... Organic Farming, Commerical Agriculture, Sustainable Food Systems...

What does it all mean?!

I follow lots of different folks on Twitter. Some are pro-organic no matter where it comes from. Some support local over anything, even if it's commercial agriculture (or Big Ag is what I usually call it), which usually means pesticides/herbicides/gmo/etc.

Others use a bullseye to decide what to support first (I'll get to my personal version later).

I stumbled upon a twitter conversation involving an organic farmer and a marketer/something who was/is attending a Farm Fair in Western Canada (I'm trying to be discreet. And I don't remember all the exact details and I'm not about to go searching for them).

She (the marketer) was someone who I thought supported local, organic, heritage foods. She did volunteer to help with the upcoming Slow Food National Conference Gala.

Her and the organic farmer (who's products I fully support) were in an argument about what will feed the world (that was the basis of it, as far as I could tell).

I was confused. I thought we were all on the same side.

But does eating LOCAL mean ONLY organic?

Winter Food Swap, Life Update/Rant

Isn't it pleasing when the word "rant" is in a blog post title? ;)

First, here's an EXCELLENT post on the Winter Food Swap this past weekend.  Valerie is a great writer and took some amazing photographs.
Show her some love and leave some comments :)

DIY, is it worth it?

I recently came across this article written by an urban homesteader in San Francisco Bay area.

DIY or Buy?

It brings up some valid points... buying organic produce to make your own jams and pickles or organic pasture meats to make your own bacon can be WAY more expensive than buying organic products in a supermarket, or even a farmer's market.

Doing those types of home preservation isn't about saving money (though sometimes it is), it is about supporting local producers and knowing about your food. Does that mean you always have to make your own products? Of course not! Buy from your local bakery that uses local grown and milled grain products. Buy meats and eggs and dairy from the farmer's market, direct from the farmer, and use those in your home.

That'll support your local economy and farmers more than you realize.

However, when it comes to homesteading, it's about growing $2000 worth of produce from $30 worth of seed and learning how to store it over the winter so you don't have to go buy from the supermarket.

It's about, if you have the space, to have a hobby farm with chickens or a goat or two, maybe even a dairy cow or a couple pigs, and tending to them for eggs and meat and milk.

But it takes commitment.

Getting your money's worth out of your animals doesn't happen in a year. Not even in 2 years. Try 8 or ten.

That's when all your investment in supplies and materials and animals begins to pay off.

It's a lifestyle.

An urban homesteader has to realize that it's a lot of hard work to raise chickens for eggs and meat (pens, shelter, feed, TIME), and that chickens generally DON'T lay eggs in winter. Supermarkets have eggs all year 'round because they have UV lights making the chickens lay eggs all year 'round and that's why those chickens get burned out and end up being "tossed" when they can't keep up with production.

To have a couple goats just for milk?! In the city? Yeah, you're a little crazy. You have to tend to them (clip hooves, milk them, clean up after them), give them shelter from the elements ($ and space) and then feed them ($ and time finding and storing enough feed, especially over the winter).

Why go through all that when you have a full time job to go to, a social life and friends to keep up with, television shows to watch, twitter conversations to follow?!?!?

It's crazy, right?

If you think of it as a hobby or "something fun to try". It's a lifestyle choice. It takes time. It takes an investment of time and money.

It seems really expense to go through all that just for something you can buy in the store.

Then don't do it. Find some trusted farmer's at a market and buy their products. It's why they're there.

What homesteading and preserving is about is self-sufficiency. Knowing where your food is from. Feeding your family with healthy, non-gmo, products that you know what all the ingredients are and can pronounce them all!

In North America we are spoiled with the amount of food we have available to us. We waste it. We destroy it. We mutate it. We change it into things that our great grandmothers wouldn't even consider food and then consume it as our main source of energy.

And we're dieing of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. We pump our food-animals full of antibiotics and drugs to keep them healthy when they're not. We then consume them and then we become unhealthy ourselves.

We moved from natural fats like lard, suet, butter and olive oil to commercial fats like margarine, canola oil (though you can now get cold pressed), and "butter". I say "butter" because the store bought butter has trans-fats in it without any indication of a additive in the ingredients label. Trans-fat is a MAN MADE fat. Butter is a natural product. Trans-fats are not found in nature. You see where I'm going...

Anyways, read the article. Decide for yourself whether or not learning those skills are something you want to commit to. Or, if you want to support your local farmer's and buy their products instead of giving your money to industrial farms.

Also, go visiting Kevin Kossowan. He posted something that plays into this debate quite nicely... It's about eating seasonally and how things taste better when you don't eat them everyday...

Simpler Times and What a Conservative SHOULD be

Let's start with the word Conservative.

Yes, I'm referring to the political party and their platform. Or, more importantly, what their platform SHOULD be.

Today a Conservative is someone who generally believes in capitalism, industry, and "fend for yourselves" attitudes. Amongst other philosophies, of course.

A Democrat is someone who thinks we should tax more and thus provide more for each other, cutting military and large corporations, etc.

