Independence Days Week 4

Last week was a blur so I'm a bit late posting - here's my Week 4 summation:


Grow Something: I'm so behind on seed starting this year that they've started without me! These accidental tomato seedling appears in a potted plant which I had added some worm compost to so I transplanted them to small pots. No idea of variety.

I also soaked some peas for sprouting as suggested by Harvest Kitchen Sisters

Harvest Something: Nothing- my peas are at least a few days away from being edible and I may leave them longer because what I really want is snow pea leaves sauteéd in garlic, mmmmmm.....


Preserve Something: I taught my co workers hot waterbath canning and we made Cold Soother Jelly with our own honey- we share hives with the Toronto Bee Co-op!

Waste Not: Big fail on this one- I found several items of food including some chicken stock gone bad in the fridge. I had left it for a time when I could fire up the pressure canner but that didn't happen, so I've realized that I either need to become comfortable with doing pressure canning for a small batch or continue to freeze some things.

Want Not: Used two pairs of worn out slippers to make a new pair

Eat the food: FoodShare held it's annual fund raiser Recipe for Change last week and as part of my job I helped set up the venue and then got to stay for the fabulous treats prepared by many of Toronto's finest chefs as well as local wine and beer.

Some highlights:

Duck mille feuille with white aspargus and truffle vinegrette


Mini apple dumplings with two types of honey from the hives at Casa Loma


A whole pork leg prosciutto!


Texan style brisket with home made mustard, apple slaw and a fried quail egg


Still warm fresh mozzarella balls serve with salt and a drizzle of olive oil.


FoodShare used bicycle powered blenders to make fruit smoothies!


Build Community Food Systems: I've been been so busy with community events,I feel like I'm neglecting my own stuff. Yesterday I worked the FoodShare booth at Seedy Sat at Scadding Court and in between speaking to people about what we do, I was able to do some garden related shopping for myself, and catch up with a lot familiar faces including Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl, Laura from Cubits as well as my favourite 'urbans', Urban Tomato and Urban Harvest! I was trying to keep my spending to a minimum but I found something lovely to purchase from each of these fine ladies (I really wanted Gayla's new book Easy Growing but that will have to wait).

Skill up - the only big purchase I made yesterday was an unexpected one- a mushroom kit! last year I purchased a Shiitake mushroom kit and we loved it! It was amazing to be able to grow our own mushrooms and although the kits are not exactly cheap, they do produce a fair amount and fresh mushrooms are so delicious. So when I saw the kits for oyster mushrooms at the Young Urban Farmers booth, I couldn't resist. And as it turns out what I purchased is even more exciting than I originally thought because it's actually King oyster mushrooms which are one of my favourites! I can't wait to see it burst into fruit and to eat wonderful fresh mushrooms!

Dark Days Challenge-Comfort Food, Greenwashing and GMO's

My Dark days meal for this week is not exactly glamorous, but it was the end of February, and it's been a gray, bleak winter even without the cold and snow we normally have. I was in the mood for some comfort food and what's more comforting than Shepherd's pie?


I started by browning some lovely grass fed ground beef from the nearby Niagara region, added some chopped onion and garlic (both local), and frozen yellow peppers (from last fall). I had planned on adding some of the corn I also froze last fall but I completely forgot to include it, and didn't even notice until I started writing this post so I guess we didn't miss it! For the topping, I made some mashed potatoes (Ontario) with leftover whey - I still have over 3 litres of the stuff and am running out of things to use it in. This is a by product of home cheesemaking that hadn't occurred to me.



I layered the meat veggies and potatoes in a baking dish and topped it with some of the mozzarella cheese I made recently. As I was about to pop it in the oven to bake the Chef roommate asked if I wanted to add some crushed potato chips as a topping and I agreed without thinking. Only after I stuck it in the oven did it occur to me that the chips aren't really SOLE.

Or are they? This particular bag of chips was made by Lay's and like many large corporations, Frito- Lay is attempting to reach out to the local food market. Recently I've seen a number of tv ads for Lays promoting local potato farmers. So I went to their website and there I learned that I could use the product number on the bag to find out more about where this bag of chips came from. It seems our chips were made in the plant in Cambridge, about an hour from here. From that I was give a list of 3 potential potato farms which may have grown the chips: two were near Alliston,just north of Toronto and in the area of the proposed megaquarry), and one was Brant county (near Brantford, about an hour south west). Lays wouldn't tell me which variety of potato they use, only that it's specifically grown for them and it's a starch potato that does well in Ontario. So far so good on the local aspect!

But what about the other ingredients? According to the ingredient list of these chips (plain, wavy cut), they contain only potatoes, vegetable oil and salt. That didn't sound too bad but still rather vague so I called the customer info line to see what else I could find out. According to the website, the oil used for frying the potatoes into the lovely crispy chips is 100% sunflower oil but when speaking with the customer service rep, it seems they also use canola oil occasionally and she couldn't tell me which, nor where it was made, only that they purchase Canadian when possible but also use products from the US. Her answer was similar for salt which is abundantly mined both here in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada so I can live with that.

In the case of canola oil, it would seem likely that it's a Canadian source since we grow most of the canola in North America. However that's not exactly reassuring since most of the canola we grow is GMO. From the Canola Council of Canada Website:

Canola was developed using traditional plant breeding techniques, so it was not developed using biotechnology. However, about 80% of the canola grown in Canada has now been modified using biotechnology to make it tolerant to some herbicides. Using these specific herbicides has reduced the amount of chemical needed for weed control in the fields.

