The bees have found the sumac

I have been monitoring the buckwheat to see if the bees find it this year. Two years ago, I reported that wild bees were foraging in abundance on the flowers. Last summer I was sad to see only very few. Yesterday the flowers were in peak bloom and, lo and behold, the air was abuzz with pollinating insects of all kinds, including wild bees. On close inspection, I was intrigued to find them all over the staghorn sumac adjacent to the field of buckwheat, where they were feeding to a lesser extent. Wherever they find their food, that's fine with me. It is a relief to see them at all!

Isn't It Ironic?

                       Our small certified organic farm                                     GM soybean harvest

                                                  

On May 24, millions of activists from around the world will once again March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals. Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries, with events scheduled in over 400 cities.

May 24 this year also happens to be my 58^th birthday. I will be at Evergreen Brick Works farmers market in Toronto, selling Rolling Hills Organics pre-washed salad greens (arugula, mixed greens, spicy greens, baby beet greens, baby lettuce mix, baby spinach, baby kale, baby chard), herbs and spices, and grass-fed, grass-finished beef. It is important to me to be there every week in person, to offer customers a one-on-one alternative to the chemicalized and genetically-modified offerings of the industrial food system.

Paraphrasing something that I read somewhere on the wonderful world wide web,

It is an irony that we, as a small farm, are mandated to pay annually to be verified (certified) as organic, whilst large industrial-scale farms are paid (subsidized) by our governments to grow pesticide-laden ‘commodity’ crops which are, for the most part, genetically modified and which have untested and potentially unforeseen dangerous consequences for our health and that of the biota that share the land with us.

Gundi's birthday

Today is Gundi’s birthday. This afternoon we went for a walk in Warkworth along Mill Creek, seeing the river bubbling and meandering along, a hawk swoop to pick out a fish lunch, and greenery unfurling everywhere.

This Spring, after the longest winter we can remember, we have been pleased to see Nature re-assert her authority with the re-appearance of a number of our treasured creatures – bumblebees, wild bees, green frogs, purple- and gold-finches, hummingbirds, rose breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore orioles, and today, bluebirds. OK, we have to put up with groggy blackflies beginning to bite, chipmunks and squirrels filling their cheeks with sunflower seeds, and raccoons and skunks sneaking out from the undergrowth. Today we stopped the car to help a very snappy snapping turtle across the road. It is just giddying to see Spring progressing at full tilt.

As we both enjoy Spring birthdays, we get to celebrate by eating outside al fresco.  Tonight’s birthday dinner was served as the thunder was rolling overhead, and just ahead of a welcome rain. Shrimp and scallops seared in ginger, garlic and olive oil, with rice, tomato salad, super-fresh and tender asparagus picked at a neighbour’s patch and gifted us. Con Freixenet negro bubbly y vino tinto chileno (carmenère), of course. Salud!

Outdoor Market Season is here

It being the beginning of May, the outdoor farmers market season starts for us at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto’s Don Valley this Saturday, May 3. This means an early start with the alarm clock going off at 4.30am (much earlier for some farmers who travel from farther afield).  The outdoor market runs as in previous years, from 8am to 1pm.

It has been a long winter for everyone, of course, with more than our normal share of cold, snow, and especially ice. We stayed home this winter with wood-fires blazing, eyeing with envy the cheerful reports from friends in hot climes. Spring has been tortuously slow and steady, like a dripping tap. However, we now find ourselves just a little behind in our seasonal rhythm of digging the beds and planting in the greenhouses. Outside, the landscape is regaining some colour and contrast as the grasses green, the garlics poke their heads up, and the dandelions and weeds follow. Heavy rains the last few days have left the brown earth furrows in the plowed fields temporarily waterlogged.

The beds in the greenhouses are now fully planted and beginning to fill in nicely with early spring greens. At market this week, we will have bags of pre-washed arugula, baby spinach, mixed greens, spicy greens, and baby kale – all certified organic and freshly-picked on Friday, of course. Next week, there will be more of these, plus baby lettuce mix and maybe baby beet greens.

And so another growing season is underway. The joy and wonder in seeing these tiny seeds turn into succulent, nutritious food never wanes. This year, we are focusing marketing efforts on Saturday Brick Works and Tuesday afternoon (this year 2 to 7pm) Riverdale Park farmers markets.  I look forward to market season and interacting with our lovely, loyal customers once more.

See you at market!

