Consequences of Going Organic

Consequences of Organic from Island Natural Markets, Nanaimo, BC

Farming Seniors

Favourite Food…Garlic!

While browsing stats Canada, for entertainment purposes, (hardly, it was for a psychology paper) I came across a rather interesting and concerning statistic!

The study, “Labour market activity among seniors”, was published in the July 2010 online issue of Perspective on Labour and Income, Vol. 11, no. 7.

In it, researchers found that between 1996 and 2006, employment for both senior men and senior women, aged 65 and older, increased by 3% and 2% respectively.

Of that figure, seniors with higher levels of education were more likely to be working.

Wait, there’s more…the really interesting stuff!

“Almost 1/2 of working seniors were employed in the business and consumer services industry. The most common occupation among senior men was farmer.”

When this is combined with other figures: lower fertility rates, aging population, decrease in skilled, knowledgeable workers, my thoughts meander to a future with no one to grow the food I love. What happens when I’m in my 90’s and need to rely on others to grow garlic?

Maybe, instead of just farming food we should look at how to farm seniors!

Ants, Chickens and Raid

Taking A Break from Swatting

The other night Zack comes in from running the dogs saying there were ants all over the back of the house. Great! Maybe he’s exaggerating.

About an hour later I go outside to see for myself. Yep, the wall is crawling with ants, many carrying larvae, all looking for cracks in the house they disappeared into.

A fly swatter comes in handy for more than flies. I attack the hard workers with a vengeance, getting very hot and very sweaty.

While wielding my weapon over and over I notice the undead ants don’t like crossing paths with the dead ones and as there are carcasses all over the side of the house, I leave the mayhem and go back inside. Okay I solved that one.

As I am sure many of you are saying under your breath, where there is one ant there are ten thousand ants, so yes, I went back outside the next day to repeat the fly swatter solution and added another step…..water. Some of those ants caught the wave of their lives! They won’t come back I thought.

Next night, they’re back, only this time they’ve gone around the corner. Sneaky little buggers. It’s hard to reach them in the carport. I have to swat in between hanging garlic bulbs, boxes and garden paraphernalia

And I talk to the chickens. They aren’t far. Their run is the other side of the carport. They’re eerily quiet as I swing my swatter. They like hearing my voice. Probably a Pavlovian response, I’m the one that feeds them.

After a half hour and at least a cup of sweat I begin to wonder if I’ll be swatting ants for the rest of the summer an hour every evening. Not a cheery prospect. I want to see a movie or two.

I consider pest control, but throw that idea out as they use toxic chemicals and the product used for ants is one of the most deadly neurotoxins. I have animals wondering about and humans living in the house.

I consider Raid, the chemical the workers take back to the queen and she explodes. Looks effective on TV and fairly benign. Only the queen gets it. But I have animals wondering around and what if they get the bait instead of the queen.

The next idea was to squirt caulking in every nook and cranny of the house. The ants would get stuck inside. Wouldn’t they die eventually? Maybe, but I had images of ants squeezing in to the house and crawling over me in bed. Don’t think so.

The whole time I’m ruminating on these pest control possibilities, my chickens are watching me from their run, listening to my voice and every so often clucking while they scratch in the dirt for grubs and wayward seed.

Lightbulb moment!

Chickens eat bugs, including ants. I have chickens, I want the ants gone. Put two and two together.

When John got home that afternoon we set up fencing to keep the chickens in the area where the ants were.

Voila….no more ants. The girls even dug under the concrete pad to get at the nest. The next few days their eggs tasted better, meatier, with a rich deep yellow orange colour.

I could start a whole new pest control business. Guard your garden against bugs and fertilize at the same time.

I love my chickens!

Top Ten Ways to Maximize Nutrient Value of Food…And Save Money Too!

Darker colors have higher levels of nutrients

When considering how to save money on food take a new view. Look at nutrient density! For example, you’d have to eat three cups of supermarket spinach to equal 1 cup of fresh picked spinach to get the same amount of vitamin C. Eating local really does save money!

Here more tips on maximizing nutrient value of food while saving money:

1. Instead of looking at quantity of food look at quality and nutrient density.

2. Fresher is Better. – Fruits and Vegetables can suffer significant nutrient loss 24 hours after being picked.

a. Peas lose more than 50% of their nutrients a week after harvest.

b. Spinach at room temperature loses 50-90% of vitamin E, B vitamins and folic acid

3. When buying salad or greens in a bag go for color and shade variety; the darker the color the higher the nutrient value.

4. Buy variety of color in other veggies and fruits as well like apples, berries, onions and sweet peppers.

5. Buy in season. If you have to have fruit and veg out of season take the time to preserve by freezing or canning certain produce items. Even canned is better than a peach from Chile in the middle of winter. It was picked green and took time to get to your plate. The nutrient density and value for your buck is low…very low!

6. Avoid exotic fruits like berries and peaches flown in from other countries that may have different production standards. They may contain chemicals that cause the body to actually use up valuable nutrients just trying to detox. That’s called a nutrient deficit!

7. Some foods are more nutrient dense when cooked while others are better raw. Eat a variety of lightly steamed, sautéed, stir fry and raw fruits and veg.

8. If you are going to cook your veg make it short. Veggies should be tender/crisp.

9. Avoid thawing frozen vegetables before cooking. Frozen veg are better than canned but thawing adds time for nutrients to be lost.

