Spring

There has been so much going on that I should/could have blogged about but, because there has been a lot happening, I have been very busy! Spring is such an exciting time and there is so much happening related to growing food in the city. I have done a bunch of workshops with kids on gardening - mainly learning about worm composting and making seed balls. I had a lovely community Earth Day party and my thesis is coming along nicely (transcribing interviews is actually helping my writing because it is taking me back to the garden and the gardeners who I am so fond of).

The thing I am most excited about in this moment is that my community garden plot is ready to use. I have been waiting for it to be plowed (not my choice and a topic for another day). Tomorrow, the earthkids and I will be heading down to our plot, spreading manure, laying out the design, and planting some seeds. YAY!

May 1 (Saturday) is May Day. It is both a fertility celebration with ancient roots in Europe, the Middle East, and Central America AND an international day to celebrate and acknowledge the struggles of working people for rights and freedom. That makes it an especially sacred day to me and my kids. What a perfect weekend for planting seeds!

Dreaming big...with others

Last night I went to a meeting for the Transition Town London Food Working Group. many dreams/visions were shared for how our food system could be changed for the better but one of the main shared ones was to try to change the bylaw so that the keeping of chickens is allowed in London. I am very excited about this possibility. I have been interested in the keeping of urban chickens for a few years now. My interest may have first been piqued during the Nature in the City class I took during my undergrad (an Anthropology at UWO: good course, good prof, I highly recommend it). I'm a vegan but if I had a couple pet chickens I think I would probably eat their (non-fertalized eggs). Actually I hate the smell and taste of eggs so I would probaby just cook with them - although vegan baking is one of my most loved activities certain recipes, such as crepes would be SO much easier with eggs!!

To me chickens are important because they allow people another way in which to feed themsleves and their families. Urban chicken-keeping is so much more humane for the chickens as well. In the North American cities that currently allow urban chickens, they seem to be beloved pets as much as they are sources of food (mainly their eggs which are unfertilized because most cities that allow chickens do not allow roosters).  Compare that to the situation in which most chickens currently live - they are kept by the tens of tousands in the most disgusting conditons possible.   So, allowing chickens in cities makes the standard of living better for at least some chickens and it allows people to have a free source of regular protein in their diet.

As a permiculturalist my main interest in urban chickens is not as a source of food but as a valuable helper in the garden. Chickens eat lots of bugs and their poop is great for enriching the soil. I dream of a community garden in which there is a shared chicken coop and chicken tractor (a mobile enclosure used to protect chickens while allowing them opportunity to eat, play, scratch, and poop in the garden) and some beautiful and sweet pet chickens. It is so nice that other folks in my city also share my dream to varying degrees. I also dream of a co-opertaive bee hive but that is something for the future perhaps...

There are other dreams/visions for a better food system that I have shared with folks over the past couple days. A few coversations about the food deserts in the city (neighbourhoods were people have very little access to healthy, fresh foods) gave me the idea of doing community food mapping workshops in those neighbourhoods, maybe through the various neighbourhood resource centres (two of which I already work with). That is something that must be left for my post-MA life, however. Wouldn't it be great to have local farmer's markets - that somehow include affordable organics - in the areas that are currently food deserts?

Some of these dreams may be unrealistic but I believe in dreaming big and dreaming with others. I also believe in sharing our dreams and visions for a better world. What can YOU imagine? What are YOUR dreams for the earth and her inhabitants??

It's raining and I'm wet!

Today as I was biking to the resource centre to run a gardening activity for the kids (seed balls! so fun) I got caught in the rain. A 30 minute bike ride in the rain meant that I got very wet. I was enjoying myself though (mostly) and thought as I biked along how folks in North America try to avoid the realities of the natural world as much as possible. We sit in cold buildings when the weather is hot and we sit in super warm buildings when it is freezing cold outside. We avoid the elements as much as we can especially rain and snow. I was thinking about this because I was thinking how odd I would look arriving soaking wet to lead the children's gardening program.

