Zeller's Bolete - photo by Ron Wolf

So last fall off I went with my mushroom guru Sequoia Lesosky to see what can be found in a local forest floor this time of year, and I came home with a variety of exotic mushrooms. I also bought some wild mushrooms of the same or similar kind on Granville Island Market to use in the same recipes for my “control group”. I patiently waited until tomorrow when I prepared a feast of three different dishes from the wild and bought mushrooms and shared them with my family. The verdict?

To my family there was no discernible difference. To me the wild stuff tasted stronger and quite different than any of the store bought stuff, which is what I sort of expected as for me it wasn’t a blind tasting – I knew which was which. And then I decided that it must be that the difference is owed to the residual “spirit of the hunt”. It took a lot of effort to get the whole thing together, and it was all in my plate. In theirs? It was just soup or risotto or whatever. I decided they missed out. I am taking my family with me the next time I take to the forest.

I’ve recently come across an organization that has me seriously considering an escape. Okay, not quite to the far reaches of the Sub-Sahara, but certainly to spots somewhat closer to civilization. Like maybe a berg in the Maritimes or a homestead just up the river from Dawson City, Yukon. (It’s beautiful up there, I’ve been twice.)

Apple Press, WWOOF Australia

World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is an international network of organizations that offers access to organic farms throughout the world where volunteers can learn about farming and contribute to the running of the farm in exchange for room and board.

The criteria are simple. Volunteers must:

• Have a genuine interest in learning about organic growing, country living or ecologically sound lifestyles.
• Help their hosts with daily tasks for an agreed number of hours.

Hosts are required to:

• Grow organically, are in conversion, or use ecologically sound methods on their land.
• Provide hands-on experience of organic growing and other learning opportunities where possible.
• Provide clean dry accommodation and adequate food for their volunteers.

Other than that, the specifics vary from host to host, with summaries posted online. For a $20 annual fee you can read the full details and contact the host whose project interests you, literally across the globe.

In checking out the site I was astonished at the wide variety of locations and job descriptions, and quickly became lost in time as I contemplated how wonderful it would be to escape to a far away place and get back in touch with the land in a very tangible way. Working with livestock, building, clearing land, planting, harvesting, you name it.

Even me, with my loathing of dirt and distaste of bugs, could find a spot that suits me, and allows me to contribute. Hmmm, I’ve always wanted to explore Newfoundland, and go back to Spain, and explore New Zealand…

It may be hard to make a tangible connection between long-term poor diet and health care costs that impact you financially, because the results are often not immediate. But what about the costs to quality of life which, if left unchecked, become those health care costs?

About 15 years ago a friend of mine had what I considered a horrific diet, even back then before “organic” was a mainstream word. No breakfast, lots of fast food for lunch and dinner, and — what grossed me out the most — she started each day with a giant Pepsi from the local 7-11, and usually had a few more by the time the day was done. She had stomach problems and a lot of headaches, but it wasn’t until she decided to clean up her act in preparation of getting pregnant that she realized how much her diet was affecting her life.

“I didn’t know you could get up in the morning without a headache!” she told me, once she’d been “clean” a few months. She’d become so addicted to caffeine that by the time she got up in the morning she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Not that she knew what it was. She just knew that drinking another gallon of Pepsi and taking an aspirin made the headache go away.

What kind of toll is your diet taking on your body right now?

Food expert, nutritionist, NYU professor, and author of Food Politics, Marion Nestle explains how our food systems have reached this point, and what you can do to choose the healthiest food.

An articulate, thorough, must-see perspective of the food industry…

Marion Nestle at Gel 2009 from Gel Videos.

Shiitake Mushroom Block

Start with a mushroom block. It’s a super easy way to keep yourself stocked up on delicious mushrooms throughout the year. The blocks come pre “seeded” and just need to be kept moist and cool. And, if properly cared for, each block can produce 3 to 4 crops.

The mushroom blocks, supplied by Western Biologicals Ltd. here in BC, will be available by the end of February. Email stephanie.lynn.leclair@gmail.com to reserve yours, instructions included. Last season’s sold out quickly, so order early!

Oyster Mushroom Block

Oh, and if you can’t get to mushrooms, they will come to you.

Bicycle delivery is available for an additional $2 if you live within the delivery area (west of Main St., north of 41st Ave, and downtown Vancouver). Map

GROWING OUT OF HUNGER
featuring Will Allen, CEO, Growing Power Community Food Centre, Milwaukee & Chicago.

Thursday, March 25, 7-9pm
Croatian Cultural Centre
3250 Commercial Drive (at 14th)
Vancouver, BC
(Transit: #20 Victoria bus from the Commercial/Broadway Skytrain station)

This event is free, however pre-registration is required. Click here to RSVP

More information is available from SFU Centre for Dialogue.

