Last Thursday I volunteered at The Cutting Veg, an organic farm in Brampton, Ontario. I’m on their mailing list and for weeks have been wanting to volunteer but without a car I didn’t think it was possible. Another volunteer offered and to the farm I went. 7am pick up.

What images go through your mind when you think about farmers? Farm houses with rows of corn and livestock in the “backyard”? Silos? Country folk? Personally “Jewish farmer” always seemed like an oxymoron to me although I don’t know why (laugh at me if you wish, we all have preconceived notions).

Daniel Hoffman of The Cutting Veg lives in mid town Toronto (a few blocks from me) with his wife, who I met a couple of weeks earlier in a separate context and without her husband (the Jewish world is small). Every morning at 6am he drives to his farm, a large plot on McVean Incubator Farm, leased by FarmStart. At McVean Farm/FarmStart, new farmers receive access to the land, infrastructure, and equipment they need to raise crops and to process and market their products. By granting access to land and equipment at reasonable rates, FarmStart’s farm facilities allow new farmers to postpone major investments in land and equipment until their businesses start generating profit. The incubator model also helps participants to build the skills and knowledge that they need in order to make sound investments.

Other farmers who occupy land on McVean land include Matchbox Garden and Seed Co. and a beekeeper (you can see the hives in the middle photo of the bottom row).

There is no farm house. No toilet facilities either, except for an outhouse (nauseated by the smell the first time I used it, I chose to er, relieve myself hidden among the corn rows – harvest complete – the second time because when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go).

Immediately beyond the farm and across the street are housing developments. Imagine living in your cookie cutter home with bee hives and rows of crops behind you. It’s picturesque. If it weren’t for the cookie cutter housing development – and the fact that I couldn’t live in the ‘burbs – I’d think that it was downright idyllic.  Row upon row of crops planted in phases. Crops such as cucumbers, kale, potatoes and carrots grow in multiple rows, planted at various times to mature and harvest at different times.

The biggest crop for The Cutting Veg is garlic. Their “Global Garlic Project” includes 10 different international varieties of garlic and they have over 10,000 garlic plants. They currently have 6 varieties of Organic Garlic available for order: Italian, Korean, Persian, Sicilian, Ukrainian, and Yugoslavian. I’ve bought a couple of these at the farmer’s market. As I learned from Daniel months ago, garlic can last for months stored in a paper bag (I keep mine in a cupboard and have started storing my onions in a cloth bag in a dark cupboard). Check out the the Cutting Veg’s garlic varieties and their characteristics here.

On the day I visited, we were picking vegetables for the Tikkun Adamah CSA, a joint project of the Cutting Veg Organic Farm and the Kavanah Organic Community Teaching Garden in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Upon arrival I was assigned to cucumbers, which are surprisingly spiky. The spikes rub right off with light finger pressure. I guess that when you buy cucs at the store they’ve been rubbed of spikes.

Next was tomatoes – four varieties – and then two kinds of beans (see photo four rows down on the left). I sampled a couple of each as I picked just to taste. Along the way I asked many questions and hoped that I remember the answers. I learned that the orange flowers that I see packed in my salad greens serve the purpose of repelling insects and that the pie plates hanging from strings at the end of crop rows are to repel dear.

On a farm tour after completion of our pick I learned that buckwheat (left photo, second from bottom) is a natural fertilizer. We were allowed to sample purple kale, basil and other crops that weren’t being picked that day. Volunteers were then offered produce to take home: Anything too “ugly” to go to the CSA. Tomatoes, carrots, squash, garlic. Daniel also allowed us to go through the corn stalks and pick anything that was left over. I picked an ear of corn, stripped it, and ate it right on the spot.

Corn picking season is over. Garlic scapes are long gone. Pumpkins are coming up.

I learned a few things about organic farming. It felt great to be down in the dirt working. When my thighs got sore from squatting in the fields I sat cross legged as I plucked beans, shuffling to the side as I went. I also learned that while I was prepared with pants, sunhat, sunglasses, sunscreen and camera the next time I need to pack more water (a couple of brief dizzy spells in the heat reminded me to drink) and a canvas bag for my haul.

Want to sample some of The Cutting Veg yourself?

On Saturdays you can find their booth (minus Daniel) at Wychwood Barns farmer’s market. On Mondays he’s at the Sorauren farmer’s market.

Interested in volunteering? The Cutting Veg is always looking for volunteers. If you can spare just a few hours at least once a week during the day contact Daniel (647) 388-7444 or daniel@thecuttingveg.com.

The Cutting Veg has a blog.

What others are blogging about The Cutting Veg:

• BlogTO: On The Cutting Veg of Urban Farming (I’d have used a headline like theirs if they hadn’t).
• Breastfeeding Moms Unite: Foodie Fridays: Not Your Mama’s Green Beans

(I did take more. When I first started on the cucumbers I didn’t want to take my big camera out so I used my phone’s camera. None of those photos have been moved to my computer.)

• 1 bag of mixed greens (a bigger bag than last week).
• A big broccoli.
• Grapes tomatoes, a pint that contained both red and orange (swoon).
• A pint of strawberries, which I’m told by a colleague have one week left in season. According to a list I picked up today (available online here), they’re in season through to the end of July.
• A pint (?) of Raspberries (swoon), in season through September.
• Peas

That took me to $20 exactly… until I decided to buy cherries ($4) and a cranberry walnut muffin from the sweet potato lady ($1.50).

It saddens me that asparagus season is only May – June and the markets only open in June. This means one month of asparagus, and I finally found uses for it other than roasting. I saw beets, carrots, cucumber and radishes today. There was a lady selling “farm fresh” eggs and I’d have bought some if I didn’t already have eggs.

