has a story - and it all begins with the people who grow them 🌿Whenever possible, we source o...
09/01/2026

Every herb, spice, and tea has a story - and it all begins with the people who grow them 🌿

Whenever possible, we source our ingredients directly from the farmers who cultivate them. Buying direct isn’t just about shortening the supply chain - it’s about building long-lasting relationships with the people behind the harvest.

By working closely with growers, we gain a better understanding of where our ingredients come from, how they’re grown, and the care that goes into every harvest. It also means we can offer greater traceability, support farming communities, and bring you ingredients that are as fresh and flavourful as possible.

Whether it’s Rooibos from South Africa, Cardamom from Honduras, Smoked Paprika from Spain, or green culinary herbs grown a little closer to home in Alberta, every ingredient has been thoughtfully chosen - not just for its quality, but for the people behind it.

There are so many things you can pickle! Our pickling spice makes it even easier.A simple brine is 1 and 3/4 cup apple c...
08/31/2026

There are so many things you can pickle! Our pickling spice makes it even easier.

A simple brine is 1 and 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar to 2 cups water to 1/4 Antarctic Pure sea salt. Make sure your salt is pure and non-iodized! Just add a tsp of pickling spice to every jar and cover with boiling brine.

Picking hot peppers is a great way to process all the peppers your garden produces at once.

Don’t forget to follow a recipe, so you know how long to water bath the jars at your altitude!

Enjoy all year long!

Behind the scenes:When we say our spices are hand-packed, we really do mean it!Every bag that leaves our facility in Cam...
08/29/2026

Behind the scenes:

When we say our spices are hand-packed, we really do mean it!

Every bag that leaves our facility in Campbell River is packed by our team, right here on Vancouver Island. Before it’s ready to go, each package goes through a few steps - precise weighing, filling, sealing, labelling and, finally, shipping - all handled by our team.

Whenever possible, we source ingredients grown right here in Canada. For the spices that can’t be grown in our climate, we work with farmers and suppliers around the world. Whether they come from close to home or travel thousands of kilometres to reach us, they all eventually make their way to our packing tables in Campbell River.

From there, they’re packed up and sent to stores and kitchens across Canada - from smaller orders and individual packages to heavy pallets stacked with dozens of boxes and headed to our distributors’ warehouses.

Address

1495 Baikie Road
Campbell River, BC
V9W4G9

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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