Back to blogging...

This might be brief...
Although the blogging took quite a holiday, the Ontario diet has not.
I am still plugging away at it with some exceptions thrown in.
I would say I have eaten out more than intended over the past couple of months, and I have allowed myself a good number of snacks as well. But when I've been at home, I have still stuck to eating Ontario food for my meals. This has included my canned tomatoes (delicious!), local chicken, the corn, cauliflower and brocolli that I blanched in the fall, grilled cheese sandwiches (still one of my favourites), some homemade soups, stews...
My time has felt limited for being creative, so I still feel like I'm just getting by, but my journey with this continues.
More to come...

Giving thanks...

It is difficult to think of a better place to be in the world on a Thanksgiving weekend than in Central Ontario. As I drove to the market yesterday, the sky's blue was in stark contrast with the burnt yellow leaves of maple trees lining the highway. Falling leaves found their place of rest and there was a sense of feeling very fortunate for the land in which I live.
The hustle and bustle of the market brought a smile to my face as people bought turkeys, potatoes, squash, beets, cranberries, yams, turnips and pies in preparation for their own family dinners... a time to celebrate and give thanks.
In 1578, Martin Forbisher held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for the long journey endured to find the northern passage to the Orient, marking an unofficial origin to the Thanksgiving tradition. But it was really the First Nations who began Thanksgiving by celebrating the harvest through ceremony and dance, giving thanks for the bountiful crops produced each fall. And so, for centuries, people have gathered with friends and family to mark the occasion of autumn harvest - and even if just for a moment, connecting the earth and everything it provides, to the core of what sustains human life.

On the drive home from the market, I tuned in to CBC's DNTO, where Sook-Yin Lee examined the meaning of giving thanks. One segment of the show featured Sook-Yin reading a 'Letter of Gratitude' on air to a friend who had impacted her life. It was one of those rare moments in radio that captured a profound sense of genuineness and realness that tugged strongly at the heart.
And although I'll refrain from gushing too much on a blog, I would like to express thanks to my family... mom, dad, Kristen, Ceanray, Alison, Bryan and Dylan. You have given me hope - an overwhelming desire to make a difference in this world. You have give me support - through letters, kind gestures and conversations. You have given me encouragement - particularly in times of need. You have given me a sense of self - various parts of you have combined to make me who I am. You have given me joy, laughter, and most importantly, love. I would give a lot today to sit down with Ceanray and my new nephew Dylan, and share mom's turkey, mashed potatoes, creamed corn and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top with the people that I love the most.
Have an extra piece of pie for me...
Happy Thanksgiving!

Chilly evenings...

After spending 3 days down in Toronto, it's been good to come home and know that I'll be here all week to enjoy the wonderful food that I picked up at the farmer's market on Saturday. This morning for breakfast, simply toast and honey... the bread was made by Lil down in Orillia - her and her husband mill their own flour. Lunch was grilled cheese with tomato and dinner was a slow-roasted organic free range chicken with roasted yams in maple syrup - topped off with a refreshing Steam Whistle pilsner! So it's been a great start to the week...

I have a fond love for reading, but that love is also shared for movies.
And although I would be hard-pressed to call this a movie, I was shown this little 5 minute clip about a month ago - it's a little independent fringe film that is surprisingly well done! Talking about food can come in many forms... if you're a fan of Star Wars, you'll appreciate this quite a bit!
Enjoy...

Seasons changing...

Cell phones are ringing, coffee beans are being grinded and the newspaper stands outside are trying to appeal to Canadians interested in the sensational US vice presidential debates as well as the less exciting political race in our own country. I’m in Toronto on a beautiful fall morning – squirrels avoiding traffic and leaves just beginning to turn (pictured above is the lake I live on, where the colours have peaked and leaves are already falling). Over the last couple of weeks, my trips to the city have been numerous, as has my patronage to restaurants. I have struggled with consistency in eating locally and I am feeling somewhat disappointed. Work and school has created an environment that fills my waking hours – food, to an extent, has been put on the backburner. And my quest for knowledge of all things food has been temporarily replaced by just keeping my head above water, or so it feels.
There have been, however, some moments to smile about:
A delicious batch of butternut squash soup that has warmed me on these cool autumn days…
A reawakening of sorts about the spiritual side of food and the importance of giving thanks…
The appreciation I saw from a friend towards her dinner salad…
The genuine support from friends and family towards my local food adventure…

My sister and her husband just had a baby boy… Dylan is his name!
I wish them the best of luck in their new adventure.

Changing the World...

