Food, Inc. is Screening in North Bay!

If you are a person in Northern Ontario that is concerned about food and farming, you definitely won't want to miss this!

Food, Inc. is going to be screening in North Bay's Galaxy Cinema on Wednesday October 21st, 2009 at 7:30 pm. The show is being hosted by North Bay Film {go check out their webby for other awesome movies coming to town!}.

This blurb is from North Bay Films info page about Food, Inc.

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

And here is a trailer:

Buy Local, Share Local

Yesterday at the North Bay Downtown Farmers' Market Buy Local, Share Local had a booth for the day.

By Local, Share Local is a food security campaign sponsored by the Ontario Association of Food Banks and the RBC Foundation, along with partners Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Turkey Farmers of Ontario, Homegrown Ontario, and Ontario Farm Animal Council.

The project has been touring farmers markets across Ontario, where they are encouraging folks to buy local produce and to donate some to food banks, along with accepting food donations on the spot.

When they stopped by North Bay yesterday, they were collecting food for the North Bay Food Bank, and we had many generous folks stopping by the Locavore booth to purchase food to donate!

I am not quite sure how much food donations were collected, but the information should be on the Buy Local, Share Local blog. To see the rest of the farmers markets they will be stopping at
(and where they have already been) click here.

Phelps Community Gardens in Redbridge

Volunteers working in the garden {photo by Keri Edmunds Mulka}

In the Spring 2008 community members of Redbridge got together to create Phelps Community Gardens on the property of Phelps Central School on Glenvale Drive. Here is a little blurb about the group from their Facebook page:

We are a group of community members committed to strengthening our local school, the community we live in, and most importantly educating & inspiring through gardening. The schools gardens is a fun way to expand curriculums, conservation efforts, to develop a healthy understanding of nutrition, and to further the academic achievement through hands-on learning.

Phelps Central School students getting ready to work {photo by Keri Edmunds Mulka}

The group is a grassroots organization that runs largely on material and financial donations from community members and the work of dedicated volunteers. The group did receive a small grant from the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unity through the Take Heart Ontario program (the same funding source that the Locavores got this year for our Community Garden) for material start up costs.

Phelps Community Gardens does sell some produce from time to time and also have a neat little cookbook that was created by SOFA Communications, a company which donated its designing services for the cookbook project.

The Community Gardens is in its second year, and the group is very excited to have the children come back to school so they can enjoy the garden!

On a suitable day in late September or early October, students will get to enjoy a harvest festival where they will harvest the veggies, collect seeds, and enjoy a feast made from food in the garden.

Each class is responsible for its own part of the garden {photo by Keri Edmunds Mulka}

This is a fantastic project and the Near North region needs more like it. If you would like more information you can check out the group's Facebook page, and if you are interested in making a donation, volunteering, or purchasing a cookbook, please call Keri Edmunds Mulka at (705) 663-2885.

More Locavore Community Garden Photos

This is just a quick photo update of the Near North Locavore community garden. These have been taken over the last couple of weeks, including a few yesterday. Enjoy!

Lemon balm

Nasturtiums

Cilantro

Peas

The last poppy in bloom

Bush beans

Sweet marjoram ready to be harvested!

Peas

More peas

Rainbow Swiss chard

Finally! Some ripe tomatoes!

The shade garden got a bit of a makeover {stones that we dug up when creating the garden beds}

Pretty purple flowers that I have no idea what they are called {does anyone know?}

Sweet basil {looking a little sad due to all the rain and attention from the ear wigs!}

Nasturtiums

Herbs packaged and ready for the Amelia Rising food bank! {pictured: peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, sweet basil, oregano, sweet marjoram, parsley, garden sage, tri coloured sage, pineapple sage, English thyme, rosemary, and cilantro.}

A Great Video on Local Food from Northern Edge Algonquin

Near North Locavore member and kitchen and garden manager at Northern Edge Algonquin Greg Waters talks with Todd Lucier (also of Northern Edge) about local and organic food, and
gives a tour of the garden at Northern Edge and local farmers' markets. This video was shot last summer.

Enjoy the video!

Ryerson University Offers Free Online Course About Urban Agriculture!

Thank you to City Farmer for originally posting about this on their blog!

Ryerson University and the RUAF are offering free distance course online about urban agriculture. Here is an outline of the programming:


Distance Learning on Urban Agriculture (UA)

Course 1 - Understanding UA


Module 1 - The Concept of Urban Agriculture


Module 2 - Building Blocks of Urban Agriculture


Module 3 - Types of urban agriculture


Module 4 - Direct and indirect stakeholders in UA


Module 5 - Dimensions of UA: Benefits and functions


Module 6 - Dimensions of UA: Problems and risks


Module 7 - Constraints and opportunities facing UA


Module 8 - History and trends I


Module 9 - History and trends II


Module 10 - Analyzing urban agriculture I


Module 11 - Analyzing urban agriculture II


Module 12 - Supporting urban agriculture I


Module 13 - Supporting urban agriculture II


Module 14 - Exam

Course 2 - Dimensions of UA


Module 1 - The Multiple Dimensions of UA


Module 2 - Food Security and Nutrition Dimensions


Module 3 - Management of Health Risks


Module 4 - Environmental Dimensions of UA - Part A


Module 5 - Environmental Dimensions of UA - Part B


Module 6 - Gender Dimensions of Urban Agriculture


Module 7 - Social inclusion, community building &..


