Farmers markets are wonderful places to shop. For what is usually just a few minutes out of your way you can support your local Ontario farmers, eat healthy and learn to cook with great ingredients.
My personal favorite markets are St. Lawrence Farmers Market and the Square One Farmers Market.
Even though the standard market season has come to a close it does not mean that we should forget how valuable these resources are during the spring, summer and fall.
The website http://www.farmersmarketsontario.com/ lists 142 member farmers markets in southern Ontario. They even list the procedure to start your own farmers market.
The only complaint I have with the site is it does not list any farmers markets in peel region.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Connect Farm Seminar - Details Announced!
We are pleased to announce some details for the upcoming Connect Farm professional development seminar featuring a panel discussion with local experts in farming, food policy, creative education, nutrition and sustainability.
Connect Farm Seminar
December 8th, 2009
5:15pm - 8:00pm
OISE Room 5-250.
The Seminar will be about 90 minutes and it will be followed by a communal potluck dinner featuring locally produced foods -- if you attend, we invite you to bring something to eat or drink to share.
U of T Students can reserve their spot for the event by registering through SUPO's website. Non-Students are also welcome to attend and can RSVP to oiseconnectfarm@gmail.com before December 6th.
We are currently finalizing the list of speakers for this event, but to date we are honored to have the following three speakers confirmed:
Chris Brown, Food Enterprise Coordinator at The Stop.
"Located in Toronto’s west end, The Stop works to increase access to food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community and challenges inequality.
From its origins as one of Canada’s first food banks, The Stop has blossomed into a thriving community hub where neighbours participate in a broad range of programs that provide healthy food, as well as foster social connections, build food skills and promote engagement in civic issues. "
Paul Finkelstein, Teacher and Culinary Club Leader
Paul is a secondary school teacher in Stratford who started a Culinary Club for his students, which turned into not only an opportunity to teach students about healthy eating, but also to improve the meals served at the school through the creation of the Screaming Avocado Cafe in his school. A profile of this project was featured in the Fall 2009 OSSTF Education Forum magazine. See page 22 of the publication for more details.
Meredith Hayes, Field to Table Schools Coordinator at Foodshare
FoodShare Toronto is a non-profit community organization whose vision is Good Healthy Food for All. They take a multifaceted, innovative, and long-term approach to hunger and food issues, working on food issues "from field to table" - meaning that we focus on the entire system that puts food on our tables: from the growing, processing and distribution of food to its purchasing, cooking and consumption. Public education on food security issues is a big part of Food Share's mandate: they create and distribute resources, organize training workshops and facilitate networks and coalitions.
Ivy Knight, Chef and Food Writer
When not working on the grill station at one of Toronto’s hottest restaurants or organizing culinary competitions between the city’s best chefs, Ivy Knight writes about the food scene for various publications, among them the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, City Bites, the Toronto Star www.egullet.org and www.gremolata.com. Her latest project, a food radio show called "Swallow" has wrapped and you can now listen to the episodes here.
Angie Koch, Farmer at Fertile Grounds CSA
Fertile Grounds is an organic farm located just west of Waterloo, ON. They distribute direct to embers & customers within 2 days of harvest and sell all of their produce locally because they believe in the economic & political sustainability of local food systems. Fertile Grounds grows organically because they believe that is the best way to nourish ourselves, our customers & the earth, for years to come.
Kristen Schroeder from Real Food for Real Kids.
Real Food for Real Kids has a mission that as educators we should all strive to meet:
- Change the way children eat and understand food.
- Provide children with delicious, healthy, all-natural meals and snacks.
- Reconnect children and families to real food.
- Inspire future generations to make healthier choices, every day.
- Support local farmers and producers who are as committed to responsible and sustainable business practices as we are.
Arlene Stein Co-Leader of Slow Food Toronto; chair of Terroir, and World Food Week
Slow Food Toronto aims to build food community networks; to ensure biodiversity in our local agriculture systems; to support local, small-scale sustainable farm operations and oppose government support of corporate-controlled industrial farming; to create sustainable, local food economies that support just wages for producers; to reconnect people with the pleasure of good food of authentic origin and flavour through taste education; and, to share traditional and ethnic food cultures to ensure their preservation for future generations.
Terroir is Toronto's premier food professional conference. Now in it's second year, Terroir pulls together the cream of the dining, food and wine worlds with an emphasis on excellence and sustainability.
World Food Week 2009 was from October 16-23 at Hart House at the University of Toronto. A week of events designed to heighten awareness and taste buds, exploring relationships with food and what that means for our health and communities.