Why We Should All Eat More Organic Food

Certified organic lettuce mix growing in the fields at Rolling Hills Organics

Published at http://organicconsumers.org/organlink.cfm

(Follow green links for in-depth reports)

Organic Food is More Nutritious

o   Organic foods, especially raw or non-processed, contain higher levels of beta carotene, vitamins C, D and E, health-promoting polyphenols, cancer-fighting antioxidants, flavonoids that help ward off heart disease, essential fatty acids, and essential minerals.

o   On average, organic is 25% more nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals than products derived from industrial agriculture. Since on the average, organic food's shelf price is only 20% higher than chemical food, this makes it actually cheaper, gram for gram, than chemical food, even ignoring the astronomical hidden costs (damage to health, climate, environment, and government subsidies) of industrial food production. Learn more...

o   Levels of antioxidants in milk from organic cattle are between 50% and 80% higher than normal milk. Organic wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions and lettuce have between 20% and 40% more nutrients than non-organic foods. Learn more...

o   Organic food contains qualitatively higher levels of essential minerals (such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium), that are severely depleted in chemical foods grown on pesticide and nitrate fertilizer-abused soil. UK and US government statistics indicate that levels of trace minerals in (non-organic) fruit and vegetables fell by up to 76% between 1940 and 1991.

 

Organic Food is Pure Food, Free of Chemical Additives

o   Organic food doesn't contain food additives, flavor enhancers (like MSG), artificial sweeteners (like aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup), contaminants (like mercury) or preservatives (like sodium nitrate), that can cause health problems.

o   Eating organic has the potential to lower the incidence of autism, learning disorders, diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, allergies, osteoporosis, migraines, dementia, and hyperactivity.

 

Organic Food Is Safer

o   Organic food doesn't contain pesticides. More than 400 chemical pesticides are routinely used in conventional farming and residues remain on non-organic food even after washing. Children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposure. One class of pesticides, endocrine disruptors, may be responsible for early puberty and breast cancer. Pesticides are linked to asthma and cancer.

o   Organic food isn't genetically modified. Under organic standards, genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are prohibited.

o   Organic animals aren't given drugs. Organic farming standards prohibit the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and genetically modified vaccines in farm animals. Hormone-laced beef and dairy consumption is correlated with increased rates of breast, testis and prostate cancers.

o   Organic animals aren't fed slaughterhouse waste, blood, or manure. Eating organic reduces the risks of CJD, the human version of mad cow disease, as well as Alzheimer's.

o   Organic animals aren't fed arsenic.

o   Organic animals aren't fed byproducts of corn ethanol production (which increases the rate of E. coli contamination).

o   Organic crops aren't fertilized with toxic sewage sludge or coal waste, or irrigated with E. coli contaminated sewage water.

o   Organic food isn't irradiated. Cats fed a diet of irradiated food got multiple sclerosis within 3-4 months.

o   Organic food contains less illness-inducing bacteria. Organic chicken is free of salmonella and has a reduced incidence of campylobacter.

Organic dairy has environmental benefits: Shades of Green: Quantifying the Benefits of Organic Dairy Production

A Local Organic Food Framework

Our Western diet is leaving us open to various escalating assaults on our health. To mitigate the effects, a renewed focus on the essential nature and nutrition of food is vital.   

Please feel free to reproduce and distribute widely, referencing the author and providing a link to this page.

Seville Orange Marmalade

This year, Gundi - with some help from me - has been cooking up a fresh batch of four different types of Seville orange marmalade: regular orange and lemon, orange and lemon with organic sugar, whisky orange and lemon, and, new, ginger orange and lemon. All are tangy and thick-cut, just the way we like it!

Kellie at www.kelliesfoodtoglow.com reports that "In common with other oranges, Seville oranges are great sources of Vitamin C and fibre, but also have useful amounts of some B vitamins, beta-carotene and alpha-carotene, lutein (for eyes), potassium and tumour-preventing beta-sitosterol, hersperetin and naringenin. The high amount of pectin found in Seville oranges is not only great for achieving ‘set’ with marmalade (you should never have to add commercial pectin) but it also binds to some carcinogens that are produced in the gut and carries them out of the body." Good news, indeed.

Armed with this marmalade (currently suffusing the house with its citrusy aroma), grass-fed beef and dried herbs, spices and teas, we will be at Evergreen Brickworks farmers market next Saturday, February 15, then weekly from March 8 on. Hard to believe that a month from now, it is traditionally time to turn over the thawing soil in the greenhouses and plant the first of the spring greens. I think we may be still skating on thin ice by then and putting off the growing season for a week or two. We’ll just have to see what Nature has in store for us next…