Local Delicious

Okay, let’s be realistic. Not everyone is willing to give up the convenience of bottled water. If I forget to take water with me or am overcome with sudden thirst, I sometimes give in and buy it myself.

And, not everyone takes the health concerns seriously or thinks their contribution of plastic amounts to much in the grander scheme of things.

You Can Lead a Horse to Water

Instead of trying to drag consumers kicking and screaming toward more earth-friendly practices, what if we came up with other solutions that make it easy for even the least health- or environmentally-conscious among us to drink more responsibly? Like Craig Zucker did.

Zucker came up with Tap’D NY: filtered, local tap water from New York, sold in New York. Since most bottled water is just unfiltered tap water anyway, and a number of brands are shipped half way around the world for North American consumption, it makes more than a whole lot of sense.

I love the idea.

• It’s just plain truthful. Forget the water, this alone is refreshing
• It’s cleaner than regular bottled water
• It racks up fewer frequent flyer miles
• You don’t have to use a drinking fountain in NYC that you aren’t sure is clean
• New Yorkers can stop feeling like idiots for buying water from a tap in Fiji that arrived on a freighter

So here’s a crazy idea: What if our city partnered with a truly local bottling company to create a profitable business that pumped money back into the municipal budget for things like upgrades to our water infrastructure? Wow, that’d be a novel, forward-thinking idea, wouldn’t it?

Related post:

Have Your Say on GVRD’s Drinking Water

I had a little rant a while back about a grocery store concept for locally engineered food that promotes itself as “locally grown”. The idea that geography is the only thing that goes into the decision to eat a more locally-based diet just rubbed me wrong and I had to get that off my chest.

Now we have a similar option in hydroponics, this one built in our own back yard. Based in Surrey, BC, Terrasphere Systems proclaims itself “the world leader in vertical farming and the truest form of self sustaining economic development on the planet” as well as providing “the solution to end world hunger”. Well now. Isn’t that some hefty, lofty self-promotion.

There may be some benefits to this approach over traditional hothouses, if hothouse is the route you want to go. I’m just wondering whether hothouse itself is an optimal approach. At least they aren’t trying to jump on the “eat local” bandwagon based on a technicality.

What do you think?

Related Post:

Locally Engineered vs. Locally Grown

by Eric Fairwind
Member, Gabriolans for Local Food Choices
Reprinted with permission

This October has been designated the first ever Non-GMO Month.

The Campaign for Healthier Eating is designed to achieve the tipping point of consumer rejection of genetically modified foods in the US and Canada. The campaign begins October 10, 2010 and runs until November 11, 2011. We hope you’ll be part of this North American movement.

Everyone has the right to an informed choice about what they eat. In Europe, all products containing more than 0.9% GMO are labeled by the government. But in the US and Canada, government has obstructed giving consumers information about which food and products contain GMOs, by not allowing the labeling of GMO food. It is estimated that GMOs are now present in more than 75% of the processed foods in the average grocery store.

Many people are concerned about the potential health risks of products made using the technology of genetic modification. In fact, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a moratorium on GMO foods, long term safety testing, labeling, and education of their patients concerning the consumption of GM foods. They state that several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food consumption including infertility, dysregulation of the immune system, cholesterol synthesis & insulin , accelerated aging, changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system. More independent scientific studies around the world are finding similar startling results.

A large and growing body of scientific research and on-the-ground experience indicate that GM crops:

• Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts.
• Can disrupt the ecosystem, damage vulnerable wild plant and animal populations and harm biodiversity.
• Increase chemical inputs (pesticides, herbicides) over the long term.
• Deliver yields that are no better, and often worse, than conventional crops.
• Cause or exacerbate a range of social and economic problems such as forcing farmers to pay exorbitant prices for seeds and then paying them poorly for their crops, feeding in to a far-away industrial food system, and causing farmer suicides in India from an inability to pay for GM seeds & chemicals.
• Are laboratory-made and, once released, harmful GMOs cannot be recalled from the environment.
• Degrade the topsoil, destroying valuable nutrients in the soil.
• Pollute groundwater by chemicals used in GM agriculture.

Most vegetables and fruits are not genetically modified, with the exception of Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%), and a small amount of alfalfa, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and tobacco.

When buying packaged food, be sure to keep a lookout for common GMO ingredients such as: corn oil, corn syrup, corn starch, soy protein, soy oil, soy sauce, lecithin, cottonseed and canola oil. If your package lists one or more of these ingredients, these foods are genetically modified, unless labeled organic or non-GE (non-genetically engineered).

What crops are most often GMOs?

• SOY (89%)* Chocolates use soy lecithin; Breads use soy flour; Shakes use soy protein concentrate; Baby formulas use soy milk.
• CORN (61%)* High fructose corn syrup is found in sodas, cereals, cookies, candy, salad dressings, spaghetti sauces, and 1,000 other products. Baked goods use cornstarch; Vegetable oils use corn oil; Breads use corn flour.
• CANOLA (80%)* Fried products use canola oil; Baked goods use canola oil; many health products use canola oil.
• COTTON (83%)* Chips use cottonseed oil; Fried snacks use cottonseed oil.

