Local Delicious

Hmmm, sounds like a difficult challenge — eat delicious, fresh blueberries straight from a local farmer and benefit your favourite charity at the very same time.

Twin Berry Farms’ Goodberry Program donates up to $2.00 per 5 lb. flat purchased to Twin Berry’s charity of choice, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, or your favourite charity.

Here’s how it works: you sign up your company, promote the Goodberry Program, interested parties place their order, and the blueberries are delivered straight to your office farm-direct. It takes out the middleman and the turnaround time meaning you support a local farmer and a charity, while getting fresh, fresh berries at their prime.

That sounds like a recipe for success to me.

How’s this for clever, compact gardening? Mel Bartholomew, formerly a civil engineer, came with a concept of compact gardening that’s taken the US by storm.

In a nutshell, build a garden box (or a bunch of them), separate each section into 12″ squares, fill them with a mix of compost, soil and vermiculite, and plant a few seeds. It’s a pretty much fool-proof, miniature, crop rotation/deep bed garden idea that makes gardening zero hassle and high production.

Buy his “system” or build your own using his tips and tricks, and you’re off to the races. Wow, THIS is urban gardening for the faint of heart.

Now Mel is on a mission to change the world with the Square Foot Gardening Foundation. I like this practical, immediately impactful, humanitarian focus.

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I returned from vacation to a serious bout of spider mites infecting many of my house plants and it was spray or hold a burial for the plants as they succumbed to a mass take-over of bugs.

I bought some Safer’s Insecticide Soap which seems pretty environmentally friendly as it’s made up of “specially selected soaps, no other pesticides are added.” Hmmm, actually, that does seem to imply there is some pesticide in there already since “no others” are added. But maybe soap can be a “pesticide” without being a harsh chemical?

Anyway, the Safer’s Insecticide Soap came with sample size of Safer’s Oxygen Plus indoor plant food which promises to “breathe new life into potted plants.” Well, what the heck, we could all use a little extra life I guess.

The question is, is the Oxygen Plus liquid fertilizer safe on veggie plants, stuff I plan to eat? I have some herbs as ground cover in my large banana leaf plant pot — the idea is to keep in some of the moisture. Is it still safe for me to eat the sage now that I’ve used this product on it? And what about my container garden on the balcony, are those veggies safe if I use it there too?

There’s no specific info on the website about food safety issues with the product, either pro or con. I’ve emailed the company, I’ll let you know if/how they respond.

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I stumbled across Golda’s Fine Foods all natural Cilantro Pesto a few months ago at Famous Foods, an independently owned grocery store in Vancouver where I buy rice milk and a wide variety of other healthy, unique, and delicious groceries.

I’m a fiend for cilantro, but it’s one of those herbs that evokes a strong reaction from everyone — they either love it or hate it. Not sure what to expect, I took it home and used it as the base for one of my über delicious, healthy pizzas (Lebanese flat bread, paste/pesto, browned ground Italian sausage, shredded zucchini, diced sweet peppers, other finely chopped veggies, a dusting of parmesan, a dusting of feta, warmed in the oven till the cheese melts).

Delicious! Not only did I use it as the pizza base, I drizzled it all over the topping once the pizza came out of the oven. It is now a regular grocery list item and I simply cannot get enough!

Don’t kid yourself, this is not low fat, but it IS made from all natural ingredients and Golda’s is a local success story, based in Mill Bay, British Columbia. Find a store that carries it near you.

Oh, and if the ones you love hate cilantro, tell them it’s coriander pesto. You won’t be lying and they just might thank you.

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The guru of west coast organic gardening and seed selection is West Coast Seeds. I’ve heard the name uttered in hushed, reverent, gardener-in-the-know tones particularly in reference to the annual West Coast Seeds free Gardening Guide.

If you want access to non-Monsanto-interfered-with seeds, these folks are your local source.

Not only do they have over 600 vegetable, herb and flower seed varieties, they have the envied, must-have, Planting Chart for Coastal BC on page 6. The catalogue/guide is filled with gardening tips, organic pest solutions, and other misc. gardening information that make it worth its weight, even if you buy your genetically modified seeds from the local hardware store or nursery.

If you can’t get down to their Delta location (must have car and up-to-date map!), by all means check them out online, request the catalogue, and order your seeds by mail. If you can get to the store, you’ll be treated to a wide variety of books, tools, garden enhancements (i.e. bee houses), and friendly advice to assist in your organic gardening endeavours.

Oh, and sign up for their newsletter, which is also full of timely planting tips — seasoned and novice gardeners alike will want to know what West Coast Seeds has to say.

PS: The website is a goldmine of information, peruse only when you have plenty of time to “waste”.

Note: (Jan 2010) I get periodic comments from individuals asking or accusing West Coast Seeds of selling GMO and/or Monsanto seeds. Frankly, from the comments I see it feels a bit like an urban myth that won’t die. However, Local Delicious makes no claims and is not a representative of West Coast Seeds. If you have questions, please contact WCS directly. If, on the other hand, you have proof of misdoing, we’re happy to talk…

I’m working my way through a package of New World Natural Foods organic, barley malt granola. It’s slow going.

I liked all of the things that the packaging had to say:

• Locally made here in BC
• Organic
• High fibre
• Low sodium
• No sugar added

What I can’t get past is the crunchy chew. I don’t mean the traditional crunchy granola texture that’s a result of a toasted, sugar coating. I mean a crunchy, the-oats-didn’t-quite-get-cooked-through texture. Like rice that’s taken off the stove too soon and is still crunchy inside.

Maybe that’s what they were going for, but I like even my healthy food not to wear out my jaw.

On the upside, New World is pretty conscientious about their product. They source locally as much as possible, pack in recyclable or biodegradable containers, add no processed sugar and very little salt.

And I recognize and can pronounce everything on the list of ingredients.

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