Restaurants
More and more restaurants seem to be trying out the local menu thing. I just came across an advertisement in a Canadian magazine the other day about Canyon Creek Chophouse serving a local menu. I thought it was kind of cool because they are getting their pickerel from Purdy's fisheries in Point Edward. If you don't know where that is, it's just on Lake Huron and right at the border to USA at Port Huron Michigan. I go to Point Edward every year for a family reunion and we have a fish fry and Purdy's is where the fish is from.
Canyon Creek has put up their menu online to show what produce they are getting from where. Some examples are Enviro Mushrooms from Milton (the smelliest place ever, not even rolling up your windows will ever help), Iroquois Cranberries located in Muskoka, Carron Farms Parsnips, carrots and beets and other places around Ontario. This menu is only on until November 25th. That seems to be a common trend among restaurants, that they will have this local menu for a limited time only like the localicious challenge through WWF. This draws to the attention, why? Would this be to expensive for the restaurants to do? It should be cheaper, it is local. What about the seasonal concerns? Some of this stuff is not in season, some is, and there is a winter coming so retaurants will have to look elsewhere for freshness. Or, is Ontario produce not good enough for restaurants? Anyways, those are some questions to think about. Here is the link for Canyon Creek Chophouse: http://www.canyoncreekchophouse.com/new.php
Cheers
Em
Canyon Creek has put up their menu online to show what produce they are getting from where. Some examples are Enviro Mushrooms from Milton (the smelliest place ever, not even rolling up your windows will ever help), Iroquois Cranberries located in Muskoka, Carron Farms Parsnips, carrots and beets and other places around Ontario. This menu is only on until November 25th. That seems to be a common trend among restaurants, that they will have this local menu for a limited time only like the localicious challenge through WWF. This draws to the attention, why? Would this be to expensive for the restaurants to do? It should be cheaper, it is local. What about the seasonal concerns? Some of this stuff is not in season, some is, and there is a winter coming so retaurants will have to look elsewhere for freshness. Or, is Ontario produce not good enough for restaurants? Anyways, those are some questions to think about. Here is the link for Canyon Creek Chophouse: http://www.canyoncreekchophouse.com/new.php
Cheers
Em
Monday, November 16, 2009
Foodland Ontario Availability Guide
If you ever wondered if you were buying out of season Foodland Ontario has a great chart to follow.
Right now Ontario is offering Apples, Beets, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Greenhouse Cucumber, Garlic, Leeks, Greenhouse Lettuce, Mushrooms, Onions, Greenhouse peppers, potatoes, Radishes, Rutabaga, Sprouts, Squash, Sweet Potatoes, and Greenhouse tomatoes.
http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/english/availability.html
Right now Ontario is offering Apples, Beets, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Greenhouse Cucumber, Garlic, Leeks, Greenhouse Lettuce, Mushrooms, Onions, Greenhouse peppers, potatoes, Radishes, Rutabaga, Sprouts, Squash, Sweet Potatoes, and Greenhouse tomatoes.
http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/english/availability.html
Sunday, November 15, 2009
100 Mile Finds
Today as I was checking out my usual weekly blog reads, I came across this call for vendors on Toronto Craft Alert. It seems that the buy local movement is rapidly spreading beyond food to incorporate hand crafted or locally produced clothing and household items. 100milefinds.com sounds like it's going to be a localized version of Etsy.com, which has taken off in the past several years to be the e-bay of the crafting world.
Supporting locally made goods is just as important as supporting locally grown produce, for all the same reasons: saving in fuel and transportation costs (both economical and environmental) and supporting local economies. Therefore, when we are teaching our students about the importance of buying locally, we should not overlook the possibilities for these items.
As individuals, we should strive to support these local artisans and remember that a dollar spent on their goods is a dollar that stays local and helps strengthen our local economy. Not to mention your product will be unique and more interesting than something mass produced! For example, rather than buying your next greeting card at Shopper's Drug Mart, where it was probably printed in some far off place and shipped half way around the world, check out a local Etsy.com seller -- or the soon to come 100milefinds.com -- and pick up something special.
Finally, if you know any local Toronto crafters or artisans that might want to list their goods on 100milefinds.com, spread the word!
Burning Poop
I am always surprised by how much my life is totally Po-Mo; something is always referencing something else. Yesterday I decided to avoid doing work by sitting around, eating ramen noodles, and watching Rear Window; then SNL did a scatalogical spoof on it. Stuff like this is always happening to me.