*Percentage of GM soy, corn  and cotton in the US and GM canola grown in Canada.

For more extensive lists of GM ingredients found in food please visit Seeds of Deception and the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.
Please join us in making safer buying choices and not buying genetically modified foods.

For additional information on the GMO issue, visit the Non-GMO Project.

Foxglove Farm is a 120-acre organic farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada. The farm is located on one of the original homesteads on the island, surrounded by hundreds of acres of protected forest and agricultural fields.

The farm produces a wide variety of produce and fruit that is  sold weekly at the Salt Spring Island farmers market, at local stores and select restaurants on Salt Spring Island, and in Vancouver and Victoria.

Foxglove Farm provides a variety of workshops throughout the year, below are the workshops available this month.

Register online or call 250-388-6800 for more information:

August 24 – 27 Small Scale Grain Production
This workshop is intended for anyone wishing to grow grains for their own consumption or for supplying small-scale regional users such as bakers, maltsters, or livestock producers.

August 29, 10-4pm Preserving the Harvest with David Mincey (Camille’s Restaurant)
There is nothing like cracking open a jar of tomato sauce, pickles or jam in the peak of winter and being instantly transported back to the flavours and smells of summer.

August 31 – September 3 Growing Tree Crops for Home & Market
Join orchardists Harry Burton, Bob Duncan, and Michael Ableman to learn about site selection, fruit varieties, orchard establishment, soil fertility, grafting, pruning, pest and disease control, harvest, post harvest, and marketing of fruit.

A full list of other delicious-sounding upcoming programs is available online.

I’m sitting here stunned upon reading in this week’s WestEnder that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has targeted a local micro-retailer and seized $20,000 worth of goods because the food doesn’t meet their French labeling standards. A few weeks back Home Grow-In was targeted by the agency whose two inspectors spent 6 hours combing through the store’s inventory.

There is so much wrong with this picture (additional coverage), I’m not sure where to begin:

1. Let me get this straight. Is it now retailers’ responsibility to be up-to-date on all CFIA labeling criteria when selecting from thousands of products they might carry in their stores? Funny, I thought it was the CFIA’s job to ensure producers met food safety labeling criteria.
2. Officially, the focus of the investigation isn’t the store, it’s the producers. Hmmm, that’s odd. Then why did the inspectors not stop by the producer’s facilities instead of nailing one of many small, local retailers and seizing goods the retailer already paid for but now cannot sell?
3. Wow, way to slam small business and cut if off at the knees. A loss like that can kill a business where cash flow is critical. Not only does the business suffer, so do the employees and their families when they can’t get paid. Great ripple effect if you want more people and businesses in financial dire straits.
4. Oh, and the producers of the pulled products?  Many are registered with the CFIA and believed their labels met all requirements — they also haven’t been contacted by the CFIA since the raid to let them know otherwise.
5. Funnily enough, imported goods on shelves all over the city which are also not bilingually labeled are not generating investigations of such fervor.
6. Then there’s the selective enforcement. What about the chain grocery stores down the street where the exact same non-bilingually labeled products are also sold? Why have they not been investigated?

Want to take some tangible action? Put your money where your mouth is and support local micro food producers and the retailers who provide a critical link in helping ensure quality local products are readily available to consumers.

As for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, they are here for our protection, and we need and want them to do a good job. It’s just a good idea to ensure they are playing by rules that are as fair for the little guy as they are for the big guys.

I’ve been out to the garden a fair bit but consistently forget to bring my camera with me. I did however, snap these  pictures, the first on June 2nd, the most recent on June 20th. Here’s what’s new since the last update:

• The snow peas have begun their happy ascent up the “teepee” (back right).
• Two different kinds of beets have sprouted and are flourishing thus far, largely because slugs do not appear to like them — they are in good company (bottom left).
• The carrots have sprouted (spot them front middle-ish).
• The poor, sad garlic has been denuded of it’s leaves and rust has taken over the remaining stalks. Scapes are in evidence (see if you can find them, mid-plot left side; use top photo showing healthy garlic as guide).
• The kohlrabi, two rows next to the beets, has not made an appearance. Not a single little sprout. Okay, no great loss.
• The dwarf tomato (front centre of plot where the kohlrabi was planted) appears none the worse for wear despite having been transplanted twice, however, it’s not thriving either. It may be hesitating to set down roots for fear of being roused once more, poor thing. I made an unfortunate choice — or two — of locations, both of which ended up being too shady. Note to self!
• Only a couple of the bush beans I seeded popped out and all of them are looking pretty sickly. Near as I can figure, it’s a mix of slugs and aphids, but I’ve caught only a few of each in the act.
• The two red cabbages I swapped with my neighbours D&D for 3 cauliflower are taking nicely to being transplanted.
• The spinach is just beginning to show itself (next to the rusty garlic).
• One kind of kale I seeded is happily growing away, while another kind is less enthusiastic about it’s emergence into daylight (here and there).  We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

And last but not least:

• The sprouted brassicas I bought and added are taking hold nicely: 3 Brussels sprouts, 3 broccoli and 2 cauliflower (mixed throughout).

Now if we could just get some sunshine instead of continuous clouds, cold and rain, we might see some real action!