Tag Archives: Organic farming

Be the Difference

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The day after Halloween, the day of Daylight Savings Time, about a dozen people showed up to the Bloor Cinema to hear Elaine Smokler facilitate a Panel Discussion on Organic & Sustainable Food presented by Sunrise Events. Be the Difference is a new series of events. Each event showcases local musicians, has an element of comedy, explores solutions to a specific issue related to the Environment, Peace, and Social Innovation.

The panelists:

Musicians Michelle and Nick kicked things off with a Dylan tune.

Margaret placed a prop mid stage, a canvas Everdale Farm bag that bore the words “Know your food, know your farmer.” Nice slogan.

People are afraid to grow their own food.

Hannah was first to speak and talked about the history of Matchbox Garden. I’ve been in Matchbox’s neighbourhood. Matchbox is on FarmStart land, neighbour to The Cutting Veg, where I picked vegetables two months ago. Matchbox Garden & Seed Co. was established in 2006 in the city as an urban organic kitchen garden experience. Hannah said, “People are afraid to grow their own food.” and recommends an answer to a quandary that many of us have: If we have to choose between organic but imported and local and conventional, buy local over organic to sustain communities and support farmers. She said that food is unsafe because food systems are too big. Buying from farmers is safer.

I felt like when I stepped off the plane the food movement hit me in the face.

Brooke from FoodShare has an interesting story. She used to be a dietitian in Australia. After she moved to Canada a year ago her life took an unexpected turn and she ended up working at FoodShare. “I felt like when I stepped off the plane the food movement hit me in the face.” She credits Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food for an “ah ha” moment. Now she teaches children and youth about healthy, sustainable food. She reiterated what her boss Debbie Field said the previous week about food literacy in high schools and repeated Debbie’s “public food system” idea.

Think beyond the hundred mile diet

Paul talked about the Slow Food movement and stated that human action can change society. “Think beyond the hundred mile diet to the hundred year diet”. Corporations look at short term. Small farms look at long term. Organic farming improves soil.

When we import cheap food we’re importing human degradation

According to Margaret, farmers are on the decline. She pointed out that if it were any other profession on the decline – doctors, lawyers, etc., – people would freak out. There’s a food policy in almost every country. Canada and the U.S. are among those without food policies.

Here are Margaret’s proposed three actions to “be the difference”, her solutions:

  1. Get off the grid. Don’t shop at supermarkets (or avoid it as much as possible)
  2. A couple of supermarket chains in the Canada control 75%. Shop at co-ops, organic markets, CSAs, etc. as much as possible. Share a cow. Support the farmer’s directly.
  3. Get food policy of the political agenda.

What about the high cost of food? Often a lower price means that workers aren’t being fairly paid. It’s akin to slave labour. “When we import cheap food we’re importing human degradation.” There’s value on food production.

I learned that the City of Toronto has a Food Policy Council. Good to know.

The nature of the event was to be solutions-focused. I think that in order to get to the heart of solutions more time is needed, but that the panel made a good start.

I look forward to seeing what’s next in the Be the Difference series.

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The Cutting Veg: The puns are taken but there's plenty to harvest

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(All the “cutting veg” puns are taken.)

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:

(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.)

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