Remember - the canola plant has been modified, not the oil. So canola oil from the herbicide tolerant plant is exactly the same safe and healthy oil as canola oil from conventional plants. The modification has been made to only one canola gene and it is a protein. Processing removes all proteins from canola oil. That means canola oil made from GM seed is conventional canola oil.

I'm certain that is meant to be reassuring but frankly it raise more questions than it answers for me, especially since I recently went to see SEEDS, a wonderful documentary theatre piece currently running in Toronto until March 10. SEEDS takes on the case of Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto over suspected patent theft when his fields were found to contain GMO modified canola. Monsanto's canola seed contains a gene that makes the plants immune to Round Up weed killer, another Monsanto product; Percy claimed it got into his fields unintentionally. If like me, you were already familiar with this story, you will be mesmerized by the use of actual court transcripts as well as verbatim conversation with the various experts involved. You may also be surprised by some of the information that didn't make the news and the play does an excellent job of offering a balanced look at both the science and the personalities involved, without offering an definitive opinion of who was in the right (don't worry, I still think Monsanto is the devil!) If you are in Toronto you should check it out for yourself at the Young Centre for Performing Arts (in the Distillary District)- for more info and to buy tickets go here To make it even better, Joel and Dana of Well Preserved have arranged for a 25% discount on tickets by using the code "Food" !

But back to the chips- the information on sunflower oil is less readily available. I was able to find out that the majority of sunflower crops in Canada are grown for 'confectionary" (eaten as a snack food I guess) or for birdseed. Which means the sunflower oil used at Lay's likely came from the US so not very local, but also not GMO, at least not yet!

So where does that leave my chip crumbs on the SOLE scale? Well they may or may not qualify as Local, I have my doubts about Sustainable at least in terms of manufacturing, Organic is not even a question and Ethically, who knows?

So I guess I still won't be buying Lays- but they sure tasted good...



Tomorrow in Toronto there's a Seedy Saturday, the first of 5!! Seedy Events in the GTA. I'll be manning the FoodShare table at Scadding Court Rec Centre, (707 Dundas St w at Bathurst) from 12 - 5 pm - come say hi!

Independence Days Week 2-3

You'd think having 4 days off a week would mean I have plenty of time for posting but somehow it just doesn't seem to work that way. So since tomorrow should be my week 3 post and I still haven't posted about week 2 it makes more sense to combine them and hopefully get on track.

Grow Something: No progress here other than transplanting a few house plants. But I did get permission today to make use of the greenhouse at work to start some cool weather crops inside and my plan is to sort through my seeds this weekend and hopefully start a few tomatoes and peppers at home.

Harvest Something: Sprouts, which were a nice addition to a grated carrots and beet slaw.

Preserve Something: Nothing. I was supposed to teach a canning class last night but it was cancelled. I have one booked for next week and quite a few in March- lots of Red Onion Jam coming!

Waste Not: While picking up chicken legs (organic, local) at a local butcher shop I spotted some pork fat which they happily threw in for free. I slow rendered it in the oven to make lard.





Want Not: Made some home made deodorant using witch hazel and a few drops of rose geranium and lavender oil in a spray bottle.

Eat the food: Made borscht with some of the home made beef stock, last of the red cabbage and some slightly shrivelled beets. I added some butter beans as well as a splash of my cider vinegar (the red wine vinegar was a bust this year sadly)








Build Community Food Systems: Held a successful seed packing workshop for the upcoming Seedy Saturday/Sunday Events! Next Sat, March 3 is the first Toronto area event at Scadding Court- details on all the events are here.

There's another Seed Exchange event in Toronto this Monday Feb 27

This one is part of the Occupy Gardens movement which I heartily endorse- how can you argue with a group that promotes World Peas?

Skill Up: Made mozzarella and ricotta cheese- the mozzarella was a bit denser than I think it should have been and could use more salt but it's quite good and we've been using it in many things.

Overall a fairly productive two weeks!

Projects to Beat the Winter Blahs

I don't know about you but this winter is starting to make me feel like this:

I think I'm suffering from an acute case of cabin fever! Thankfully, there's a few upcoming events and projects around Toronto that will help shake off the winter slump no matter what the weather's doing.

First up is Seedy Sunday, this Sunday Feb 12 at Hart House in Toronto.

Seedy Sunday is one of the highlights of the new garden season to come and a place to get great ideas as well as open pollinated and heirloom seeds. If you aren't in downtown Toronto, Seedy events are happening all over Canada now so check the Seeds of Diversity list for one near you.


While you're mapping out your garden, you might want to make room for a pollinator nesting box. By hosting a small (30cm x 14cm), maintenance-free nestbox for cavity-nesting bees in your front or backyard, and permitting access to visit the nest approximately once per month for 20-30 minutes, you'll be contributing to important research about the wild bee population in Toronto. The nestbox would be set up at the end of April, and picked up at the end of October. These types of bees won't be making any honey sadly but they will help pollinate your garden! For more info and to register to be part of the project by Scott MacIvor check out his website at T.O.Bee



Got a maple tree in your backyard? Not Far From the Tree is gearing up for our Syrup in the City project again this winter. After last year's successful pilot project, we are expanding the project to included a DYI component which will allow people to purchase our kits and with our support, tap your own trees! Similar to our fruit picking model, you'll have the option to contribute some or all of your sap to our community boil down, and everyone is invited to our Sugaring Off party at Dufferin Grove on March 13. For more info and to register check out Syrup in the City




If you aren't in the Toronto area, check this list for a local community garden network in your area- it's time to get busy again!