The End of the Riverdale Road

Riverdale Farmers Market in happier days - with myself, Didi Curry, Peter Southward, and some of our lovely regular customers

The Riverdale Farmers Market has reached the end of its life. The City of Toronto that has managed the weekly summer Tuesday farmers market in recent years has decided to close up shop. No surprise really, after recent seasons of dwindling attendance from both vendors and public. But sad, nonetheless.

In its heyday, the market was jam-packed with a motley array of organic farmers and enthusiastic Cabbagetowners. We were all under the charge of the effervescent Elizabeth Harris who founded the market and oversaw it with humour, verve, commitment, community spirit, discipline, and drive.

I wrote about the experience in my book, High Up in the Rolling Hills:

It was the irrepressible Elizabeth Harris who had given me my big break as a certified organic grower all those years ago. Then as vice-president of Quinte Organic Farmers Co-operative, I approached Elizabeth to apply for the co-op to be a vendor at her flagship organic farmers market at Riverdale Farm in Cabbagetown, Toronto. She sized up what we offered, 12 small certified-organic family farms pooling their produce to market direct to the customer, and she voiced her doubts. She was used to allowing only single farms to join her family of vendors. But she sized me up too and found something she liked or trusted, so she said, “Okay, but only as long as you bring all the farmers in to sell at your stand through the season.” “Sure,” I promised having gotten a foot in the door. It wasn’t to be, of course; only one or two farmers bothered to come in at all, but the first season was a roaring success for the co-op as a fledgling sales organization. I made sure we stayed on Elizabeth’s good side—as one had to—and, over several years, Elizabeth and I developed a wonderful mutual respect. I was awed by her tight control of the market, her fairness, her discipline with slack vendors, her amazing vision in holding it all together and bringing people together.

“Peter, I’d like you to meet Jamie Kennedy.”

“Peter, can any of your farmers supply three bushels of romano beans for a dinner for seventy-five this Friday?”

She would often call up and tell me about the latest new vendors that she was excited to have visited. She had such respect for farmers and for food produced honestly and in a fresh way. And she would ask my opinion and advice. Early on at market, I incurred her wrath. She had strong rules and enforced them. Vendors were not allowed to sell before the bell rang, right at 3:00 p.m. As I tried to sneak in a sale for a customer who was running off to work, a booming voice bellowed out from the other side of the park: “Mr. Finch, the market opens at three o’clock, and not before!” Last year, held up in traffic and running late in setting up, I upheld her rule when an impending storm told her to ring the bell early. “No, Elizabeth, that’s not fair; I’m not ready,” I pleaded. She agreed to wait, and for weeks after, she deferred to me to see if I was ready before ringing the bell. A softening, maybe? I feel deep down that she truly respected her senior farmers, and I was lucky enough to have been in that number.

Elizabeth slipped away from us, succumbing to cancer, but her amazing energy, drive and spirit would remain with us as we tried to honour her legacy and continued to provide for the table she set for us so passionately. It had been an honour and a privilege to know her; hard to believe that she wouldn’t be shuffling along on a glorious spring afternoon on opening day of market in May and that her voice wouldn’t be greeting me across the park: “Peter, who do you have helping you today? I’d like to introduce you to …”

Elizabeth is now gone, as is Didi Curry, the defunct Quinte Organic Farmers Co-operative, and now Riverdale Farmers Market. I still miss Elizabeth, and it was for her that I kept Rolling Hills Organics selling at Riverdale under the very last day in mid-October last year, 2014. We were down to just four vendors on that day which turned out to be the final market, valiant to the bitter end.  

Thank you to all you lovely customers who also kept me coming in. This upcoming season, I am hoping you will find me, Rolling Hills Organics and our salad greens, herbs (and much more besides) instead on Wednesday afternoons at Fairmount Park Farm Market at Coxwell & Gerrard.... and of course at Evergreen Brick Works on Saturday mornings most of the year.


November 2015 update: Riverdale Farmers Market was resurrected in the summer of 2015 as Cabbagetown Farmers Market, running on Tuesday afternoons as before. I am delighted to hear from both vendors and customers that it was a successful well-attended season. The spirit of Elizabeth Harris lives on!

Organopónico Vivero Alamar, Cuba

We are planning to visit this inspiring model of urban organic agriculture during our four-week trip travelling around Cuba.

