Get Your Share of Locally and Sustainably Grown Veggies

Take some seeds, one part rain, two parts sun, and a generous amount of heat, and all that's missing is you: it's time to purchase your share in Young Urban Farmers Community Shared Agriculture program!

It only costs the equivalent of six lattes a week to get your hands on a bounty of the freshest, most locally grown veggies in Toronto. This is Young Urban Farmers CSA's second year growing food in backyards in the Wychwood, Lawrence Park, and Riverdale neighbourhoods, and it's going to be a great season. I've already told you how thrilling it was to receive and cook with veggies grown minutes from my home (especially considering I don't have a garden of my own), and I've alluded to my rewarding volunteer involvement with YUF CSA; now it's time to fit you into this picture. I am shamelessly advertising this great opportunity because I've benefited so much from it and really want to see the organization thrive.

What do you get? Only the tastiest GMO-free, organically grown heirloom varieties of leaf lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, radishes, beets, carrots, leeks, garlic, spring onions, shallots, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, beans, peas, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and herbs. Southern Ontario simply overflows with food in the summer months; why would you want to buy imported veggies trucked in from far away to the supermarket? Even a farmer's market can't beat this freshness - you take home your share mere hours after it was harvested, often in the very same garden it was grown in.

Support your health, the environment, and the local economy by investing in YUF CSA today. If you don't live in Toronto, please pass this on to those you know that do, and click here for a list of CSAs in Ontario.

Do you own a share in a CSA? If not, what's holding you back?

Day 4 - Food

This week I'm experimenting with No Impact Week, exploring some of my past successes at decreasing my carbon footprint and generating even better ideas for the future. My goal is to challenge myself to redo the week later this year when it will have the greatest impact on my day-to-day life. Click here for a review of Day 1 - Consumption, Day 2 - Trash, and Day 3 - Transportation.

--------------------

Day 4 - Food

This could be a very long post. When it comes to environmental issues, problems with the way we grow, process, market, consume, and waste food pretty much top the list for me. So instead of writing until 2012, I'll keep things brief by giving you a bullet-point list of the things I do to lower my food-related carbon footprint. Get comfy, this will still be long.

A selection of produce from my CSA share, late July 2010.

• I'm a big fan of eating locally and seasonally, and I held true to my values over the summer by participating in Young Urban Farmers CSA. In the fall, I went to my local farmers' market as often as I could, but since it's open on Saturdays and the past two fell on holidays... let's say my fridge doesn't have a lot of Ontario-grown produce in it right now.

• I'm happy to state that I've made big strides in the direction of vegetarianism! My general rules are to avoid meat altogether when I'm dining out, unless the restaurant uses a local, hormone- and antibiotic-free, non-factory farm source for their meat. I try to keep to the same criteria when I find myself in front of a butcher counter, and when I can afford it, I cross town to visit butchers who sell organic meat from farmers they actually know. Raising cows is one of the most resource-intensive and polluting agricultural activities, so I have almost completely cut beef out of my diet - and between you and me (and the entire internet, haha) I find Betsy kinda boring, with the exception of using slices of flank steak for a stir-fry. Will I eventually become a vegetarian? It's quite likely.

• I carry a pocket guide that indicates which fish have been caught/raised in environmentally sustainable ways and have a low mercury content (three cheers for Toronto Public Health) to make smart decisions. Goodbye salmon, shrimp, red snapper, and tuna. Those are the losses I feel most acutely. Sea urchin, on the other hand - my brother can attest to this - I am not sad to see in the "bad choice" column.

• The bad news? Off the top of my head, these are some of the foods from outside of Ontario that I currently can't bring myself to give up: avocados, bananas, citrus (lemons, oranges, and clementines), mangoes, olives and olive oil, pineapples, rice, salt, and wheat (bread). The good news? I don't have to feel too guilty about my consumption of chocolate if I switch from a fancy Swiss brand to Chocosol, purveyors of artisanal chocolate made from cacao beans that have been fairly traded for in a socially just way, plus other ingredients that are grown locally. And the real kicker is that the final product is delivered to your door by bike! Be still my beating heart...