The thought that ran through my head was: I am wet because it is raining, dammit! And I am actually feeling quite good; it's okay to get a little wet. As I biked fast in the rain singing to myself I felt so intensely ALIVE. I don't think there is anything wrong with trying to avoid getting soaked by the rain. Tonight, in fact, I am staying home because I don't want to be cold and wet.  But I wish it wasn't so weird to bike in the rain; I wish people were more willing to experience the heat, the cold, the snow, the rain, etc. or at least that we were more willing to deal with them in ways that do not use obscene amounts of fossil fuels (driving cars all the time, using air conditioning, overheating our homes, etc).

When I got home, with my still damp jeans and wet hair, my warm apartment and my cup of tea felt amazing! Way more amazing than if I had stayed home and stayed dry!

Bless Nettle, Oats, and Burdock

My kitchen is a messy but cozy place tonight. I am preparing a burdock root decoction, boiling some kidney beans, and baking some delicious smelling vegan banana muffins. Earlier for dinner I made yummy Persian Noodle Soup. Today I drank both Nettle and Oat infusions (I'm actually eating the oat infusion now) and am reminded of how good it feels to drink nourishing herbal infusions on a daily basis. I had neglected to do it for a couple months. There are many nourishing herbs - these, as defined by Wise Woman herbalist Susun Weed, are herbs that do not have strong or dramatic effects but rather nourish our bodies so our bodies can be as healthy as possible. Stinging nettle and oatstraw are the ones that I gravitate towards - nettle is an amazingly nourishing herb that contains many vitamins and minerals and helps boost energy. Oats work gently on the body to help the nervous system deal with stress. It has a relaxing and calming effect. It's my goal to drink an infusion of both everyday this spring - hard to do since I am forgetful but so worth it.

Today as I drank my nettle infusion, I thought about all the yummy things I hope to make with nettles this year. Nettles are wonderful to eat fresh (although you have to cook them in some way in order to take out the sting)  and the tender spring leaves are absolutely delicious. I don't wildcraft nettle because not only does nettle heal human bodies but it also heals the soil and often grows in toxic/damaged soil, taking out the toxins through its roots. I buy my nettle from a farmer at the downtown farmer's market here in London - $5 a bag but SO worth it. My main nettle dish is nettle pesto but I hope to venture out and  try a few different recipes this year.

So, even though my house is messy and slightly chaotic, I am feeling well-nourished and relaxed tonight. The burdock root decoction is very good for de-toxifying the body, especially the skin. The banana muffins are to take on the train tomorrow as the kids and I go to Kitchener to hang out with family and visit the Waterloo Children's Museum. The kidney beans are for a good pot of (vegan) chili later in the week.

The earth gives us so much abundance!

The Food Co-op

The London Co-op Store has been like a second home to me in many ways. I contacted the co-op before we even moved to London knowing that it would be a place to meet some amazing, progressive people in a city known for its conservatism. The managers have been such an important part of my and my kid's lives, literally sharing in our joys and sorrows. A lot of my closest friends are people I meet at the co-op. It is so much more to me than simply a place to shop; it has truly been a place to connect.

I also believe that co-ops can offer a true alternative to global capitalism. Not everyone in the co-op movement agrees with me but I think they are a seed for a different, better kind of society. There is a great book about food justice movements called Edible Action: Food Activism and Alternative Economics by Sally Miller and in this book, she discusses the exciting potential of co-ops to bring about social change. I interviewed her for my thesis because she is involved in the NGO that runs the garden I researched. She is also involved in starting the West End Food Co-op in Parkdale.

The food co-op in London is the place where I buy most of my food. This summer, I hope to get local produce from the CSA, my own garden, and local farmers at the farmer's market and buy all the rest of my food and household products from the food co-op. It is so fulfilling to me to get something as essential to life as food from sources that are community -- and not profit -- oriented.

Here is the food co-op's website: http://www.londonfoodcoop.org/