Lawns to Loaves...Home Grown in Vancouver

In today's Globe and Mail newspaper, there is an article about Andrea Bellamy's Lawns to Loaves Project that examines the impact of city food production and the politics of supporting local food. Andrea is growing wheat in the city - it's not much: enough to make a few hyper local loaves of bread. What I find fascinating is how radical such a project seems to some. 


There was a point in time that growing food was just a part of daily life, like taking out the trash and making dinner. It says a lot about the world we live in that we are examining "the point" of growing food and that some in local politics could think of such a project as "goofy". That our mayor could be ridiculed for caring about local food and not city "basics" shows me that we have lost our way. Feeding ourselves is basic. Without a healthy food supply, our city would wither away and the exciting fabric of creativity and innovation and culture that our city stands for would cease to exist. While it is reasonable to argue that those of sufficient income will never starve, eating a diet that is filled with manufactured food starves our cells and the result is disease, which is not exactly an ideal outcome. And, while not an inevitability, food crisis is always a threat as mother nature doesn't always grace us with the ideal growing conditions to feed a ballooning population.


If we are to reconnect to food and make it meaningful, getting serious about growing within the city limits is vital. As a new mom, I do not want my child to think that food is a sterile commodity. I grew up knowing that blackberry bushes could prick, dirt was good for you and that salt and slugs were a particularly entertaining combination. Food knowledge is fundamental for an evolved society. Our children should be able to see food around them, whether they live in the city, suburbs or country.


Let's spend less time in debate and more time growing, eating and sharing.




Get Growing, Vancouver.
Desiree


Read the full article on Globe and Mail

Local, Fresh and Organic...Kauai

Tuesday Market...just west of Hanalei, Kauai

 No secret that I am a bit of a foodie...everywhere I travel, I want to taste whatever is local and special. So I was pretty excited to see that there were so many farmers markets all over Kauai. 

Check out the dude with the pineapple. That is local flavour.

I was amazed by the local food culture in Kauai specifically; a recent trip to Oahu certainly did not have the same local vibe. Hawaii has to ship so much of their food in and most supermarkets don't carry anything local so staples like tomatoes are incredibly expensive and usually kind of sad tasting. Farmers on Kauai have the ability to grow so much in their climate so I was excited to check out a farmers market or two. Who needs tomatoes when you have local taro, greens, papayas and passion fruit?

Apple bananas...sweet and firm fleshed.

 The pictures above are of the market recommended by the Lonely Planet, just west of gorgeous Hanalei on the north shore of the island. Edible Hawaiian Islands also has a great listing on their website here. They kindly offered the tip of "get there early". Do indeed. We showed up at 2:05 for the market in Hanalei, just 5 minutes after the opening. The field was already packed with cars and it was a literal feeding frenzy: stands were emptying fast. People snacked on chocolate covered frozen bananas while filling their baskets with local eggs, goat cheese and pineapples. We bought just a couple of things, including the apple bananas and mangosteen ( I LOVE mangosteen, what a treat!). 

Yummy mangosteen...

The markets are a bit smaller than we are used to here in the lower mainland but what an incredible community spirit. I couldn't think of a better way to get to know the local food culture than to feast on what is grown in their backyards.

Aloha...

Desiree

Eat...local food

You are looking at the gorgeous apricots that finally inspired me to sit down and do another blog post....I bought them today because I thought they were pretty. And I love apricots. I don't know why I love them so much but I would eat pounds of apricots if you let me...the flavour and texture is something special and I love how a perfect apricot is both sweet and slightly tart.

These apricots were also grown here in BC, which makes them even more special. Why? Because eating local food matters for a whole bunch of reasons. And I just might be in the mood to tell you all about it....

1. Local food means supporting your neighbours. When we purchase BC grown and processed foods, BC residents are hard at work to provide them for us. And when our neighbour's livelihoods are protected, so are ours. According to www.smartgrowth.bc.ca, most farmers rely on second jobs to make ends meet and about half of farm sales average less than $10,000 a year. Our farmers need your support otherwise we might well find ourselves without farmers in future generations. Our globalized world has many economists believing that there is no value in maintaining local business if another country can produce at economic advantage (Mexican tomatoes anyone?) but what about the impact on our community? I am no economist so I won't bother trying to make eloquent statements to the contrary...but if you Google hard enough, you can find information on how keeping your dollars in the local community end up producing a far greater economic advantage for that community than allowing your dollars to fly beyond the border. 

2. Local food keeps valuable agricultural land producing food, instead of being developed for another condo or strip mall. In BC, we are fortunate to have highly productive and fertile farmland that enjoys a longer growing season than much of Canada. However, our most valuable farmland also sits among the most in demand urban areas of Greater Vancouver and Greater Kelowna. The BC Agricultural Land Reserve, or ALR, is only about 5% of our total land mass. And 50% of that land is in the north...where we don't have such a hot time growing much through the bulk of the year. We produce an awful lot of food in a relatively small space. From cherries to chickens and buckwheat to berries, BC's bounty is awe-inspiring. There is nothing a developer would like more than to snap up some more land to build on. By valuing locally produced food, we keep local farms producing for another year and hopefully fend off the allure of development as well.

3. Local food is gentler on the planet. A significant proportion of the environmental impact of the foods we eat is tied to how far that food travelled to reach us. And while shipping produces fewer carbon emissions than flight or trucking....trucking 100 miles is certainly less harmful than trucking 1000 miles.

4. Local food can be better for us. Not always, but often. The reasons for this are many. Nutrients peak with peak ripening...so picking fruit long before they are ripe to sustain travel leaves us with fewer nutrients. In addition, certain nutrients like vitamin C are very delicate and degrade quickly. Less travel means less time between harvest and you and better potential for nutrient retention. Long distance travel also favours hardier plant breeds, some of which are not as nutritious. However, if food is improperly handled, nutrients can be lost no matter how far the food has travelled and some fruits like apples and oranges are fairly sturdy on their own and retain nutrients well. My money is still on local though.

5. Local food helps us create more food secure communities. While food security is a complex social, economic and ecologic issue, if a community cannot produce any of its own food it becomes far more vulnerable to a globalized food supply. From political fallout to climate disasters, when drought hits California...we all feel it in higher prices and empty shelves. Just like in your investment portfolio, diversification pays off when it comes to growing food. 

I would love to hear your reasons for or against local food...chat on, my friends!

In good health,

Desiree