A dollar's worth of food

For those of us who have too much reading to do:

A photo documentary of the different foods a dollar will get you.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/food-for-a-dollar/

Now to find the balance between healthy, appropriate food for all and a fair price to hard working farmers...

So it's winter still... what to eat?

I guess this question has been raised a few times, hey? Or, at least, what's for dinner now? Well, if you really did ask yourself that first question, you are more like me-a kink of, local foodist. People joke or laugh at me from time to time when I refer to myself as one, but I do try to every degree to eat local products. Sometimes, I just need a lemon, or an orange, but berries, kale, and local organic free range eggs still manage to be a mainstay on my table.

But really, what can we eat, as the lazy summer, weeding-filled days are over? Kale, brussels sprouts, potatoes, sweet potatoes (connection: Home Grown-In Grocer), beets, kiwis, and more-home grown greens and sprouts. Yup, you can still grow at home! Lettuce greens can be grown on sunny window sills, and this year has been my trial winter for testing sprouting at home. As I picked up my West Coast Seeds catalogue weeks ago, a package of sprouts caught my eye. After reading about mason jar sprouting, I had to give it a try. So, weeks have passed, and I have had a ball sprouting alfalfa, mung beans, and green peas! Yummy in salads and sandwiches, sprouts offer a great crunch in the absence of fresh local lettuce!

So farm friends, what is getting you by this winter? Your homemade pickles? Making your own bread? Can we still eat local in winter? Absolutely!

By the way, check out my mung beans, just beginning their sprouting!

Skeeter Farm 2011 CSA

Hooray for 2011! Things are looking up at Skeeter Farm, with an early completion of our seed order, and many ducks in a row to have a successful season. It's hard to imagine that in just a month we will be starting the first seeds of the season (inside of course...the ground is frozen solid out here!)

We have put together our CSA program details and this is a blog post to tell you all about it...

What is a CSA?

CSA stands for a Community Shared Agriculture Program, Which is a type of socio-economic model for agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farming operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production (thank you Wikipedia). Customers pledge their support by purchasing a share in the farm's produce for the season and by doing so receive a portion of the farm's bounty.

Duration

The Skeeter Farm CSA will run for 15 weeks from approximately the beginning of July til October. During this time, customers will receive a weekly delivery of farm produce. As we learned last year, the season can be unpredictable and therefore we will not be able to nail down a start date until we see how the spring weather unfolds. We are working on establishing a pilot fall/winter CSA program for 2011, which we will make available to a limited number of customers.

Price

This year we are offering two share levels

• Regular share (15 weeks) for $375

• Small share (8 weeks) for $200

The price of the share is based on $25 per week, which covers the cost of production for the vegetables including our labour as well as delivery costs and allows us to make a profit.

Pickup

Veggies will be delivered to locations strategically selected for their proximity to customers and suitability for pickup. These locations will be established once we have most of our customers signed up for the season. If you would like to offer your house or business as a pick up location, that would be very much appreciated. Please let us know! We will be making midweek and weekend deliveries to most locations. The delivery day during the week will be selected democratically by our customers once we have established the list for 2011. We will likely have pickup locations available in Yarrow (at the farm), in Coquitlam, Vancouver West, Vancouver East and potentially downtown Vancouver if there is enough interest.

What's in a share?

A regular share gives you 15 weeks of produce, whereas a small share gives you 8 weeks. If you select the small share, the beginning of the season you will choose which dates you would like to have a delivery. We aim to put approximately 10 different types of seasonal vegetables, herbs and sometimes fruit in your bag. Depending on how much produce you eat, each bag should provide 1-2 people the bulk of your vegetables for the week (however we know of customers who can eat the entire thing in one delicious meal).

What else do I get?

A CSA isn't just about feeding you! It's about making a connection with the folks who are producing your food and the community around you who share the same goals and vision for our food system. In 2011 we will provide you with opportunities to connect via work parties, farm tours and perhaps a harvest party. We will also keep you informed about the events and success of the farm through a weekly newsletter and via our blog. The newsletter will contain at least a recipe a week to help expand your veggie horizons. Also we are always available to help you out with cooking ideas, to chat about growing or to hear your feedback about the CSA program.