Photos:

More photos on Flickr.

From the Toronto Star’s Food section:

Liquid Gold - the world of honey and beekeeping. And, I learned new words from the article.  “apiarist” and “apiary”, for example. I also learned that bees contribute more than $1 billion to Canadian agriculture every year. Be sure to check the side bar for other stories.  CBC (or should I say, “Cee Bee Cee”) ran a similar story today.
I’d like to do a proper honey tasting, but I’m not sure what I think of a flavour that morphs “into pineapple, wildflowers, raspberry, petrol and smoke”.

Cocktails in New Orleans. “Originally, the cocktail was considered a morning eye-opener.” For some, it still is.

A review of Brazilian restaurant Gaucho BBQ. Headline: Hospitality, Brazilian style.

Other links:

I wanted to go to this local Dinner in the Sky event (the concept’s Canadian premiere) but learned that it was for American Express cardholders only. I wish I’d remembered about it and taken my camera over. Spotlight Toronto covers it here.

Slashfood: How to eat like a geek, and asking geeks what they eat. Um, food? Lots of coffee too.

A helpful post: Quick and easy ways to soften butter.

This might be a repost but I’ve had it flagged for awhile: A good trick for saving summer herbs for future use.

Dinner tonight:

It was one of those “use what you have an stretch the grocery budget” meals. Vegetables (finished a bag of mixed frozen vegetables) stir fried with Thai Ginger instant rice soup, which wasn’t really “soupy”. It’s basically student food: cheap and not that good. It was an experiment and it fed me. I shall not repeat it.

End post.

Today is one of those days in which I like being up early, and done work early. I still don’t like waking up early. If only I could convince myself to get up on time by reminding myself about the “good feeling” of being up and out at 6:30am. My brain doesn’t like to reason at 5:30am. The closest I can get to reasoning is “Get your ass out of bed. 5 or 10 more minutes won’t make a difference.” This has a varied success/fail rate.

This morning I decided that after work I’d head to the Friends of Riverdale Farm farmer’s market. I grabbed $25 in cash. My budget. After buying breakfast, ($3 in change) I had around $23 left (No really, I can add, but I had $1 in change in my wallet already).

After work I hopped on a streetcar. The farmer’s market was only 3 major intersection + a 5-10 minute walk away, in Cabbagetown. I thought I’d get there near closing time but had confused the timing: It doesn’t end at 3, it starts at 3. With 40 minutes to spare I wandered around the farm.

More, with many photos, after the cut….

First stop: Asperagus, garlic scapes, strawberries and mixed greens. $17. Whew.

*Note, I didn’t buy the potatoes, I only photographed them.

Next stop: A green grape tomato plant for $2. Yes, I’m going to grow tomatoes. The girl told me that she planted them for the first time last summer and was successful at it even though she’s a lazy gardener. Sold! (You had me at $2.)

$5 and change left. What to do? I found a guy selling seeds for $3 and $3.50 and did something that felt odd: I bargained (yes, I’m a Jew who feels uncomfortable bargaining). “I hate to do this, but I’ve only got $5. Can I get these two?” Sold. I bought arugala – because Apartment Therapy says that it’s a good one for apartment dwellers to grow – and Mustard red giant (brassica juncea).  I promised a few vendors that I’d return (as if they’d remember). Notably, the guy selling chocolate (made with pedal power generated electricity – a link that is a nostalgic gift for those who click on it and remember), the organic meat people (although I have an organic butcher close by and never go) and the lady selling her crackers.

I snapped more photos on my way home. Cabbagetown is very cool. Avril Lavigne used to live there.

On my way home I noticed a new cafe called agenda cafe. A guy- early to mid 20s, darkish skinned – on the corner was handing out balls of falafel. Deep fried goodness. Crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside with the right seasoning, it was perfect, and the tastiest I’d had since my trip to Israel in February. I remarked to the guy (with trepidation because I never know who I’m talking to), “This is almost as good as the falafel in Israel.” With a slight Israeli accent he answered, “We’re Israeli.” Ah ha! And so I told him that I’d recently been there. He replied, without a hint of sleeze, “Come in. We’ll take care of you.” I wasn’t hungry and had bags to carry but promised that I’d return. Whoda thunk that the best falafel in Toronto (south of Eglinton – and I haven’t had falafel on or north of Eglinton in years) would be found in the gaybourhood?
Five hours later it occurs to me: “agenda [cafe]” is spelled with a small “a”. So is “aroma”, as in “aroma cafe”. I guess Israelis don’t capitalize proper nouns because there are no capital letters in Hebrew.

Here is my bounty at home:

My apartment is filled with the fragrance of strawberries. These are way better – sweeter and more fragrant 0 more “normal” – than the ones I got at the previous farmer’s market, possibly because these ones are organic and those weren’t.

The tomato plant is in a big plastic yogurt container, waiting to move to a terra cotta planter. The asperagus ends have been cut and the stalks are sitting in water, covered in a plastic bag, to maintain freshness.

Dinner, because I wanted one that was quick and easy after the gym: Herb salad (the one bought prior to today) topped with sliced garlic scape, fake chicken strips and buffalo mozzarella. I whisked together a vinaigrette of olive oil, fresh lemon juice and grainy mustard. YUM! For dessert I’m eying a carton of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt. Or maybe a protein shake with strawberries, blueberries and bananas. Or Baklavah.

In unrelated news, after three weeks off from the gym (went back last week and been working out almost daily) and eating both really healthy food (lots of greens) and lots of junk food (cookies, ice cream) I’m the lowest weight I have been in awhile. Go figure. I think my body naturally sheds weight when the temperature warms up. It’s a reminder that I’m part of the animal kingdom.