Where we live in northwestern Ontario we don’t have access to a lot of local market gardens or farms. But what we do have on our doorstep are lakes full of pickerel and jackfish, as well as some trout and perch. Mark took our youngest daughter out on their first fishing trip of 2011 yesterday afternoon and the result was a supper of fresh pickerel caught a few kilometers from our house. Food doesn’t get much more local, or delicious, than that!
Puddle of drool on the table from my watering mouth! What a great catch!
LOL – if you ever come up to our corner of the world, Karla, Mark would be happy to take you out so you can do more than just drool!
Nothing like a feed of fish right out of the pond… which, like most Canadians, is the only local alternative.. Here on the east coast, you can eat locally all you like, as long as (outside of fish) one doesn’t mind a fair of rocks, dirt and coniferous trees. And the price and quality of our supermarket produce is outrageously high, and disturbingly poor…We (in St. John’s) do have a local farm just outside of town, but they only sell a few produce choices, and only a couple months a year. Then there’s the so-called down town farmers’ market which consists of about 20 vendors or so, 3 0r 4 of which sell any produce, mostly beets or carrots, while all others are selling baked goods or trinkets.. Hardly a farmers’ market.
To be fair, anyone who has lived here knows how short our growing season is, but when i see all this oil money being spent on tourism, the mining industry, and development, i wonder how we are going to feed all these people and i also worry what would become of us if the Island’s ferries were cut off for any length of time..Last week at our local Sobey’s, i saw apples from Australia!.. and i suspect even the regions potatoes are finding their way to the frozen french fry packages because i don’t think i have ever seen any locals.. Also, i know of an organic farm about 30 minutes from town, a wonderful little operation that can only make a go of it by selling produce to swanky, and pricy restaurants and bistros..(and barely make a go of it at that!)..
It is clear to me that people do not take this issue seriously and don’t care that their food is being trucked 1000’s of kms. across the globe. When ever i drive the countryside, i imagine miles of greenhouses growing all the island’s produce, replacing the open pits that are currently producing copper, gold and iron ore…. i can dream…
I guess our decision makers are immune from roaming the isles of our supermarkets, otherwise they too would be shocked at the selection, origin, and price.
p.s… i know that i complain a lot about these issues and i don’t mean to be a downer, but it is just clear to me that after a lifetime of being told that our lifestyles are dangerously unsustainable, our actions make these warnings empty…thanks Christine, for at least this educational platform…
Hi Francis – Feel free to rant away! However, as usual, I am more optimistic than you. There has been an explosion of interest in local food issues and food sustainability over the last decade or two. Just in our own small town, there are several community partners working together to establish a solar-powered community greenhouse.
Are you familiar with the “Transition town” movement that started in the UK. It addresses local sustainability issues on many fronts, and is a growing movement with several Canadian communities already involved. You can read more about tt here: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ (it always is encouraging – and more fun – to be working with a group of people who are focused on similar goals)
hi Christine, it is good to know that there are people like yourself actually trying to make a difference, wherever i look, it is either complete apathy, or idle chatter among the hipsters who fill their shopping carts with “oranges all the way from China”.
I understand completely the challenges, especially on a cold, rainy and wind swept island. But this is food for crying out loud! If people don’t care about their food production, what hope does that leave for anything else? I used to think that NFLDers were self sustainable types, and had no time for the follies and trappings of the rest of the modern world.. I was way , way off!.. maybe that was true once, when the island was independent and isolated, producing and consuming everything at home, (there was once even a boot manufacturing Co. here, when just about every citizen had a pair of their wellies), now, after decades of being behind, NFLDers want everything that the rest of the west covets, without a care in the world and will gladly paying a premium for travel and production expenses. People just accept that a head of lettuce costs 5 bucks because it’s trucked across the country,… guess Kraft dinner is manufactured down in Mount Pearl though because that seems to cost the same as on the mainland..(it’s a similar story in N.S. and PEI.. these are their excuses for gouging the shoppers)..
…and i maintain, the majority just don’t care.. All most people see is a pay check on Friday, the mall on Saturday, the barbecue on Sunday, and then it’s back to filling up their monster pick ups to get to work on Monday..
Somewhere in Canada their must be a place where people live more thoughtful and conscious lives..Where?, i haven’t found it yet and i have been just about everywhere in this great country of ours..
thanks always Christine,
from your resident curmudgeon..f.
Well, Francis, my philosophy these days is to make sure that I am doing whatever I can on this issue (and, of course, climate change encompasses most of the significant environmental and social justice issues of our time). That’s what helps me sleep at night. If I become too concerned with what others are or are not doing, it feels very discouraging and can be dis-empowering. However, I have found that I’m definitely not alone on this journey, and that nearly all the people who are working to shift our consciousness are people that I am proud to associate with. Really, the focus is up to each one of us – do we work to change our part of the world, to the best of our abilities, with the sure promise that it won’t always (okay, most of the time) feel rewarding or even particularly successful. But at the end of the day, I rest better at night knowing that I’m doing what I can. And history shows that it’s not usually the majority that causes huge shifts in society, it’s a small committed minority.
All that to say, Francis, there’s a chance you might feel less curmudgeonly if you paid less attention to what folks are doing wrong (and yes, this could occupy one day and night) and focus on the amazing things that some people ARE doing – have you watched this video yet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fiubmOqH4&feature=player_embedded
thanks Christine, yes i am very critical… i’ll try to be less so, but only after this post..
…saw the video, i’m sorry but another organization, another speech, another blog, another opinion, etc.. is not going to save us…think of all the green house gasses saved if all those folks in the auditorium had stayed home….
i used to make a living in the promotional biz. (one of my biggest of life’s regrets).. when i see a talking head, standing at the head of a fawning crowd, my B.S. antenna tends to twitch.. I don’t know what this org. has done, or plans to do, but i do know that authenticity needs no promotion….
i maintain, want to help save the world?- be less, do less, stay home….
maybe i’l die a curmudgeon.
thank’s as always, Christine..