C -S-yAy

This summer, I'm cheating on the Good Food Box program for the Plan B CSA.

Don't get me wrong. Foodshare's Good Food Box program is amazing. Healthy, extra fresh, super-affordable and mostly local produce. Why everyone isn't jumping on this program is beyond my scope of understanding.

But in my opinion, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is one-step up, if you're interested in supporting local growers and you have a bit more money to spend. You may remenber that in 2008, I participated in the Everdale CSA program. Loved it.

My partner thought it would be a great idea to start a "CSA Collective" in our apartment building. He was right; it was a great idea. After some research, I found out that Plan B was the only CSAs that offered home delivery in Toronto. So we spread the news, and in the end, four of neighbors and friends signed up with us. We all now receive a weekly delivery of organic, local fruits and vegetables delivered to our door. Plan B even offered to waive the delivery charge since we had a sizeable order.

This week's share: strawberries, spinach, asparagus, green onions, leaf lettuce, shiitake mushrooms, and the sweetest, crunchiest little red apples I have ever eaten.

Life is a little better thanks to CSA.

Apple Lifesavers

Eating locally in Toronto means a helluva lot of root cellar fruits and vegetables in the winter. I order at least one Good Food Box every week, and each week since late last year, I receive a bag of apples in my box. Now don't get me wrong... I love me my Good Food Box, and I have nothing against apples. But an apple a day, sometimes even 2 apples a day, make me go crazy. Especially those soft, crumbly apples. Gross.

I've been trying to think of ways to eat apples in everything. Apples in salad, apples in soup, apples in breakfast porridge. But still, the apples kept-a-comin', and I just couldn't eat them as fast as I was getting them. But then...

I took a trip to the Plan B farm in Hamilton, and it seemed they had the same "problem". But they thought of one idea that I hadn't: dried apple rings.

I cut up a dozen apples into crosswise, even slices, and removed the cores and bruised parts. The slices were laid out on baking sheets, and were placed in the oven on 150-200F for several hours. The drying process lasted about 3 days, since I didn't want to have the oven on when I wasn't at home, but it could easily be done in one continuous drying session. The slices were checked every now and again to get the right dryness.

After I had my apple rings, eating 2 or 3 apples a day was a walk in the park. Hey apples, is that all you got?

The Dark Side of Local Food

Like most Canadians, I watched last Sunday's Olympic men's hockey final, and celebrated at the top of my lungs in the company of strangers when Canada took the gold medal from the US in overtime. And like most Canadians, I felt proud to be Canadian.



That feeling was short-lived. Today, I watched a short NFB documentary called "El Contrato" (2003). This film exposes the hardship of thousands of seasonal Mexican migrant workers, who come to the town of Leamington, in Ontario, to work on tomato greenhouse farms. Life at home in Mexico is difficult, so they take the job in Canada through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), to support their family. Unbeknownst to them, they enter a contract into slavery:

• Exemptions from basic workers rights --- 10-hour work days, 7-day work weeks, without holiday or overtime pay
• Physical and verbal abuse --- from their employer, and the Leamington community
  
• Poor living conditions
• Heavy income taxes --- over 25% of their salary goes to CPP and EI, even though they cannot access these benefits
• Unsafe work --- such as spraying pesticides without wearing protection
• Threats of deportation
• Humiliation --- their employers call them "little donkeys", and call themselves "their owners"
• Difficulty in accessing health care --- even in cases of severe workplace accident events
• Resistance to organizing --- in Ontario, farm unions are illegal (though this may change soon, see "Fraser v Ontario")
  
• A deaf ear from the Mexican consolate --- they protect the growers, not the workers
  

In fact, the film notes that the workers share something in common: they are all married men with strong family ties and little to no education. These are the kind of workers that won't stick around to become Canadian citizens. Clearly, being separated from their families causes great emotional stress for these workers, and many promise they won't return next year. But still, many of them do return, in the absence of other options.

My concern is that with the local food movement increasing in force, these farms are only going to get bigger, and the issue more widespread.

CALL-TO-ACTION: What can we do to help? Here are some ideas:

1. Contact your MP to demand rights for migrant farm workers. Justice for Migrant Workers has a mock petition letter that you can use.
   
2. Contact Heinz (which uses Leamington tomatoes, and even has a Leamington factory). Tell them that you'll stop buying their products until they support migrant workers rights in Canada.
   
3. Contact the film director and/or TVO (who aired the movie) to show your support. Both were threatened with legal action by the town of Leamington and the tomato growers.
4. Support the cause. Befriend Justice for Migrant Workers, join a rally/march, get educated, spread the word.

How about some human rights to go with those 14 gold Olympic medals, Canada?

CSA --- A Locavore Baby Step

One of the first major milestones in my local food foray was signing up for a CSA this past summer.

CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a system whereby members support a farm operation by sharing the farm costs. In turn, the members receive a share of the harvest. Members usually pay up-front, early in the growing season when the farm operation needs the funds the most (VS the industrial model, where farmers are paid only AFTER the produce is purchased by the consumer.... this even goes for when you buy at the grocery store).

After researching several CSAs available in the Toronto area (e.g. Plan B, Green Earth, Mama Earth, Front Door), I selected Everdale. For me, it was the BEST choice BY FAR:

• Local pick-up (vs delivery.... not sure if it would work for those living in an apartment building)
• Select your own produce (vs receiving a box with surprise produce)
  
• All organic and local produce
• Bonus: free herbs!
  

Not only does Everdale run a CSA, but they also operate a not-for-profit Environmental Learning Centre --- providing farmer training, school programs, and educational tours and workshops open to the public. They are located about an hour's drive north-west of Toronto.

For more information about Everdale, visit www.everdale.org.

Photo: small Everdale share from early October, plus produce from the Trinity-Bellwoods Farmers Market -- carrots, beets, celeriac, potatoes, tomatoes, parsnips, onions, peppers, butternut squash.

Writer's note: I personally don't like the term "locavore". Though it's clever, it suggests "better-than-thou" and food snobbery. My aversion has grown considerably since I heard the term used on Lipstick Jungle (a TV show about 3 rich, whiny New York women) when the annoying, stuck-up character played by Brooke Shields was organizing a Locavore Thanksgiving. Barf.