Raw Milk Victory

I admit, the skeptic deep down got the better of me. Luckily, I was proven wrong, and my faith in justice has rung true once again.

Michael Schmidt, the Ontario farmer who got in trouble for distributing raw milk to cow shareholders was acquitted of the charges last Friday. The National Post did a great bit on it:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=2470235

I've waffled a bit on where I stand on this *broad* issue; I mean, Michael Schmidt has my full support, and I wholeheartedly believe that if well-informed individuals want to drink unpasteurized milk from Schmidt's farm, then they should not be prohibited from doing so. However, Schmidt is raising cows in the right way, not in a large-scale conventional way that makes pasteurization necessary - it does kill disease, after all. And when everyday citizens don't choose to seek out a safely produced raw milk (and face it, most people won't), then pasteurization is good.

And for the rest, options are good too. Way to go, Schmidt. This is food sovereignty at its best!

Halifax foodie scene

I've made a new year's resolution to write more. Hopefully it sticks.

I've finally settled my life in Halifax after six months of floating, traveling, staying with friends, and generally benefiting from the good will of other people. That is a tough life, I must admit, especially when it comes to food, and the sort of investment I want to make in my food life. I've been itching for a while to plant garlic, asparagus, and other plants that don't appear right away. And I want to buy in bulk! But when you're living the life of a half-hearted vagabond, those options are not open. So, to finally put down some roots, to say "I have time. I'm not going anywhere soon" is probably the most relief I have felt in a very long time.

And Halifax, I continue to discover, is a great place in which to do that. Lots of great people interested in local food, sharing information, and tricks on where to get the best local sunflower oil for the best price, is really starting to make me feel part of something. And it's gooood. It's hard not to get excited when there is the Local Source food market a short walk away from my apartment, the Grainery Food Co-op just a bit further, and a rockin' Saturday Farmer's Market to boot! I can start changing my habits, my routines, and dig deep into the promises that are here.

(I also had the BEST London Fog of my life yesterday at the Just Us! cafe on Spring Garden. I think I am a new person because of it.)

So, here I go, into the food world of Halifax!

People's Food Policy Project

In August, 2009 Waldegrave Farm in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia held the 5th annual 'Free School,' where one hundred eager, intelligent, and inspiring people gathered together to teach each other whatever it was that they could teach each other. It's chancy, really, resting so heavily on the generosity and skills of other people in order to put on a successful event, but it worked.

In talking with folks over the course of the weekend, it became apparent that many of us had arrived with varied expectations, some of which may or may not have been met. Personally, I had come wanting to learn about food (surprise, surprise). Luckily, I was not alone, and throughout the weekend absorbed bits and pieces about making sourdough, harvesting medicinal plants, cover-cropping, fruit tree grafting, and not to mention in the incredible culinary treats that were so lavishly and graciously provided for all participants.

One workshop was offered by Pat Kerans of the People's Food Policy Project (PFPP). This national, grassroots organization concerns itself with work dedicated to the creation of a national food security policy. Sitting around in a circle in the front yard, leaning on hay bails, and half-expecting the dark and daunting sky to open up and flood us out, we conversed and vented about our frustration with the current policies, or lack there-of, with relation to food in our country. The intention was not to come to conclusions, but was meant as a step in a much larger process for the PFPP - to talk to Canadians on the ground in communities all across the country about what they want in a food policy. Where should our country go, and what should it do to be what the people want it to be. We bounced around thoughts on poverty, food labelling, GMOs, and agriculture rights. It was fascinating.

All this is to introduce you to this project, and ask you to at least familiarize yourself with what they do. If you are so inclined, let them know what you think needs to change, or remain. Shamelessly, and with all sincerity I urge you to check out their site, www.peoplesfoodpolicy.ca and join in shaping Canada's future of food.

Just a glitch, or a new trend?

This weekend I read an article in the Globe and Mail that turned the tips of my hair red with a rare, and intense frustration. Entitled, "Standoff over fertilizer prices imperils world food supply," the concern expressed is that large chemical fertilizer companies like PotashCorp (from Saskatchewan) and Agrium (from Calgary) experienced huge losses this year because farmers are cutting back on those expensive products. Times are tough, we know, and when a farmer needs to balance the books, something's gotta give. 

It's not so much that reporter Jessica Leeder is dishing out the facts that big companies are suffering losses, it's that it plays the farmers as the bad guys. The farmers shell out tons of money for fertilizers they've become dependent on because of the cash-crop mentality, the more, more, more of industrial agriculture, and in return can hardly make a profit. Government encourages this behaviour, because it's the big companies that turn a ridiculous profit and benefit the money-economy, and not the farmers who are usually just trying to stay afloat. Now, farmers have had enough, and are weaning their land off a reliance on chemicals, in turn benefiting the environment, surely, our health, most likely, and their already meagre income, and we're supposed to feel bad for the big guys? Wow. 

