Consequences of Going Organic

Consequences of Organic from Island Natural Markets, Nanaimo, BC

Rain Rain is it Gone Away?

In a community garden you really notice variety and what works in any given year.This one is just off the highway in Victoria.

For the past two weeks I have had to light a fire at least five times. It’s been too cold in the house. That doesn’t usually happen in June!

And what it feels like in my house, the poor tomato plants are feeling in spades outside! Argh. My cucumber plants look more like shriveled yellow sprouts, the basil is turning black and the tomatoes? Bursting their cloche frames I’m afraid to remove.

This past weekend has seen the first warm days in… well, days, the lettuce is loving it, I’ve had my first feeding of snow peas and the berries? Well! Let me tell you in one word….dripping. I’ve never seen them so loaded with fruit.

I guess with gardening and farming you get what the weather and circumstance provide. Some years the berries and fruit are bad, others the broad beans and tomatoes prolific.

The Key I guess is planting variety and harvesting and preserving whatever is plentiful in any given year. Monoculture farmers must have a hard time of it. That’s why they need pesticides and fertilizers and artificially made seed. They rely solely on that one crop and need to do everything possible to make it profitable.

Diverse farming sustains itself, creating fertilizer, capitalizing on climate conditions and providing the farm and consumers with a steady, delicious supply of food whatever conditions climate change throws at us. Thank goodness, for the past two years climate change has thrown wet, cold springs our way.

For this year, my blueberry harvest will be impressive as will my broad beans. But the biggest harvest will be potatoes, I planted them everywhere in the yard over the years. And in between beans, and tomatoes and peas and blueberries I see their persistent furry leaves.

At least they like the rain!

Wind, Snow and a Dead Horse!

Remember how excited I was yesterday?

The plan was to pick up some bison bones, heart and liver for the dogs, drive back to Qualicum, interview Dirk and Bea at Sloping Hill Farm, hit Naked Naturals and then take the dogs for a walk.

After the trauma of seeing a dead horse we went for a walk at Heritage Forest Park in Qualicum.

Plans change. The wind hit Courtenay and Campbell River hard, knocking out power to the bison farm. Hydro told them they wouldn’t have the lights back on for about 24 hours.

Opening and closing the door to a freezer full of meat…not a good idea if you want to keep the product safe. So that trip was postponed.

Then I woke up to a cold house because I went to agility last night and if I don’t tell the boys to keep the fire going…they don’t (that’s for another post on another blog). My body moved like it was swimming through ice water, slowly and lethargically.

Outside, snow was falling?????

Eventually we headed up to the farm, stopping first at Naked Naturals getting a delicious lunch of curried chicken sandwich and chocolate chip cookie.

When we reached Sloping Hill it was ten minutes before our appointment. But Roxanne and I love exploring dead end dirt roads so off we went.

About a quarter of a mile up the road was a large field with two horses. One, a big furry buckskin stood over a blonde …dead…horse. I’m not kidding. We did a double take. Our hearts in our mouths. The taste of chocolate suddenly bitter.

Turning the car around I drove back to the horses, looking for signs of life. I couldn’t see any movement to indicate the horse was breathing so I asked Roxanne if she could.

Groaning, she put her hands to her face and exclaimed, “I can’t look”.

Willie (the border collie) meanwhile, sitting quietly in the backseat, suddenly saw the two large sheep aka horses and started barking…in Roxanne’s ear.

She jumped, cookie went flying, Nike dove for the treat, Willie lunged at the window and the dead horse lying on the ground? Sat up and with a “WTF” look gave us a disgruntled snort.

Bison, Wheat and the Wind in My Hair

I’m excited, really excited. Okay so I get excited easily, but a friend and I are heading up island to pick up some pasture fed bison products and on the way back we’re stopping in at Sloping Hill Farm.

I met the owner, Bea Graf, at Seedy Sunday over a bag of Island grown and milled hard wheat. That’s right, her and her partner grow wheat and other grains at their farm in Qualicum Beach.

Tomorrow I am interviewing Bea and Dirk, getting pictures and finding out how they continuously produce high quality delicious foods. I might even find out the romance of farming together!

This interview is only one of many, Lorraine Browne and I have been conducting over the past year in our quest to discover the secrets, romance, recipes and dirt on farming the Island.

The book contains recipes from chefs like Bill Jones and Don Genova, as well as a resource guide of farmers’ markets, farms and food producers and the stories that make our Island farmers some of the best and most innovative in BC.

So yes, I’m excited. Tomorrow I get to talk food and farming! Want to find out about Sloping Hill Farm? Subscribe to this blog and you’ll get the post about my visit! I may even include a recipe!

Broken Nails and Dry Skin

My right hand is for gardening. I’ve tried using my left but it’s awkward and not as strong.

It serves as a multi purpose tool. The ultimate in survivor wear. I can dig holes, scoop dirt, make trenches, wield a hammer, hold a shovel, drop the tiniest of seed in a hole I’ve made and a host of other amazing things. And when I garden, my hands are naked. I’ve tried wearing gloves but I end up taking them off because my hands start itching and it doesn’t give me the same thrill as feeling the dirt skin to skin.