• The big dilemma: what to do about coffee and tea. I mostly quit coffee in 2006 for health reasons (consuming either too much or too little caffeine in coffee format was causing migraines as a withdrawal/overdose symptom) and I continue to avoid it most days of the week - not an easy feat considering I'm tempted every day, living in a neighbourhood with some of the best espresso outside of Italy. But what about tea, that warming, soothing, nourishing beverage that I can't go without for more than a few hours at a time? Does it help that half of what I own is organic? Does it matter that I sometimes drink a tisane made entirely from Ontario-grown herbs (thank you for cluing me in on this blend, Karen at Stratford Tea Leaves)? Am I making a noticeable difference by drinking loose leaf teas rather than using tea bags, which require extra resources and much more processing? What about the fact that unlike coffee, I don't add any milk or sugar to tea? Or, consider this: isn't tea responsible for lower transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions than coffee (on a cup for cup basis, due to how much less tea you need, and how much less it weighs than coffee)? I'll need some time to better research this topic!

• Let's not forget alcoholic beverages. I buy local wines from Niagara and über-local beer from downtown (Steam Whistle, Mill St., and Amsterdam). Enough said.

• For the most part, I don't buy a lot of processed foods; I ate my last McMeal over ten years ago and will never go back; I cook at home rather than order in; I brown-bag my lunch instead of heading to the food court; I occasionally bake my own bread and pizza dough (like today!); and when I dine out, I prefer restaurants that respect the slow food approach and I'm always on lookout for restaurants that serve Local Food Plus certified food.

I couldn't write this post without talking about the importance of developing local food systems. In fact, besides trying to cut out more meat, dairy, and non-local, unseasonal produce from my diet, working to change our food system can have a big impact on my carbon footprint, and yours, too. To that effect, check out these eleven great ideas for contributing to the good food movement, brought to you by Food Forward. You don't have to make eleven changes; just choose the ones that are practical and achievable for you, and pass on the list to your family, friends, and colleagues. We're all in this together.

--------------------

When it comes to our impact on the planet, despite the bad news and warnings that we've passed the point where we can fix this mess we're in, I remain inspired, heartened, motivated, grateful for, and deeply happy that we live in an age where it is possible to make the kinds of choices I've been talking about all week. Thank you, humanity.

Photo credits: Tsukiji tuna market; coffee/tea/sugar containers.

Pushing Forward with 100 Hands

This afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on developing a career in the sustainable food movement. "Pushing Forward" was organized by Food Forward Advocacy Alliance, a food system advocacy group based out of Toronto working with the public, politicians, and those involved in the food sector to strengthen the city's food movement. The workshop doubled as a fundraiser, with proceeds supporting Food Forward's work and programming.

Eglinton Park Heritage Garden

The goal of the event was to provide interactive sessions for people interested in getting a meaningful job or starting a social enterprise in the food or environmental sector. The day was structured around a series of educational talks delivered by speakers whose enthusiasm for their work was infectious. The 50 workshop participants (that's where the 100 hands in my title came from) heard four great success stories:

Chris Wong, co-founder of Young Urban Farmers (helping residents grow their own food in the city) and its non-profit sibling CSA, told us about the importance of being passionate and having a can-do spirit when trying to make it as an entrepreneur. He pointed out that starting a business often brings about a fear of failure, but that this fear can be transformed into motivation because the worst case scenario is spending the rest of one's life regretting never having tried.

Anne Freeman, coordinator of the Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market and the Greenbelt Farmers' Market Network, explained the myriad of details involved in creating and operating farmers' markets and other small food business start-ups. In addition to passion and drive, she underscored the need for planning and cost analysis before venturing into business. Anne also provided great tips and directed us to useful resources, including the Toronto Food Strategy project / Food Connections and Toronto Public Health food handler training courses.

Melissa Shin, Managing Editor for Corporate Knights Magazine (a.k.a. the "magazine for clean capitalism", showcasing the leaders and losers of the corporate world with respect to their environmental and social impacts), spoke about facing adversity with passion and being gutsy enough to do what you love. She remarked that while we may not want corporations to run the world, they current do; so it's necessary to work with them to achieve our goals.

Nogah Kornberg, Executive Director of Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada (a hub for connections, education, and support for young people in social enterprise), remarked that as a high school teacher, she has often been asked by students how to choose between pursuing a career that interests them vs. one that pays the bills. Outraged that youth are convinced these are mutually exclusive concepts, Nogah became a big proponent of social enterprise: working towards meeting social and economic goals simultaneously.