How to sign up

If you are interested in registering for the 2011 CSA, please send an email to skeeterfarm (at) gmail.com. We will be releasing shares to new customers on February 1st, but it is best to contact us early so we can send you information right away. Last year we filled up pretty quickly, so it is important to contact us early to avoid veggie related disappointment! Email us with questions.

With Love, from your farmers.

Holiday Humour

Thanks to CSA customer Will for passing on this little gem...

Happy New Year!

Happy Winter Solstice!

This is arguably one of my favorite days of the year...It's all downhill from here. At least thats my feeling on this first day of winter. Excited for the days to get longer and in just a couple of months to have the first seeds of 2011 germinating.

Also exciting on this first day of winter is my dinner. Which is cooking right now - kale (in chip form of course) and brussels sprouts from Skeeter Farm. I'll probably add some cookies and other holiday treats to the veggies to make it a well rounded dinner, but I sure am happy to still be eating the vegetables of our labour this late in the year!

Third exciting thing of the day: Amanda and I had a monumental meeting this morning where we signed on as partners together going forward. It's a good feeling to make things "official"...but also seems so formal for something as natural and organic as growing good food together.

Fourth and final exciting thing - check out the view across the road from the new farm...pretty sweet!

Happy Holidays folks! Hope you all have a delicious meal with good people in the next week in honor whatever you might be celebrating!

Farmer Tans 2011 Calendar

If you are in need of a calendar for 2011 (which is fast approaching), look no further! The Rainbow Chard Collective (based on Vancouver Island and around BC) has come up with this great little diddy that features local, young farmers in their birthday suits. The calendar is packed with racy photography, recipes, farmy quotes and days such as "Spank a Farmer With Fresh Garlic Day" which happens to fall on June 9th. What's even better about this calendar is that the proceeds go towards the actions of the Collective including supporting new farmers' quest for land and other important issues.

I picked up mine online last week, and got it hand delivered a day later. Order here http://Rainbowchard.yolasite.com/ for a year of eye candy!

We're Moving!

It's been awhile since I wrote a blog post, which is a common theme on farm blogs near the end of the season I have been noticing. Things are pretty frozen out at the farm, I have mostly been concentrating on school work and we all have been recouping after the season.

We do, however, need to get our butts in gear to get ready for 2011 as there is much work to do and some big changes happening! One big thing is that Skeeter Farm will be moving from the property in Abbotsford to land leased from Fraser Valley Duck and Goose in Yarrow. The move will take us about 10 minutes East of where we are currently located, into Chilliwack. Moving to FVDG is a positive thing in many regards including: having access to many handy things available on a large farm operation (like tractors and electricity!), lovely compost produced on farm, secure storage and more people around to make sure we're okay, joint marketing opportunities, NO MOSQUITOS, and likely many other benefits that will come out in the wash.

Some folks have been asking about how exactly one would move a farm....no, we won't be digging up vegetables and moving them. We will just be planting in another location next year. We will also have to set up some infrastructure like irrigation and the hoophouse (looking for a used hoophouse again one if anyone knows of one) again at the new site. All of this means lots of work, and we will likely be calling on friends for some volunteer parties in the spring.

 A little sentimental about the end of a great two years at the old farm

Freshly turned soil and new opportunities in Yarrow

The other big thing that is happening is that ownership of the business is changing. Hannah and Jamie are leaving Skeeter Farm to pursue other things for the time being and Amanda who was our "intern" for 2010 will be joining me as a business partner going forward. Both Hannah and Jamie expect to be farming in the future which will make for exciting opportunities for collaboration. I am also really excited that Amanda didn't get scared off in her first year and wants to take a bigger role in Skeeter Farm.

Despite major changes and a couple of less people on the farm, we will still be continuing the CSA program as well as some farmers markets (with some changes as will be revealed as we work through the details). We will also continue to grow without any synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides/herbicides in this new location.

More about the move and changes to our operation as we evolve. CSA information for next year will be sent out early in the New Year. For now, happy December everyone...Stay warm!

It's That Time of Year

See the leaves whirling around on the streets, the frost on your windshield, feel the shiver in the morning? Winter is on its way. I thought that after this summer it would be a rough adjustment, spending days in the hot sun, but so far this winter has been great. Granted, heirloom tomatoes are done, sweet green peas are no more, but wow do we have some great veggies to look forward to! This summer was a great lesson for me in terms of the personal responsibility of eating local and supporting our other local farmers. Reducing my carbon footprint was something I have always tried to do, and my efforts of eating local prior to my Skeeter Farm introduction was something of a hobby, not a true belief or passion. The creation of local squash from last years seeds, or the act of seed saving for next years' tomato crop has been a great lesson from my Skeeter Farm mentors. This summer has really brought me around to the fact that I could never turn my back on what we are doing as farmers, and our importance to the preservation of our local food and our beliefs of what real food is.