PotashCorp is banking on the expectation that the farmers will wake up and realize they've made a mistake by decreasing their intense use of the company's product, which 'nourishes the soil.' This is a quotation from the company's CEO, William Doyle: "Food production is too important to put at risk. Farmers know this and they will start feeding their soil again. the question is not if it will happen, but when the rebound will begin." I hope he's wrong, I really do. Not because we can afford a serious decrease in our food supply, but because there are other good farming methods available out there. Organic. Bio-Dynamic. Methods that are easier on the land, that allow the land to nourish itself, and not be exhausted by over-production, and heavy fertilization. If this is the kick in the pants that is needed to get more organic farms, I'm all for it.

Farmers are made out in the article to be at the whim of the Agri-Business giants. No farmers are interviewed for this article, no farmers' voices are heard here. They are made to seem like children throwing a temper-tantrum who will eventually 'come to their senses' because 'mommy and daddy are older and wiser.' But what would the farmer say? Maybe they've been sucked into this, and have had enough of the way things are done. Maybe they want to be self-sustaining to a greater degree. Maybe they are putting their foot down, saying, "I do so much to feed people in this country, and I'm sick and tired at not being able to pay my bills while I fork over a big chunk of my profit to yet another Big Business Fat Cat." 

Food on my plate is just as important to me as it is to anyone else, and I know that if farmers don't grow food, then I don't eat. If farmers can't make a living, then they quit farming. If they quit farming, not only do the fertilizer companies lose, but I lose too, and so do the farmers. If the farmers can find other ways to produce food, which they WANT to do (like hell they're going to sit around and wait for their yields to drop without a fight - they're going to find other methods to sustain their yields at a more economic, and hopefully environmentally sustainable cost), then they come out on top, I get to eat, and really, it's only the Big Guys who suffer. Food supply can only be reliable if it's sustainable, and the way it's being done now is obviously not sustainable, economically, or environmentally. 

Farmers, I got your back.

www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/standoff-over-fertilizer-prices-imperils-world-food-supply/article1336858/

Talk the momentum

It's been a relative while since there have been updates here. Sure, we're all busy, and it's not as if I haven't had any ideas to share, but time really seems to get away from me.

Last night Jon Steinman, host of one of my favorite radio programmes, Deconstructing Dinner, graced a Sackville audience with a message of fact, hope, and action. Explaining how our food system in Canada is run, primarily, by a handful of big and powerful (and largely invisible) companies, Jon challenged this town to take other avenues to food supply. Giving examples from a single place, Nelson, BC, where he lives, Jon introduced ideas like a grain CSA, a buyers club, and a *real* cooperative grocery store. Nelson is twice the size of Sackville, but can be a true inspiration for a place like this.

Discussion followed, as often does at these things, and people from all corners of the food web shared their hopes, frustrations, and curiousities. To me, there are some things that are evident:

We know stuff. People in this town are somewhat aware of some of the problems (I call them problems, others might not see it this way. We'll agree to disagree) in our food system. Something just isn't right, and although we can't put our finger on just what it is or how it got that way, it doesn't sit easy in our gut. Pun intended. When things are great, like veggies directly from the farm at our farmer's market, and people learning about growing their own food, we know it, and it gives us a push to keep going.

People are itching to do something. They just don't know what. How do young people who so badly want to contribute to this community knowing they may not be settled here for very long, take on a long term project like starting a buying club? Or having a garden or a farm for most of the year? And how do the people that are here for the long-haul get enough knowledgeable and capable people to contribute their skills to something. And, most importantly, where on earth do we start?

I know there is a ways to go, in every community. The idea of being self-sustaining, for my own life is a goal of my own for someday in the future. But I also want to be a part of a community where that is a priority for everyone. This is the cause I have found for me, but not everyone feels this way, or sees the importance in this issue. It's too bad, because we all eat, and we all must survive.

But there are success stories, and this issue is starting to resonate with people. A conversation I had with my family around the dinner table - how fitting - was one step to a greater awareness. If these conversations get out there, and people start talking about food and caring about food and the system that "sustains" us, then maybe we can get somewhere.

Talking is big. Invade the sound waves of eavesdroppers and passers-by with this stuff. Today alone I found myself immersed in four or five conversations about what needs to happen and what can happen in a place like Sackville, and not all of them initiated by me (though I do take any opportunity I can get to talk about food). The truly amazing thing about all of the chatting I did today was that people were being completely practical. The introducer of Jon last night mentioned that this "foovement" is no longer just a "hippie hope," and she was right. There are real people working real jobs, driving cars, living life who all care about food, and they do it with passion!

So, I want to take this momentum, and this energy with me as I slowly remove myself from Sackville for the, er, second time. I also hope it stays here and gets bigger.

Talk it up - it's a big deal.