Riverdale Farm Farmers' Market

After these four informative talks, we moved on to the more interactive portion of the day. In order to take advantage of the great wealth of knowledge present in the room, Nogah invited five workshop participants to briefly outline their ideas for pushing the sustainable food movement forward. The rest of us created little groups around these "masterminds" and furthered their ideas through feedback, questions, and the raising of problems that needed solving. It was incredible how in ten short minutes, one person's vision was boosted by eight brains coming at the idea from a variety of perspectives. I sat with a driver for FoodShare's Good Food Box program who wants to distribute healthy snack packs to convenience stores in food deserts, and our group came up with lots of suggestions to improve the feasibility of his idea.

Finally, although I could not stay for the post-event social at a nearby pub (serving local beers, naturally), I had a chance to chat with Food Forward volunteer Michelle Gruda (whose blog you should read). We talked about how exciting it was to hear from people who have been able to pursue careers they love, but agreed that the missing piece is knowing how to turn an idea into a successful business. Between the two of us, we were easily able to identify areas that desperately need change and come up with half a dozen objectives, but how do these concepts become detailed proposals?

In the coming weeks and months I hope to devote more time and energy to answering this question, and with some luck I will find myself working on a project and keeping you up to speed on my progress through this blog!


Photo credit: Eglinton Park Heritage Garden - Toronto Community Garden Network ; Riverdale Farm Farmers' Market - The Friends of Riverdale Farm.

CSAs: Part of Healthy Diet

What happens when you mix heirloom plants, fertile urban gardens, high heat on sunny days (interspersed with short-lived but heavy rain showers), and lots of hard work from dedicated farmers?


A gorgeous crop of fruit and vegetables grown no farther than a dozen or so km from where I live. All mine!

That's because I bought a share with the Young Urban Farmers (YUF) CSA (community shared agriculture) to be able to enjoy more tasty food than I can consume within a week for the rest of the growing season. Featured in this week's share were, in alphabetical order:

• a blue jay bell pepper
  
• cilantro
• dill
  
• an eggplant
• flat-leaf parsley
• ground cherries (in lantern-shaped husks)
  
• hot peppers
• kale
  
• mixed salad greens
• papaya pear squash
• peas (too shy to pose for the picture)
  
• peter pan squash
• a plum
• purple kohlrabi
• radishes
• swiss chard
• thai basil
• zucchini

Can you spot them all?

When I decided to join a CSA this year, I had some difficulty deciding which one to put my money behind. Luckily, I came across YUF and immediately fell in love with them: they grow their produce in city residents' backyards, not a suburban farm! Better yet, due to a lack of storage facilities, the crops are harvested no earlier than the night before I pick them up. And if that still doesn't convince you these folks are great, consider this: they specialize in heirloom and organic varieties that aren't available at the local grocery store or even farmers markets! That's more exclusive than the iPhone 4.

This summer, my weekly local food shares have challenged me to cook and prepare vegetables I previously could not even identify. What I've discovered is that for intimidating vegetables, simple methods work best: cut swiss chard into bite-sized pieces, then wilt in a pan with sautéed garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I add a spritz of lemon juice when I'm feeling particularly adventurous. It's that easy! No wonder there are so many celebrity chefs on TV...

Community shared agriculture is an excellent idea because it benefits everyone involved: the "customers" receive very fresh, very local, organic food and pay about the same as they would in a grocery store, except they know the "who", "where", and "how" of the life cycle of the produce. Also, shareholders are supporting the local economy, help to maintain land used for agriculture rather than urban sprawl, and get to learn about how food is grown and when it is in season (this is especially vital for children living in the city).

Meanwhile, the farmers gain from this system by making a living without having to share profits with distributors. By receiving in the spring the budget they need to carry them through the whole season, producers can focus on the farm and the quality of the crops they are growing. Furthermore, the direct relationship they have with shareholders fosters a sense of responsibility and pride in their work. Even the land itself benefits! CSAs use sustainable farming practices, and in the case of YUF, areas that were previously unused (resident's grass-covered backyards) are transformed into productive land.

While I look up a recipe to make use of that purple kohlrabi from this week's share, check out the links below that will help you source a CSA in your area and find out more about how you can support ecologically sound and socially equitable agriculture.

• Ontario CSA Farm Directory
• LocalHarvest (search American CSAs by zip code)
• Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association: Introduction to CSA

Happy eating.