My picture here is some fabulous kale still left in the field, and my pride and joy of canned Skeeter Farm veggies and fruit. Ground cherry jam, pickled carrots, beans, beets, and cukes. Just this week, I was able to entertain with a platter of Skeeter Farm pickles! Yum!

Local veggies in a jar, and the sturdy, leafy greens of the fall/winter months. Everyone, grab a sweater and slippers, and cozy up to winter and its lovely bounty we are so lucky to have.

Terra Madre Update

One of the things that Slow Food emphasized to the Terra Madre 2010 delegates was that it is very important bring back the "message" of Terra Madre to our local counterparts in order to build capacity for the movement in our local communities.

I am quite new to Slow Food as an organization. The movement has been around since the 1970's and seems to have a huge following all across Europe, considerable political clout and and some serious government support which enables it to pull off the huge event that is Terra Madre. However, my exposure to the organization is limited to the little bit of volunteering that I have done for events that the Vancouver chapter puts on. I found myself thinking quite a bit during the event and workshops about this "message" we were supposed to be bringing back and proliferating amongst our local communities. After 3 days of intensive workshop sessions, conversations with other farmers/foodies and serious amounts of delicious food samplings it turns out that the "message" of Terra Madre isn't so simple that I can type it into a sentence, or a paragraph, or perhaps even an essay. Even Slow Food themselves have written pages and pages of documentation in order to explain the ideas and opinions of the organization.

From what I gather the "message" of Terra Madre is one of support for a number of important factors surrounding food and agricultural governance, sustainable resource management and ecological agriculture, socially acceptable food and agricultural systems, recognition and support for traditional ecological knowledge and traditional/historical foods. Pretty all encompassing eh? For me, it is still a little unclear how we go about achieving steps towards these reforms in our food system.

If I had to narrow down MY one take home message from the whole event it would be that gatherings of farmers which allow us to converse, share and exchange ideas are possibly the single most important means of social collaboration that we will need to keep us motivated. It is pretty amazing that we had to travel half way around the world to be able to find a time and space that allowed us farmers to openly share our experiences...makes me think that we should try to replicate this type of knowledge exchange more close to home on a more frequent basis (apparently more easier said than done).

Terra Madre day is being held on December 10th at the Italian Cultural Center. The delegates from 2010 will be in attendance and we hope to share what we learned from the whole experience with others in the local food community. Perhaps I will have some more concrete thoughts flushed out by that time...at this point I am still recovering from a whirlwind trip and subsequent scramble to catch up at school. Please do consider joining us if you would like to enjoy some delicious food and speak to some folks involved with food and farming.

With that I will leave you with some photos from the Salone del Gusto (overwhelmingly large room of deliciousness that was attached to the actual conference) and a couple of the markets in Venice.

Growing Local Grain - Talk at Museum of Vancouver

A new friend Chris (who was at the Terra Madre meetings with Amy) is doing a talk about growing local grains this week at the Museum of Vancouver. We highly suggest you check it out! If you can't make it for Thursday, check out the Museum's local food photography exhibit in the near future.

HOME GROWN EXHIBITION CURATOR SERIES

Thursday November 4 @ 7 pm - Presenter: Chris Hergesheimer

Topic - Growing local grain and the first grain CSA in the lower mainland

Location: Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut Street Vancouver, BC

Biography: Chris Hergesheimer holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Simon Fraser University. He is the founding member of the Local-Grain-Initiative. Hergesheimer's goal is to position himself at the centre of a community dedicated to local sustainable food production in just the way the community miller was central to communities before the mega-marts and the 10,000-kilometre supply chain. Chris organizes FF/CF’S Grain Chain Coordinator whilst he runs his own business, The Flour Peddler.

Tweet: HOME GROWN EXHIBIT speaker Chris Hergesheimer: Local Grain & the 1st grain CSA in the lower mainland Nov 4 @ 7pm @ www.museumofvancouver.ca