The latest of these intertextual life experiences is Scientific American. I've been a subscriber for years and last night I picked up the November copy and found an article about vertical farms. How fortuitous. Or so I thought. The article left me completely torn between what I feel is important and what I know is true. The article is written by Dickson Despommier who is a public health and microbiology professor at Columbia University. He's also the president of the Vertical Farm Project. The gist of the article is that farming is bad for the planet. He cites that there isn't enough land, that farms create too many fossil fuel emissions, that farming wastes water and makes it undrinkable, that the oceans are dying...yadda yadda yadda. I see his point. Absolutely. I worry, however, about painting farms in such a negative light. His solution involves building skyscrapers that use aeroponics, hydroponics, and drip irrigation to grow crops. These vertical farms would also use "black water" for water and energy - essentially taking what we flush down our toilet, cleaning it up, watering the crops, and then burning the poop for energy. He ACTUALLY says that the "typical half-pound bowel movement contains 300 kilocalories of energy." That was a little TMI. These farms would have the benefits of virtually eliminating food-borne buggies and would use a lot less water. They would also be closer to urban centers. He says that local food "would become the norm." I'm not sure this fits my personal definition of local food. Is it closer? Yes. Is it better? Maybe. Does it support local farms? Absolutely not. He only briefly addresses what would happen to farmers, saying that they "would be encouraged to grow grasses and trees, getting paid to sequester carbon." Not on this planet. What is more likely to happen is that they would be totally forgotten. The money would go into developing these new farms, not taking care of old farmers. The big corporations that Despommiers mentions (like the notorious Monsanto) would take over all the production of food and farmers would fall to the wayside. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with having scientists and corporations control ALL my food - they control enough of it already.
All in all, I'm just not sure I buy it. It doesn't address livestock, it doesn't properly address funding or real farmers, it completely ignores the issues around power and corruption. It seems like a great solution to the problems he cites, but it all sounds a little too pie-in-the-sky for me. I love science and I'm all for new things, solutions to environmental problems, and the creation of jobs, but I think there's a middle road that needs to be explored. Considering our food needs will continue to grow, I'm pretty sure there's room for both vertical farms and traditional farms. Vertical farms should be promoted in conjunction with, not in place of, good old-fashioned farms.
I'm just not sure how to say it - supporting local farms just FEELS right. It feels like the ethical thing to do. Maybe I'm just holding on to the past, but is there anything wrong with that?
The latest of these intertextual life experiences is Scientific American. I've been a subscriber for years and last night I picked up the November copy and found an article about vertical farms. How fortuitous. Or so I thought. The article left me completely torn between what I feel is important and what I know is true. The article is written by Dickson Despommier who is a public health and microbiology professor at Columbia University. He's also the president of the Vertical Farm Project. The gist of the article is that farming is bad for the planet. He cites that there isn't enough land, that farms create too many fossil fuel emissions, that farming wastes water and makes it undrinkable, that the oceans are dying...yadda yadda yadda. I see his point. Absolutely. I worry, however, about painting farms in such a negative light. His solution involves building skyscrapers that use aeroponics, hydroponics, and drip irrigation to grow crops. These vertical farms would also use "black water" for water and energy - essentially taking what we flush down our toilet, cleaning it up, watering the crops, and then burning the poop for energy. He ACTUALLY says that the "typical half-pound bowel movement contains 300 kilocalories of energy." That was a little TMI. These farms would have the benefits of virtually eliminating food-borne buggies and would use a lot less water. They would also be closer to urban centers. He says that local food "would become the norm." I'm not sure this fits my personal definition of local food. Is it closer? Yes. Is it better? Maybe. Does it support local farms? Absolutely not. He only briefly addresses what would happen to farmers, saying that they "would be encouraged to grow grasses and trees, getting paid to sequester carbon." Not on this planet. What is more likely to happen is that they would be totally forgotten. The money would go into developing these new farms, not taking care of old farmers. The big corporations that Despommiers mentions (like the notorious Monsanto) would take over all the production of food and farmers would fall to the wayside. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with having scientists and corporations control ALL my food - they control enough of it already.
All in all, I'm just not sure I buy it. It doesn't address livestock, it doesn't properly address funding or real farmers, it completely ignores the issues around power and corruption. It seems like a great solution to the problems he cites, but it all sounds a little too pie-in-the-sky for me. I love science and I'm all for new things, solutions to environmental problems, and the creation of jobs, but I think there's a middle road that needs to be explored. Considering our food needs will continue to grow, I'm pretty sure there's room for both vertical farms and traditional farms. Vertical farms should be promoted in conjunction with, not in place of, good old-fashioned farms.
I'm just not sure how to say it - supporting local farms just FEELS right. It feels like the ethical thing to do. Maybe I'm just holding on to the past, but is there anything wrong with that?
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