Village Vancouver is pleased to present gardening workshops with Grant Watson of Gourmet Gardens. Grant is a former organic farmer and has been teaching gardening to adults and children since 2003. He also operates an edible landscaping business.

A full list of workshops with dates and locations is available on the Gourmet Gardens website, along with course descriptions. To register contact Ross at rmoster@flash.net.

Here’s a sampling of what’s in store:

Garden Planning and Preparation
This course will get you started in thinking about how to start a food garden, and taking the first important step of getting the beds ready for planting. A sound garden plan that takes all the key factors into consideration has a better chance of producing and winning your enthusiasm.

Food Crops: Selection & Care
So you’ve got a garden all ready for planting. What are you going to put in, and when should you start? This course will cover all the major groups of vegetable and fruit crops that grow well in our climate. We will also discuss the specific needs of plants in each category.

Soil Fertility and Plant Health Management
An extremely important topic in organic gardening is soil health and fertility. Healthy soil is a vibrant community. Learn how to be an ally, not an enemy of your soil. We’ll also cover some key techniques for promoting and protecting your annual and perennial food plants, as well as the ones that just look pretty, from disease and pests.

If you’re getting all twitchy for a gardening fix, here are a couple of upcoming events at VanDusen Botanical Garden to get you ready for planting:

Seed Swap
Presented by the BC Master Gardeners Association, the annual Seedy Saturday is held in Floral Hall. A celebration of heritage varieties and organic gardening featuring more than 30 growers, seed companies and exhibitors and Heritage Seed Swap. There will be a variety of seed-inspired activities for the whole family. Admission by donation.

Saturday, February 27, 2010
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
5251 Oak Street at 37th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Annual Manure Sale
Give your garden a spring tonic! Cost is $5 for a 20kg bag. For information and pre-orders email marcelfpichette@alumni.uottawa.ca.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
5251 Oak Street at 37th Avenue – Parking lot
Vancouver, BC

Excerpt from Ecoholic

“According to the CFIA, this label should mean the animal was raised without human intervention (i.e. vaccines, hormones or antibiotics). Some health stores use the term on their meat to mean hormone-, antibiotic-, GMO- and animal-by-product-free, as well as free-range. But the feed isn’t organic.”

Excerpt from GreenerChoices.org

“If you came across a package of ground beef with a “naturally raised” label on it, it might conjure up images of animals roaming freely and grazing on open pasture. But unfortunately, that’s not the case with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new voluntary standard for the naturally raised claim, which the agency issued on January 16, 2009.”

“For livestock used for the production of meat and meat products, the USDA’s naturally raised marketing claim standard:

• Prohibits growth promotants (including growth hormones);
• Prohibits animal byproducts in feed—which are implicated in causing mad cow disease; and
• Claims to prohibit antibiotics (but allows ionophores used as coccidiostats for parasite control).

While those are important practices, Consumers Union believes only specific product claims should be allowed, such as ‘no antibiotics or hormones ever administered’. They should not be couched under a vague and misleading term that does not address how the animals were raised, their main diet, treatment of animals, space requirements, and other concerns.

“This regulation will allow an animal that has come from a cloned or genetically engineered stock, was physically altered, raised in confinement without ever seeing the light of day or green of pasture, in poor hygiene conditions with a diet laced in pesticides to be labeled as ‘naturally raised.’ This falls significantly short of consumer expectations and only adds to the roster of misleading label claims approved by USDA for so-called natural meat,” said Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Senior Scientist and Policy Analyst at Consumers Union, and Director of GreenerChoices.org.”

“A national telephone poll conducted by Consumer Reports’ National Research Center released in November 2008 showed American consumers want the “naturally raised” meat claim to mean more than USDA’s standard, including that it came from an animal that:

• Had a diet free of chemicals, drugs and animal byproducts (86%)
• Was raised in a natural environment (85%)
• Ate a natural diet (85%)
• Was not cloned or genetically engineered (78%)
• Had access to the outdoors (77%)
• Was treated humanely (76%)
• Was not confined (68%)”

“Sixty years ago, the sight of workers harvesting hops in the fall was commonplace in BC, especially in the Fraser Valley, where as many as 4,000 seasonal labourers were needed to pick more than 1,600 acres that were under cultivation when the industry peaked in the late 1940s.

But today on the Saanich Peninsula, a dozen years after a prolonged price slump drove the province’s once-thriving hops industry to extinction, a fresh crop of locally grown hops is an exceedingly rare commodity.

Phillips is one of a growing number of BC microbrewers who, driven by record-high prices and unstable supplies in recent years, are seeking partnerships with local farmers to grow the essential beer-making herb on contract.”

Read the rest of the article at Granville Magazine Online.