(originally posted at http://www.ica.coop/en/media/co-operative-stories/organoponico-vivero-alamar-cuba)
  Cuba used to have an industrialized agricultural system, exporting sugar and citrus to Russia and importing most of its food, as well as oil, machinery, fertilizers and pesticides. Then the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, which combined with a US trade embargo created a crisis that Fidel Castro named "The Special Period". Suddenly cut off from all these inputs, the country turned to agricultural self-sufficiency, organic production and permaculture almost by default. Urban gardens sprouted around the island's cities, encouraged by the government, and the end result is an incredible example of sustainable agriculture.

One of Havana's largest and most successful urban gardens is the Organopónico Vivero Alamar, a Unidad Básica de Producción Cooperativa (Basic Unit of Cooperative Production). Covering 11 hectares in Alamar, a residential suburb, the allotment's rows of vegetables are overshadowed by grey Soviet-style blocks of flats. Though small, the garden (really more of an urban farm) is incredibly productive. As well as fresh vegetables, fruits, ornamental plants, seedlings, timber and medicinal and spiritual plants, the cooperative also produces dried herbs, condiments, garlic paste, tomato sauce and pickles; vermicompost, compost and substrates; goat and rabbit meat and mycorrhizal fungi. The Organopónico also welcomes tourists and holds workshops and courses in organic agriculture. Products are sold to local restaurants and directly to community members from the farm shop.

The cooperative that owns the Organopónico has 150 members, with 17 employees. Miguel Angel Salcines López, one of its founders and the current president, says, "The sense of belonging is central to organic production, and in the cooperative form there's even more a sense of belonging. We're less vulnerable economically because we can adapt better to the economic conditions. And we can improve social conditions for members and their families."

He says the cooperative is contributing to local development by facilitating access to healthy food at fair prices and creating jobs, especially for women and older people. They are also providing a beautiful example of how organic agriculture can be practiced in a city. Cuba's shift to self-sustainability, at least in fruits and vegetables, and its wide-scale adoption of urban, organic food growing, offer plenty of lessons in how to cope with potential future oil shortages and how communities, when driven by necessity, will organize and find ways to feed themselves. In the words of environmentalist Bill McKibben, Cuba may be "the world's largest working model of a semi-sustainable agriculture."

Find out more about Vivero Alamar at their beautiful website www.farmcuba.org

Last pick of the year

Last pick of the year at our farm. A mix of arugula, tatsoi, mizuna, and baby kale from our unheated greenhouses. Going down to minus 14 Celsius tonight, so that's it for winter greens, I think... Now the ground can freeze, and we can go into hibernation, or bear time!
Next greens will be baby spring ones, come April.

Holy Basil!

The first indoor Brick Works farmers market of the season was a bustling one on Saturday. Midst frenzied sales, a woman with bright radiant eyes approached our stand and said: “Oh, you sell Tulsi (holy basil) Tea..”  I told her, that, yes, we actually grew holy basil this year for the first time. It grew profusely, bushing out into a mat of light green topped with purple flowers. We harvested it at peak flower, dried it and bottled some into tulsi tea. The customer was very glad to hear that it was grown without pesticides and is, indeed, certified organic, grown locally on our farm. She was even more pleased to inhale the complex fruity aroma and sense the vital energy in it. “You know what holy basil is?”, she asked knowingly. I knew it principally as an all-round health tonic, widely used in India. Her eyes lit up as she described how holy basil helps us to adapt to toxins, impurities, even background radiation that are around us in our environment. She happily purchased a jar.

When I got home, I looked up holy basil. Holy Basil functions as an adaptogen, enhancing the body's natural response to physical and emotional stress. Adaptogenic herbs help the body function optimally during times of stress.

“An adaptogen is a botanical that greatly improves your body's ability to adapt to stress, whether it's a hectic schedule, heat or cold, noise, high altitudes or any number of other stressors. This elite class of herbs impart strength, energy, stamina, endurance, and improve mental clarity.” – Chris Kilham, Oprah & Friends

In many parts of the non-Western world, adaptogens are used extensively in high-risk, fast-reflex occupations, from athletes to miners to deep sea divers. With the scientific data to back these natural wonders already available and more research under way, it is only a matter of time before adaptogens begin making their mark in North America. Other adaptogens include ashwagandha, eleuthero, maca, panax ginseng, rhodiola rosea, schisandra.

