Local Food
I think a lot about food security, partly because it's what I do at work, but also because it's a local issue that I connect with. I live in a fairly wealthy neighbourhood but some of the poorest people in the city live nearby (including residents of one of the city's largest homeless shelters, right on my bike route to work). Food insecurity and access to healthy foods are two of the biggest problems people face here. At the same time, local family farms are struggling, and grocery stores are importing produce from across the world even though the same products are available locally.
Community gardens have become very popular as a way to provide healthy food (some donate a lot of produce to local food banks, as well as giving many families the chance to grow a little for themselves). I have been lucky enough to have a plot for three years now. With the pots of plants at my house, I am able to provide at least a few meals for my family - plus I get hours of entertainment as I try to save my own seeds and re-use them the next year, weed, and chat with people I meet at the garden.
This year, I gambled and bought in to a community-supported agriculture box. I share a small box with a colleague from work who happens to live nearby. At first I worried about the initial outlay and whether I would be able to use everything. After about 10 weeks, I am hooked! I have been learning to make new things (last week it was salsa verde), and I'm eating less meat because I need to save room for the veggies. Plus, the lady who owns the farm where I get my produce employs 16 people, which makes me very happy.
I also love harvesting local wild foods. Some are just greens (ie weeds) from my garden, but I also collect apples, rose hips, and sometimes other fruits or berries. This year, I finally got to volunteer with Hidden Harvest Ottawa, a local social business that harvests fruit and nuts from city-owned and private properties, with permission. So far I have made crab-apple preserves
and verjus (a medieval alternative to vinegar), given a bag of crab-apples to a friend for her cooking projects, and I have a bag of apples waiting to be turned into cider. 1/4 of all the fruit harvested goes to local food banks, 1/4 goes to the fruit tree owner (if there is one and they want it), 1/4 (if the harvest is at least 80 lb) goes to Hidden Harvest to donate to small food preservation kitchens, and 1/4 is divided up among the volunteer harvesters. I have volunteered to be a neighbourhood leader so that I can organize harvests for others. I love meeting interesting people outside my usual circle, and this is proving to be a great way to do just that.
Community gardens have become very popular as a way to provide healthy food (some donate a lot of produce to local food banks, as well as giving many families the chance to grow a little for themselves). I have been lucky enough to have a plot for three years now. With the pots of plants at my house, I am able to provide at least a few meals for my family - plus I get hours of entertainment as I try to save my own seeds and re-use them the next year, weed, and chat with people I meet at the garden.
This year, I gambled and bought in to a community-supported agriculture box. I share a small box with a colleague from work who happens to live nearby. At first I worried about the initial outlay and whether I would be able to use everything. After about 10 weeks, I am hooked! I have been learning to make new things (last week it was salsa verde), and I'm eating less meat because I need to save room for the veggies. Plus, the lady who owns the farm where I get my produce employs 16 people, which makes me very happy.
I also love harvesting local wild foods. Some are just greens (ie weeds) from my garden, but I also collect apples, rose hips, and sometimes other fruits or berries. This year, I finally got to volunteer with Hidden Harvest Ottawa, a local social business that harvests fruit and nuts from city-owned and private properties, with permission. So far I have made crab-apple preserves
and verjus (a medieval alternative to vinegar), given a bag of crab-apples to a friend for her cooking projects, and I have a bag of apples waiting to be turned into cider. 1/4 of all the fruit harvested goes to local food banks, 1/4 goes to the fruit tree owner (if there is one and they want it), 1/4 (if the harvest is at least 80 lb) goes to Hidden Harvest to donate to small food preservation kitchens, and 1/4 is divided up among the volunteer harvesters. I have volunteered to be a neighbourhood leader so that I can organize harvests for others. I love meeting interesting people outside my usual circle, and this is proving to be a great way to do just that.