Unfortunately, when you go naked in the garden, you pay for it. My nails are cracked, broken, ripped, and cracked. My skin doesn’t look any better.

Why am I sharing this? Because today I was out working in the dirt. The sun shining on my back felt heavenly, I could see a bit of the mountains on the mainland when I rested my chin on the handle of the hoe. Everything felt right. Cocoa Puff ate all the bugs I dug up, John pruned the fruit trees and I planted two rows of Pac Choi, one of cilantro, two of spinach and three of beets. I made a cold frame, set my six inch Pac Choi outside to harden off, cut down a shrub to clear a space for my Strawberry Stack, got my tomato bin ready (yes I’m enthusiastic) and made another raised bed box.

It was a good, productive day in the garden. Does it really matter that my hands look like it?

Are You a Hothouse Tomato?

Hothouse at CuisinArt Resort, Anguilla

What vegetables did you have for dinner? Did you have any for lunch? If so, what were they? How about yesterday or the day before? How many different vegetables do you eat in one day?

I’ve been researching the differences in diet between early man and his more ‘progressive’ farming cousin. Who do you think was healthier? If you said the guy who grows his own food….you’d be wrong. Early man won that race. He had better teeth, stronger bones and probably would have lived longer if he didn’t have all those larger predators after him. Why? Major question with many differing theoretical answers.

The current winning theory on our healthy Paleo man is that he had variety in his diet. Lots of variety. But his plate didn’t have the requisite protein, carbohydrate and three vegetables, followed by dessert. He ate what ever was available at any given time and in any given place. That meant nuts that grew at higher altitudes, berries on the lowlands and anything and everything he could find from foraging. Look at a book of wild, edible plants and you’ll find a lot of pages. Variety abounds.

Diversity makes for a successful ecosystem. Everything living in that system gets well fed encouraging growth and expansion.

On Anguilla, a small island in the Carribbean, there is a hydroponic farm, an incredible set up that any gardener, including myself, would envy. Within its hurricane proof glass and metal walls is a well controlled ecosystem. With little diversity. Most greenhouses are like that. They focus on the popular hot house vegetables like tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and eggplant. It tells us a little bit about 21th century man’s diet. Not much variety! Were any of those vegetables on your dinner or lunch plate?

Back to my initial question. What vegetables have you eaten over the past few days? How many were the same ones? How about other foods? Were they the same basic ingredients you consume every day?

Though the greenhouse is a much needed, life saving enterprise on a small

Growing Local Food Anguilla

island, it only grows specific foods, ones our palates have become accustomed to eating. It doesn’t produce variety but sticks to the cash crops, the ones tourists like to eat and are familiar with. There’s no local food to add to the diversity, no okra, kalaloo, or pumpkin. Surely those crops would do well in a greenhouse!

Our body functions better, more efficiently, when it is fuelled by a variety of foods. Metabolic wastes build up in the body. When the same food is eaten every day the wastes created by that food don’t get a chance to completely flush from the body. With variety there isn’t the same build up of toxins. This could be one of the reasons why Paleo man did so well. He was one detoxed human.

But large agribusinesses, needing to reap large profits from cash crops focus on a handful of food items. It’s easier and more profitable that way, especially if they have contracts to supply millions of dollars worth of product to large companies who process and sell that single crop.

The point I’m trying to make here is that we are losing biodiversity, not just in our environment, but also in the food we eat. Diversity in nature means a successful food chain. Diversity in our diet means better health. We seem to be losing ground on both.

Fortunately, the earth has several alternative plans in her back pocket. The most important involving her incredible ability to heal and adapt. Given the right resources she can and will repair herself and quite nicely, without any human intervention. I just happen to want to stay apart of the process.

Solution? Eat more variety. Instead of having wheat in some form every day, try millet or amaranth. Instead of eating tomatoes, in some form, every day, change it up and try something different, like cauliflower or okra.

We value humanity for its individual uniqueness, for its biodiversity of personality and looks. We celebrate it in words, anthems, poetry and stories. Lets embrace all diversity not just in humanity but in every aspect of living that includes what we put on our plate.

Today, I’m making a rye congee. I have some broccoli leaves left from the garden, fennel seed collected from one of my plants and some dried cauliflower fungus from last year. Tomorrow we may have lamb congee made creamy with potatoes and parsnips. Change it up people, change it up!

Butternut Squash Congee
Good for building immunity or for anyone feeling under the weather from a chesty cold.

8 cups water
1 chicken thigh and drumstick
1 chicken wing
1 cup basmati brown rice
¼ cup wild rice
¼ cup dried shitake mushrooms
½ chopped onion
4 cups coarsely chopped butternut squash
½ tablespoon dried and powdered ginger
1-2 teaspoons Herbamare or Himalayan Salt

In a slow cooker turned to high add water and chicken. Let cook on high for two hours. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer on high for about 5 hours or until the water has completely gone. If the dish is getting too thick just add ¼ cup water at a time.

Stir it whenever you think about it, bringing the rice from the bottom to the top. When it’s reached the desired creamy consistency remove bones and serve hot.