Pros and Cons to both.


However, wouldn't a TRUE conservative be more like a modern Democrat?

Think about it.

How did the human civilization live 150-300yrs ago?

We supported each other with providing food, shelter, child care, education, etc. to everyone in our village/community.

We HAD less money, but we didn't NEED more money.

People lived together in a village to work the fields to provide grain for all the families. Those with cows traded cream and butter to those who didn't for eggs or wool, etc.

It didn't take two "incomes" to raise a family. There was less STUFF and more community.

Even if you look at just the past 100yrs. Just the houses. We've gone from the bungalow, a perfect little house that didn't need hours of upkeep, to 4000sqft "houses" that you either spend all your free time cleaning and repairing or spend even more $ on it maintaining it.

The Western civilization is in a financial crisis and still all we can do is spend more money on things we don't need and let the things that are irreplaceable fall to the wayside to be all but forgotten.

We truck in food from thousands of miles away, non-renewable fuel from tens of thousands of miles away, borrow $ we will never be able to pay back, spend $ on homes we never enjoy, pay people to raise our children instead of living within our means and staying home with them....

What has our culture created? What have we, people as a whole, turned into??

We listen to fast food commercials saying that their food is "wholesome and nutritious". "Spend more time with your family! Feed them deep fried chicken tonight!"

Why don't we shut off the tv and COOK with our family tonight instead?
Why don't we go to a farmer's market OR to a u-pick farm and PICK FIRST HAND wholesome and nutritious food?

Why are we "conveniencing" ourselves to death?


On that note, simpler times....

I watched an episode of M*A*S*H today, it was a Christmas one.

One of the doctors was feeling particularly blue about not being at home with his family for Christmas so the Priest wrote to the doctor's mother and asked her to send something that would cheer up her son.

She sent his old tobogging toque.

He was overcome with joy, with memories, with love.

There are a couple of things that is special about this.

First, his mother kept his old toque.

Second, his memories are of a time of free play. Not organized sports or forced piano lessons, etc. Free play. Without grown-ups. Where kids rule and dream and solve problems and create worlds within our own...

Our society and culture has created this fear that if we let our children out of our sight for even a second then someone will snatch them up and take them away forever. We dont let them walk down the block to a friends house or the park or playground or corner store for icecream, even with a friend. Not until they're 13 anyways... and by then they don't want to do that stuff. They sit around and play video games all day, playing and chatting online with their friends who only live down the street instead of getting up and going out to do something together.

AND, if they do go out then we all start worrying that they're doing drugs or having sex and getting pregnant or std's/sti's!


What have we created??


What is your favorite childhood memory? What was your favorite free-play game?

Mine? Going around mom's garden and the yard collecting "food" to make "soup" with. It was mostly still-dirty carrots, fresh peas and rainwater.

Guess I've been a foodie for quite sometime now :)

- DJK

New Shop! and a bit of a rant...

While cruising 50th Street here in E-town I discovered a new shop...

Dutch Treats, Farm Fresh Meats

They carry a wide range of meats, including organic, and because most of their meat products are from their farms in TwoHills and Vegreville they're 100mile friendly!

In addition to imported Dutch treats and the butcher mart, they have a cheese and deli meat case to select from.

The farm in Vegreville also processes farm and wild game. Useful for all the hunters out there.

There prices are comparable to those at the famers markets, a little more expensive than that of major grocery chains and supermarts.

But we all know what that is, right? It costs more to raise food ethically. It costs more when it's farmer direct and free-range and organic because it takes more time and effort.
But it is very important that we support our local farmers. When we buy from them direct, or from their store front, then more money goes back to them and thus back into our economy.
They have a better standard of living (both the animals and the farmers) and we get better food and nutrition.

Sure, we pay a little more. But if you shop smart, but bulk more often and freeze or preserve for year round supply then you can bring those costs down.

Of course, if you follow the Canadian Food Guide then you also realize how much we as a culture over eat.

Think in terms of Quality over Quantity. Smaller substantial meals over empty caloric over-indulgent binges.

Which kinda ties into my rant...

I'm currently 32wks preggo and have been at home on medical leave since the beginning of May. Let's just say i watch a LOT more tv now than I have in a very long time!

There are currently 2 commercials running, both for fast-food chains, that state, "If you order from us you get good food and are able to spend more time doing things with your family!"

......

How about you COOK good food WITH and FOR your family, thus giving them proper nutrition and teaching them valuable life skills.

What those commercials really mean is, "You're so busy with your over scheduled life that you know you don't have time or energy to prepare and eat real food so just call us instead!"

With the huge boom in foodies and culinary enrollment through the roof you'd figure that more people would be interested in slowing down and enjoying life rather than just racing through it trying to "be the best" or "get the most out of life by DOING the most and HAVING the most "stuff" "????

:P

as we prepare for our first born both my partner and I have a clear vision of how we want to raise our children and WHERE we want to raise our children. And what do you know, it's VERY similar to how our parents raised us!

What does that say for the majority of the future?? I cry a little inside thinking about it...