You deserve it.

How can you get to local food, or how can you make it come to you? Don't worry, I can help.

In Guelph, we have a number of ways to connect yourself with the local bounty:

Garden Fresh Box is a program out of the Guelph Community Health Centre. Anyone can sign up and for $15 or $20 you can pick up a box every month, filled with locally grown, seasonal produce. They even include a recipe sheet for ideas!

I've already chatted about the Guelph Farmer's Market  (Saturdays 7am to 12pm) and St. Jacob's Market (Thursdays and Saturdays 7am to 3:30pm). Bring extra money.

Next spring, you can join a community supported agriculture initiative (CSA) like the one offered by Ignatius Farms just north of Guelph. They own the land, you reap the benefits! This one is more costly ($425 for a small plot and $695 for a large one) but the plot is yours for the entire 20 week growing period. If you spend more than $20 on produce each week at the store, this might be right for you.

If you are in the mood for a one-off, local meal, make a reservation at Borealis Grille or The Woolwich Arrow

In Niagara, my other home:

Enjoy a plate from Pan Cafe or Treadwell. Many of the wineries across the Niagara region showcase local food as well. It's well worth it. Trust me.

Our Farmer's Market is open THREE days a week; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 6am to 3pm. BOOM! (I'm a bit homesick these days).

The Niagara Local Food Co-op really turns my crank. It's similar to the Garden Fresh Box program, only you order as you wish online and you can choose what items you'd like to pick up. Brace yourself, there's not only produce, but meats, nuts, herbs and maple butter tarts! You'd better believe I'm getting in on this when I get back in town.

So there are a number of options for access to local food, from growing it yourself to having it prepped and delivered right to your table. No more excuses, be aware of your surroundings and dig in.
:)

Winter Wonderland

I've never seen this guy before, but I like
his style.
http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca

If you're thinking it would be too difficult to maintain a locavore diet throughout the winter, then you need to know;
What's Available in Ontario?

I know there are still some delicate, typically-summer produce on this list and this is because they come from the greenhouses. I'm wary of this, it seems like cheating. Personally, I don't need to buy fresh tomatoes and cucumber during the winter, but maybe some of us just can't live without year round gazpacho, who knows?

Contrary to what Google thought of me while researching, I understand that the dreaded greenhouse effect is not a result of greenhouse farming (it's surprisingly difficult to find information about actual greenhouses in relation to the environment).  However, those structures do need power to maintain a proper temperature for growing these delicate foods, usually at the cost of some non-sustainable resource. This is straying a bit from local food, but I feel sustainable food is just as, if not more important.

So blanch and freeze your beans and can your tomatoes. Are you concerned that  processing will destroy some of the nutrient value? That's fair, some of the nutrients may be depleted, but some may increase; such as
iron¹.

Here's something interesting as a counter-balance; a greenhouse heated by the all natural, sustainable power of... chickens!




Sources:
[1] Review: Nutritional comparison of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables II. Vitamin A and carotenoids, vitamin E, minerals and fibre. from: http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/1214/36518.pdf

Thought for Food

Here is an interesting read: Some Benefits and Drawbacks of Local Food Systems by Jules Perry

He's English, and this article is mainly referencing British evidence and policy, but some themes hold true around the world.  I know most of us are busy people and sometimes we're put off pages and pages of black and white text without pretty photos. Ok, maybe that's just me. Well I took one for the team and summed up some of the better points below:

http://www.cartoonmovement.com/

• First off, our food system is flawed. Too many people are hungry and too many people are obese at the same time
• Farmers aren't making the money they should be, because there are so many middle men adding value to the raw food (so many processed foods)
• The farmers almost have no choice but to keep cranking out their GM corn and cash crops, because that's what the key players in the food industry are buying. Result: the land gets absolutely wrecked from monocrops and over use and synthetic fertilizers and the like
• A lot pollution comes with growing and transporting food, if we grow in smaller scale and ship to a closer location, this pollution would be reduced (and it production costs would be lessened)
• Some questions remain: how can more people (consumers and produces alike) be convinced that professional development  in the way of environmental sustainability is such a great idea when so far, this goal does not link up with increasing profit? Things are tough enough these days as it is! 
• $$$!

http://outletbarnes.com

Falling for fall

     One thing we have a lot of here in Southern Ontario is apples. Boy oh boy do I love apples, and this is one thing I can buy local, simply by default. 
Both markets and grocery stores are packed with apples this time of year and you can buy them by the bushel. How many pies can you get from a bushel? I'm not sure, but I won't lie, I'd be happy to find out.


Aside from an apple a day, my upbringing was dominated mainly by pies, sauce and crisp of the apple variety. 
Apple crisp is probably the most dear to me, because it's always been there when I need it (i.e. all the time); my mom has had a crisp on the counter almost weekly for as long as I can remember.  With ice cream, it's dessert, with plain yogurt, it's breakfast! Once you realize how easy it is to make, you'll agree; this is one of the best foods ever to be made.


This is my mom's recipe, with some alterations because I was going gluten free when I made this particular one.  

Apples
Peel and slice
5 med. size apples -I used Cortland this time, they held their shape fairly well and yielded just enough juice. Their flavour is a citrus-kind of sweet.


Crisp
Stir together:
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. flour (I substituted rice flour, though I think I'd use slightly less next time)
(1/2 tsp xanthan gum, added to help out the rice flour)
3/4 c. rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (My addition, mum doesn't care for nutmeg)
Cut in:
1/2 c. butter


Pour apples into greased 9x13 dish and press crumble mixture on top
Bake at 350˚ for 45-50 minutes


Now go, go and enjoy the heck out of autumn. 


Love apples as much as I do but don't know which variety to use, where or when? Betty Crocker's got us covered!

Price Wars

http://www.theshoppingmom.com

As a follow up to the last post, I've collected the prices of a few produce items for comparison.  I recorded them from the same/ similar items at the Guelph Farmer's Market and Zehrs. I chose Zehrs because I consider it to be a moderately priced grocery store and therefore averages out the chain-store prices (i.e. it's not a 'bargain chain' like No Frills or Food Basics and not a specialty store like Whole Foods).

So, lets compare.


Market:
Red Onion: $0.99 each
Broccoli: $2.00 each
Large Eggs ("grain fed"): $4.50/dozen
Mini donuts*: $4.50/6

Zehrs:
Red Onion: $2.99/3lb bag
Broccoli: $0.99
Large Eggs ("Omega 3"): $4.09
Mini Donuts: $2.99/package of 40

Overall, the market is more expensive than your average grocery store. Not surprisingly, farmer's markets tend to attract people with higher incomes and levels of education.¹  I've cited a Michigan-based study for that statement, but it's one of many that I found to support it while I was writing a lit review to investigate "who accesses produce through local agriculture?" Should I reference myself there? I've never had that option arise, ha!

A lot of the people reading this are probably students, would you (or do you) pay more for items at the Farmer's market? If not, do you expect to, when your income skyrockets because of the excellent career you'll have as soon as you graduate? (No, I couldn't keep a straight face for that).



*Despite being include as a whimsy, it's worth noting that the mini donuts at the market were being cranked out fresh, from the cool-looking donut machine while the package at Zehrs were the white powdered kind that always feel kind of mushy in your mouth. You know what I mean. 

Sources:
[1] Locally Grown Foods and Farmers Markets: Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/3/742/ - but you've got to access the .pdf on your own ;)