Look what I made!

In all my talk about the importance of connecting to our food, I try to do what I can to reconnect with mine. Usually this comes though in the way I acquire (i.e., buy) food, but I'm trying my best to step outside the usual retail system whenever I can. Food to me should be elevated beyond something as base as unconscious financial exchange. I think we can become far more nourished by our food if it comes with some measure of effort, a little bit of thought, and through some kind of human connection. I'm not about to ditch my city digs for a farm (for many reasons, one of which being I would likely starve to death), so here's what I've been doing in lieu.

• I go to the fabulous Vancouver farmers markets when they're in season.
• For the second year in a row, I've joined a CSA with a cooperative farm for produce during the summer and early fall. (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically, you buy a share in a farm in the spring and in return get a share of what is produced. We are shareholders in the true sense: we put up some of money to help the farm get going during planting time, and we share in both the risk and produce of the season. If it's a terrible growing year, we don't get a lot of edibles for our money, but we do get to know that we've taken a tiny bit of the burden off a group of farmers who are struggling even in good times. If it's a great year, we get the bounty of that in exchange for taking that risk and paying up front. My share is with a cooperative farm Fraser Common Farm in Abbotsford, which also happens to be the home of one of my research partners for my thesis project.)
• This year, I am proud to say that I am one of the founding shareholders in the Urban Grains CSA. This is a CSA that produces local grain...a rare find in these parts. Apparently the early settlers of the Lower Mainland of BC grew a lot of wheat and other hardy grains. This is no prairie, but if the settlers didn't grow their own, they would have starved. (It's good to remind ourselves from time to time that there are a number of conditions beyond our control - natural disaster or trade disruption being the most likely - that could bring us back to a similar state. And it's even more important to remind ourselves how absolutely unprepared we are for that kind of occurrence.) So, Urban Grains is trying once again to grow grain for human consumption around Vancouver. A local couple got the idea, found some heritage seed grains, and found a farmer willing to plant them. We members have put up some cash to get things going, and with a little luck and a hopefully dry summer, we'll each have 20 kilograms of freshly milled hard and soft wheat flour in the fall. Cool!
• One of my favourite new places to get food is a little shop down the street called Home Grow-In. A farmer from the Okanagan Valley opened this little place in my neighbourhood on a residential streetcorner. She sells only locally produced plants and food products. They don't take debit or credit, only cash or cheque. I was buying some strawberries and bread there yesterday and realized I was short on cash. It was no problem...I just took my stuff home and dropped off the rest of the money the next time I biked by. I bet they wouldn't let me do that at Whole Foods.
• And last but not least, I'm putting a twist on a popular Vancouver pasttime and "growing my own". My little city balcony is just about filled with pots of edibles at various stages of growth. I'm already on my second seeding of mesclun greens. There's a lovely zephyr squash just about ready to be picked, lots of herbs, kale and chard, some edible flowers (marigolds and nasturtiums), and tomatoes and onions on the way. I'd love to add a chicken and a goat, but I'm worried that my landlord downstairs might frown on that.... I am, however, putting my underground parking space to good use and raising worms. (Not for eating....my newfound omnivorousness hasn't quite gone that far yet!) They are eating my food waste and I am putting their waste back onto my plants as yummy compost and compost tea.

One of the things that been a great motivator - as if I needed any motivation to increase my personal food supply - is a group called VanGrow. We like to think of ourselves as something between a peasant movement and a gardening support group. It all started after a neighbour and local restauranteur, and owner of my favourite Indian restaurants Vij's and Rangoli, decided it was time to get more connected to both food and community and put an open invitation in the Vancouver Sun for people interested in joining her. We still haven't figured out what we are, but so far it's a loose collective of people interested in food and growing food, and interesting in sharing the experience with others. We share stories, ideas, skills, and seeds. Some of us got together to inoculate some logs with shitake spores and should have a nice crop of fresh mushrooms in the spring. It's pretty amazing to see how a group of complete strangers can come together over cups of tea and, in a few short months, create a movement of almost 200 people interested in doing more about their own personal food supply.