Year Two: Reflection, and Looking Forward

Happy belated birthday, my dearest blog. Looking back 2 years ago, when you were first born, it seems so long ago when I first started posting in my tiny west-end apartment. Back then, local food was on the come-up. The book, "The 100-Mile Diet", had been released for a year, and only a handful of the city folk I talked to understood the desire to know where their food comes from. I was already well into the ideologies of localism, but the thought of authoring a blog abhorred me for several reasons. 2008 was the year I broke down.

Fast forward to 2010. Locallyproducedfood is a household string of words, already adopted by the mainstream as a corporate social responsibility halo (see marketing campaigns for Hellman's mayonnaise, Lay's potato chips and Loblaws supermarkets). Nearly every neighborhood in downtown Toronto has a weekly farmer's market. I think it's a step in the right direction, though I warn that Motive is as important as Action.

But just when I thought I was the coolest local food kid on the block, I quickly discovered I still had a long way to go. So this year, I attended workshops on How To Start a Community Garden, and Mushroom Cultivation. My partner and I organized a CSA delivery group, tried to convince our community to set-up a garden at Joel Weeks park, flirted with guerrilla gardening and wild foraging, made and served veggie chili to hundreds of G20 protesters, and delved deeper into DIY craft through crochet, soaps and salves. We met dozens of people through Everdale, the G20 weekend, Plan B, Foodshare, Not Far From The Tree, and our daily travels, all of whom live and breathe activism, and continue to inspire and motivate my own life. And still, I feel this is only the beginning.

This year also brought about great strides in my balcony garden experiment, demonstrated by the appearance of fully grown, happy plants. I could not have done it without learning from Year One, proving that there is truth to those annoying "try, try again" quotes. The best advice I have coming out of Year Two is take care of your soil.

2011 will bring even more change. Starting in March, I'll be taking a year off to travel through Europe, Asia and Australia. It is with sadness that I announce that this blog will be on hold during that time. Though I'll no doubt be dying to share travel stories with you all, I can assure you it won't be through a travel blog or Facebook account. We'll figure something out.

Wishing you all a year of courage, change and action.

In solidarity,
Minda

Read This! The Edible City

Think you love food? Think you know your city? I think not.

Though the title reads "from farm to fork", this is NOT just another book persuading you to buy local, sustainable, fair trade, organic, ethical, rah, rah. It’s a story about FOOD, and TORONTO. Rather, a collection of essays about craft beer, indie coffee shops, world culture, food policy, history, gardens, food service, street food, migrant workers, food sanitation practices and life as a rat. Just to name a few.

This book is easily one of my favourite reads this year. One of the best essays came from Wayne Roberts, Toronto’s own food policy darling. “How Toronto found its food groove” celebrates Toronto’s food movement past, present and future in a way that makes you truly feel proud of our city.

But really, they are ALL fantastic reads. Read one, read them all.

City Chickens

The existing law that bans chicken-keeping in Toronto is in the news again. The Toronto Sun recently ran an article suggesting that it could be an issue for voters in this upcoming municipal election.

I would love to see this ban overturned, for all the reasons you can imagine. Plus it gives me another reason NOT to vote for Rob Ford (who is against city chickens, claiming "we're not living on the farm". What a sad day it would be for food policy and security if this bozo got elected to office).

Step 1: backyard chickens. Step 2: building rooftop chickens?

Let's Get Seedy

Words heard just before entering this past weekend's much anticipated "Seedy Saturday on a Sunday" event at Toronto's Wychwood Barns.

The usual suspects were present: Urban Harvest, Greta's, The Cottage Gardener, and the like, selling their organic, rare, heirloom and mostly edible plant seeds. But there were quite a number of small seed vendors, a welcome change from last year. I bought dill seeds for my balcony from Wall Flower Studio, and 'merveille de quatre saisons lettuce' seeds from Wildsome Gardens and mache seeds from the Riverdale Meadow Community Garden for a gardener pal. I also picked up greenheaded coneflower and cup plant seeds from the seed exchange tables, for a guerilla gardening experiment. Most artful seed packet prize goes to Urban Tomato Seeds, and photography prize to the person who always forgets their camera goes to moi.

Not to be overlooked were the community and activist groups also present at the event. These organizations work with fire in their hearts and sweat on their brows to build and maintain local and global food security systems. I now know that USC Canada created an animated film called "The Story of Food" to teach the public about our food system, the Riverdale Meadow Community Garden has plots available, and Not Far From The Tree taps maple syrup in the city. Seeds for your brain.

Pay-What-You-Can was also a clear theme, making the event and its information and wares accessible to all cash-brackets.

Let's all get seedy.