My encounter with this radiant customer made some recent feelings of anger, sadness, resentment and helplessness engendered by outside world events ebb away, replaced by all those qualities Chris Kilham noted - strength, energy, stamina, endurance, and improve mental clarity. The energy of holy basil alone effected this. Home again, tired but relaxed after another market day, I made myself a cup of tulsi tea and doubled down on its uplifting effect.

The Garlic Is Planted

True garlic planting weather is here. Grey skies, blustery winds, rain showers ushered in the time to put these babies to bed for the winter. We also planted a few rows of garlic seed to produce spring garlic next year. Just the hay mulch duvet to apply and the eight rows will be snug ahead of the freeze and snow.

Gundi also put her castells and candlesticks to bed this week, planting them out on a grassy bank at the top of the laneway (see picture above). They look happy, perky even, and they gleam in the sunlight. Gundi too is happy, with a sense of closure after having these creations sitting about idly, unsold for too long.

The field greens are mostly plowed under and hay bales have been rolled out to provide mulch and a rest to hard working beds in our top field. We did the same last year to beds in the lower field. A milpa three sisters mix of corn, beans and zucchini was planted into the hay in the spring, and by summer the worm activity and healthy vegetable production were a joy to behold. The hay is now worked right in to the soil, enriching it deeply.

So, it is now down to the two greenhouses to produce the fall greens for the rest of the year, until winter holidays call us away to Cuba. With the easing of farming pressures, now is a good time to get away for a break in the old country. My niece Anna is marrying her Dan in Shrewsbury, so I will get to see family (including my two sisters, three nieces, one nephew, one brother-in-law) again. After a few days solo in Snowdonia, I am also getting together at a north Wales farmhouse to reunite with Neil, Andy, and Jeremy, my Oxford college buddies. Unbelievably, it is now almost forty years since we met at Pot Hall! The two Brick Works markets that I will be away for on November 15 and 22 will be the first misses of the year. 

Colourful Mustard Greens

What a glorious clear, bright, sunny day, with the fall colours intensifying. The mustard greens are getting colourful too. At Evergreen Don Valley Brick Works market tomorrow, we will have arugula, spicy & mixed greens, lettuce mix, lots of garlic, fresh romano beans, 100% grass-fed beef (including steaks, roasts, ground, stew, ribs). Maybe see you there?

Celebrating Organic

Content From: Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA)

Published Monday, Sep. 08 2014, 2:54 PM EDT

From The Globe & Mail Friday, Sep. 19 2014

                             

Bees on the lavender at Rolling Hills Organics last summer; hardly any bees this summer

What started over a couple drinks one night during the recession has turned into a nationwide celebration with an ever-growing number of participants from all walks of life, says Matthew Holmes, executive director of the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA).

Canada’s National Organic Week, held from September 20 to 28, is the largest annual celebration of organic food, farming and products across the country. Organized by COTA, Canadian Organic Growers (COG) and the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA), the event’s popularity reflects the high regard Canadians have for organic, says Holmes.

“Organic Week started in late 2008,” he recalls. “A colleague from Canadian Organic Growers (COG) and I decided we needed a focus point for the brands and consumers that were behind organic and were driving the growth of the market.”

At the time, there wasn’t much data available, according to Holmes, who knew that the organic market was growing but didn’t have much information on who was buying organic. “Even while people were cutting back and penny-pinching, they were increasingly choosing to buy quality food for their families,” he says.

In the five years since the inception of Organic Week, the organic market has seen substantial growth. Thanks to the increasing demand for organic products, approximately 5,000 certified organic producers and manufacturers are now operating in Canada. Organic food sales reached $3.5-billion in 2012, three times what was sold in 2006, making Canada the world’s fourth largest organic market.

“Organic farming is helping to revive our rural communities,” she says. “It has attracted a whole new diverse generation of farmers in Canada, many of whom didn’t even grow up in rural settings. More and more people are choosing to farm organically because they want to be part of an amazing organic community and they have an unwavering belief in the principles of organic production.”

Another development worthy of celebration is the growing awareness that sustainably grown organic food benefits our environment, families and communities, says St Hilaire. “Canadians have become highly literate consumers, who are very conscious of what they feed themselves and their families.”

CHFA president Helen Long agrees. “Canadians can feel confident that when they purchase a product with the Canada organic logo, they are not only investing in their health, but also supporting sustainable environmentally friendly practices and animal welfare,” she says, adding that with over 1,000 members across Canada dedicated to natural health and organic products, CHFA is proud to once again support Organic Week and shine a spotlight on the important impact the organic industry has for Canadians.