10. To Peel or Not to Peel…Not!. Many nutrients are found in the peel of the vegetables and fruit. In addition, once the peel is removed nutrients are no longer wrapped up in their protective, natural packaging so can start degrading faster.

Gourment Garlic King

“Yugoslavian Porcelain and Georgian Fire are some of the ones I find the best for growing here.” Ken Stefanson of Gabriola Gourmet Garlic said. “I discovered the best kind by visiting and learning

Gabriola Gourmet Garlic King

what others were growing. Just one problem though. There are basically five types of garlic, and within those types are 100’s of different names. You see, when you grow garlic, you collect seed stock for the following year, over the years the original names get lost so farmers end up giving the garlic their own name.”

To Ken the name of the garlic doesn’t matter as much as the quality and taste. He’s got growing the healthy bulbs he sells at farmers’ markets, down to a fine science.

“It’s easier when you grow a product with uniformity,” he said. So for market he grows Russian Purple Stripe, a smaller bulb with a uniform 6 cloves.

“Six cloves per bulb and six bulbs per pound.” he said. “Quick and easy and no math involved!”

Stefanson and his wife took on the company in 1999, starting with only 5000 bulbs. Today, with a line of products that include dark chocolate laced with the tasty bulb, chutney, dried pieces and powder and garlic grinders filled with garlic and herbs, they harvest more than 1/4 million.

With a Santa Claus beard, twinkling eyes and a wall filled with ribbons for his dogs and horses, he’s one of my favourite interviews. He’s also one of our special food producers highlighted in Eat Local Live Longer.

Check him out at one of the many farmers’ markets in the mid island region.

Talking Dirty

Soil Management: Phosphorus Collection and Extraction Mechanism

Ok, I’m going to talk dirty. You may want to stop reading. I get a bit racy.

If you do decide to read on, be prepared, you may read things that make you say ‘ewww’ or think I may be too radical for your taste. But listen up, I’m going to wax prophetic here….there will be a time in the future that you’ll be saying, ‘what a forward thinker she was’.

At least I can reassure myself with that last thought!

I just finished reading an article about the race for resources. Natural resources like gold, oil, uranium, and phosphorus. The world is running out.

That’s what happens when we use things up without replacing them.

Phosphorus is of particular importance to farmers, gardeners, and people who eat food. It’s classified as a macronutrient and plants gobble it up. It’s what makes a plant grow vigorously, mature earlier and develop healthy fruit or flowers. Without it plants don’t grow well.

Unfortunately, we are running out of phosphorus.

But wait you say, if it’s a mineral doesn’t it somehow get recycled? Yes….animals that eat the plants use some for their own body functions, then relieve themselves of excess by peeing it out. Yes you heard me right….they micturate and get rid of it.

Hmmmmm! Do you see where I’m going here!

Urine contains significant amounts of phosphorus. Plants need phosphorus to grow. So we can minimize the dangers of running out of phosphorus by … you got it…peeing in a bucket!

I have one downstairs filled with sawdust. The boys pee in it as I am on medication. Every other day or so we empty it into the compost pile or under one of the new raised beds. As the sawdust breaks down it releases the collected phosphorus. Perfect!

John asked me the other day about creating a soil management program. Well I said……if you want to talk dirty first you have to pee in the bucket.

Obsessed

Obsession #1

Okay, I thought I was obsessed about dogs, but I have to admit there is another obsession that seems to be growing stronger with the longer days and warmer sun…gardening.

Could it be the feel-good microbes in the soil? The need for frugality? The passion for being part of the global solution to climate change and destruction of biodiversity?

Maybe all of the above.

When I first read about the Dervaes family in Mother Earth News it started me thinking about our own piece of city property. Since then we have created raised beds, planted fruit trees, recycled building material for more vertical space and created a soil management program that includes chickens and straw.

Today a 2008 interview with the head of the family showed up on Facebook. I am re-inspired. I am adding a border of chives to my driveway, digging up more lawn and guilding my backyard to direct water flow for growing watercress.

When John and I met, almost 28 years ago both of us were interested in self sufficiency, each of us owning several how-to guides on getting off the grid.

We still hold true to that lofty goal. We may never attain it completely but my goodness, we’ll give a good try!

Enjoy….

Pictures of Cedar Market 2012

Opening day….what great atmosphere! I love this market and will probably be doing it regularly. Wide array of homemade and homegrown food and art. Music playing and old friends catching up.

Enjoy the pictures!

Cedar Market Singers

Cedar Market Opening Day

Ladies doing Tai Chi at Cedar Market

The Cafe in the Country

Winding and Wending Country Road

Imagine finding a café in the middle of the country! When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Sloping hills, chickens scratching in a portable coup, cows grazing in a field below, and fresh produce grown not two minutes away. Makes you wonder why every restaurant doesn’t set up beside a farm.

Alderlea Farm in the Cowichan Valley serves up simple fair with seasonal or preserved products from their own backyard. John and Katy, owners of the enterprise make quite a team with Katy serving up culinary masterpieces and John bustling about making sure everything is in order, from the freshly picked lettuce to the tiny seedlings in the greenhouse across the street.

Their farm is unique and not just because they have a café attached. They

Barn on a Hill

follow the spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture first taught by educator and social activist Dr. Rudolf Steiner. This method of farming focuses on creating a balanced ecosystem that promotes sustainability.

They’ll be featured in our book Eat Local Live Longer on Vancouver Island with Katy sharing some of her kitchen artistry.

Roxanne and I had one of her chocolate chip cookies. We may be starting a tradition!

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.