Module 8 - Economic Dimensions of Urban Agriculture


Module 9 - Financing Urban Agriculture


Module 10 - Urban Agriculture for Resilient Cities


Module 11 - UA, (multifunctional) land use planning


Module 12 - Assessing the Multiple Dimensions of UA


Module 13 - Bringing all of the Dimensions together


Module 14 - Final Exam

This course is also available with a tutor for a fee. Info about this can be found here.

Two Documentaries to Look Out For

For folks who are interested in the politics of food and agri-business, as well as homesteading, you will definitely want to check out these two documentaries!

First up is Food, Inc. (if you are familiar with the title, then you may have already read the book). Here is a small blurb about the movie from the website:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

You can view the trailer below.



Next is Homegrown Revolution, which is a documentary made by the folks at Path to Freedom. And here is a small blurb about the movie and an introductory disclaimer from the website:

In the midst of densely urban downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root. For over twenty years, the Dervaes family has been transforming their home into an urban homestead. They harvest three tons of organic food annually from their 1/10 acre garden, while incorporating back-to-basics practices, solar energy and biodiesel.

The original version of Homegrown Revolution was made in three days for a lecture Jules Dervaes gave at the University of California Los Angeles in October 2007 on the topic of Slow Food. It received a wildly enthusiastic response from the students and, subsequently, attracted an avid following on YouTube, with over 135,000 views to date.
This is a simple film short that introduces the Dervaes Family Urban Homestead. Please note this is NOT feature-length. This short film might be best grouped with other films or part of a community event / gardening club / meetings, etc. RUNTIME: 15:44.

Below is the trailer:

Homegrown Revolution (Trailer) from Path to Freedom on Vimeo.

Plant a Row/Grow a Row

Clipart from Garden Services.com

Plant a Row/Grow a Row is a Canada-wide campaign to encourage people to grow a bit of vegetables in their own gardens for their community food banks and soup kitchens.

There are organizations in the Near North Ontario region who have already put a call out for donated food from people's gardens, such as The Gathering Place in North Bay. If you are unsure if your local food bank or soup kitchen would like food, just approach them, and if possible, find out what type of vegetables they can really use.

Many folks are feeling the pinch right now with the economy the way it is, so by simply planting and growing one row of veggies in your garden can really make a difference!

Seed Preview!

A little preview of some of our seeds!

So the seeds have been gathered, as well as some plants. This is the list of what we will be growing in the Locavore Garden (food being donated to Amelia Rising):

Veggies

Laxton's Progress Peas
Norli Peas
Uchiki Kuri Squash
Buttercup Squash
Scarlet Runner Pole Beans
Tender Green Pole Beans
Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
Contender Bush Beans
Provider Bush Beans
Coreless Nantes Carrots
Denvers Half-Long Carrots
Early Wonder Beets
French Breakfast Radishes
Cherry Belle Radishes
German Giant Radishes
Bright Lights (Rainbow) Swiss Chard
Bloomsdale Long-standing Spinach
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Red Oak Leaf Lettuce
Bunching Evergreen Onions

Herbs

Sweet Woodruff
Dill
Tall Climbing Nasturtiums
Dwarf Jewel Nasturtiums
Chives
Cilantro
Garden Sage
Catmint
Spearmint
Lemon Balm
Peppermint

Thanks to all who have either made donations of items and/or your time so far!

Recommended Reading

These are free online texts. If you know have any of your own recommendations, let us know and we will add them to our list!

Community Gardening 101 from FoodShare

Day Range Poultry by Andrew W. Lee, Patricia Foreman & Gene Logsdon
Domestic Animals by Richard Lamb Allen

First Lessons in Beekeeping

Five Acres and Independence A Handbook for Small Farm Management by Maurice Grenville Kains

Food From the Wild by Ian Burrows

Growing and Using Herbs and Spices by Milo Miloradovich

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets

How to Grow More Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains and Other Crops by John Jeavons

Organic Gardener's Composting by Steve Solomon

Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield

Pioneer Days in the Township of Nipissing

Plants and Beekeeping by F. N. Howes

Rare Breeds {Livestock} by Lawrence Alderson

Reap Without Sowing: Wild Food from Nature's Cornucopia by Erika E. Gaertner

Reflections of Restoule by June Hample

Small Farm Handbook by Shirley Humphrey & Eric Mussen

Starting a Community Garden

Starting From Seed by Karan Davis Butler

The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist by Michael Phillips

The Backyard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum & Weeks Ringle