In the first few days of starting school out west a month ago, we were asked the question, "As environmental educators, how are you going to change the world?" It was a daunting question, but it has stuck with me, so I end up thinking about it every day. And the answer that I keep coming back to is food!
I have met some incredible people over the past month and I keep meeting more. Last week, 220 private school boys came to our Centre to kick off their school year for 4 days, learning how to canoe, kayak, conquer their fear of heights and become a cohesive team - a group that will rely heavily on one another throughout the coming year. A few new staff joined the team for this group and within the span of 4 days, I had 2 new best friends!
Katherine lives in Toronto and serves at a Jamie Kennedy restaurant downtown - the restaurant serves local, organic food that will leave you never settling for an ordinary restaurant again. She is passionate about food and relayed stories to me about not clearing customer's plates until they had eaten the organic carrots that were seemingly a garnish... ("Are you sure you are done with that? Do you realize how much love has gone into growing those carrots?!?") She's amazing.
I also met Sarah, who seems to have many titles, but the only one that has stuck with me is 'holistic nutritionist'. We connected immediately as I shared my vision of starting school food gardens across Ontario. And although moving to Denmark, she promised to play a role from a distance! She too has a blog about food and health, and has some incredible photos and recipes... here's the link. She is truly an incredible individual!

mynewroots.blogspot.com

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist and author who's most recent book is called Blessed Unrest. He writes about a growing movement - upwards of 2 million organizations - who are working towards ecological sustainability and social justice. He is in awe of this movement - the passion that people have and the commitment that they are making to help change the world. Katherine and Sarah are two such women in my growing list of people I meet on my day to day journey of finding optimism on a planet that seems to be suffering so much.

Blanching...

The past couple of days have been interesting... I acquired a chest freezer, went to the market and bought $200 worth of veg, husked 60 cobs of corn tonight and am loving every minute of this experience!
So let's catch up...
I bought 10 heads of cauliflower, 10 heads of broccoli, 6 quarts of green and yellow beans and 7 dozen cobs of corn. I have spent the last two night blanching. Likely anyone else reading this would know what that is, but I had no idea! It was boiling a huge pot of water and immersing the veg for just one minute - then dunking it in cold water so it stops cooking - letting it dry and then bagging it for the freezer. For the amount of veg I now have in my freezer, I don't even think it took a lot of time or effort. Cutting the corn of 60 cobs got a bit repetitive tonight, but even that was fun! I'm curious to see how long some of this will last through the winter. I'm tempted to buy the same amount next week and stock up even more!
I aslo bought a bin of blueberries which I have frozen and 6 quarts of strawberries - which I also froze after removing the stems. So my freezer is on its way to sustaining me throughout the winter months.
My base of knowledge in the area of food is slowly growing and I am constantly eager to learn more. Food gardens in schools has become my new project which I will speak more of in days to come.
Pictured above is the great dichotemy between traditional food and industrial agriculture.
On the right is my first heirloom tomato (that I bought at the market!) - in stark contrast to the more nicely shaped and coloured tomato that we all know well on the left! I ate my first heirloom tomato today with a bit of feta on top. Words are inadequate to describe the explosion of flavour in my mouth! Who knew a tomato could taste so rich and meaty?!? It may be the ugly duckling of tomatoes, but it has definitely won me over!

Back in Ontario...

I'm slowly making the readjustment to the daily routine of work and life here in Haliburton. It's good to be home, yet I have come home with some new perspectives and a renewed inspiration that is causing many questions to come to light. Change is good, and I am excited to implement some of the learning that I have taken in over the last 3 weeks.
When I started this journey, it was focused primarily on food miles - that food traveled too far leading to an increased negative impact on the environment. A local diet would help alleviate some of those food miles.
But as I have begun reading Michael Pollan's new book In Defense of Food, I'm seeing a different side to this issue. Pollan argues that the food that we are buying in grocery stores is not really
food - he refers to this as nutritionism. Basically, scientists have removed individual nutrients from whole foods and made them food in and of themselves. (this description might be a little off, but I'm still reading the book!) Anyway, we're basically consuming nutrients now instead of food. The danger in this is that we've extracted and added so many things into the processed food we eat, that we don't fully understand the affect this may be having on our health. what we do know, is that obesity is on the rise, diabetes is on the rise, and food-related cancers are on the rise as well as heart disease. His rule of thumb is that if there are names on the ingredient label that you can't even pronounce, you're in trouble.
He suggest we eat by 7 simple words...
Eat food. Not a lot. Mostly plants.