The Basics of Permaculture Design by Ross Mars

The Book of Draft Horses by Donna Campbell Smith

The Book of the Farm by Henry Stephens & John S Skinner

The Complete Book of Herbs and Spices by Sarah Garland

The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book by Carla Emery

The First Book of Farming by Charles L. Goodrich

The Green Pharmacy by James Duke

The Herbalist's Way by Nancy Phillips, Michael Phillips & Rosemary Gladstar

The Household Book of Practical Receipts by George W M Reynolds

The Household Cyclopedia by Thomas Kelly

The Illustrated Horse Management by Edward Mayhew

The Manual of Women

The Permaculture Garden by Graham Bell

The Permaculture Way by Graham Bell

The Ultimate Container Garden by David Joyce

The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook by Steve Brill

The Woodland Way: A Permaculture Approach to Sustainable Woodland Management by Ben Law

The Young Farmer, Some Things He Should Know by Thomas Forsyth Hunt

Organizations

Beyond Factory Farming Coalition

Canadian Biotechnology Awareness Network

Canadian Organic Growers

Canadian Registered and Rare Breed Farm Directory

C.R.A.F.T Ontario

Eat Local Sudbury

Ecological Farmer's Association of Ontario

FarmStart

FoodShare

Greening Nipissing

Lake Nipissing Stewardship Council

Nipissing Environmental Watch

Northern Lights Regional Foods

North Bay Heritage Gardeners

Northern Ontario Agri-Food Education & Marketing

Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada

Rare Breeds Canada

Seeds of Diversity

Sweetman's Garden

The Foodshed Project

Blogs

Blogs of interest...

Chapman's Landing Blog

City Farmer

Cold Climate Gardening

Garden Rant

Local Eating

Seasonal Ontario Food

The Ethicurean

The Urban Garden Project

You Grow Girl

An Article About Our Community Garden Partnership

This is an article written last week in a local paper about our project partnership with Artan Gardens to start a non-profit community garden.

Locavores to grow produce for not-for-profit organization
From the North Bay Nugget

By Jenny Potter on April 15, 2009

Zel Artan has big plans for the 1.2-hectare patch of land her parents have been growing vegetables on for the past 20 years.

The Artans are turning some of the weeding and watering over to the public this summer, opening up 464 square metres of garden to members of the Near North Locavores, who plan to grow produce and donate it to a local not-for-profit organization.

For many years, Artan’s Turkish-Canadian parents have lived off the produce grown from their garden near the Laurier Woods.

Excess produce is sold to the community at the North Bay Downtown Farmers’ Market each Saturday in the summer or preserved for the winter.

But as time wears on, maintaining the large garden has become difficult for the couple.

Last summer, Artan, who splits her time between Toronto and North Bay, picked up the shovel and continued in her parents’ footsteps working the garden with the help of friends.

“I got involved with it last year and fell in love. It’s like a vegetable Sweetman’s Garden,” she said of the lot on McIntyre Street West that has offered a floral oasis for visitors for many years.

This summer, some members of the Near North Locavores plan to revitalize an overgrown part of the Artans’ garden, growing fresh organic produce that will be donated to a not-for-profit organization yet to be determined.

The area will also be used to demonstrate how people can grow some of their own food.

Next summer, the group hopes to establish community allotments, allowing people to grow their own vegetables.

Laurel Ronan, a core member of the Locavores, said they are excited to be able to use the land and expand an already beautiful garden.

Opening the garden to the public is just the starting point for Artan. She has many campaigns and challenges planned for the city.

The Seed to Feed Earth Week challenge kicks off Wednesday, with a goal of raising awareness of the importance of collecting and keeping seeds year after year.

“Planting vegetables is one thing,” she said. “It’s about making people aware of protecting the heirloom seed varieties.”

Along with the campaign, her personal goal is to educate herself and her family on being self-sufficient, starting with feeding her family at least one meal a day from food they produced.

She hopes other families in the city will take up the challenge as well.

“My kids understand that organic produce tastes better and is better for you,” she said.

She also hopes to pass on gardening skills to a younger generation through a children’s day camp this summer.

The long-term goal is to make the garden an educational facility, and Artan hopes government grants will allow them to add a horticultural ecology centre.

There is also a documentary planned on the garden, and she hopes the interest will garner them a television show.

In the meantime, volunteers will start turning the earth later this week, preparing the garden for planting and building a water-retention system to collect rain water for the garden.

“I think North Bay needs this,” Artan said.

jpotter@nugget.ca

A Little Bit About the Near North Locavores

Welcome to our blog!

The Near North Locavores is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization that was started up in Feburary 2008. Our main goal is to promote local food production and consumption of the Near North region of Ontario, Canada.

We are a diverse group comprised of current and aspiring producers, people in business and health care, environmentalists, gardeners, people concerned about food security, and consumers who want access to more locally produced food.

In our first year we had a table at the North Bay Downtown Farmers’ Market, where we helped to sell local producers’ food, and distributed information. We will be back at the Market for the 2009 season starting on May 16th and we will be there every Saturday until the closing of the Market on October 10th.

We are currently have many exciting projects underway, including a community garden (partnered with Amelia Rising Sexual Assault Centre, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, and the Take Heart Program); a local producer database, and a partnership with Vested Interest to establish a central location to purchase local produce year round!

For more information, you can check out our Facebook group or email us at nearnorthlocavores(at)hotmail.com.