Some Announcements

Okay, now for some serious flogging - I have two announcements. First, I have finally started my bee information, education and action site Bees Alive!. Currently, there is a home page with a list of things to come. This will change rapidly as I am devoting much of my awake time to giving this dream wings.

Secondly, I am announcing my friend, Richard Roth's blog, I've Been Wrong Before. Richard is a long-time farmer and community rabble rouser, and I had the pleasure of working with him and his non-profit organization, cChaos, for several months setting up farmers' markets.

Enjoy!

Beyond Political Affiliation

You don’t have to belong to the Green Party to be a good citizen. Granted, one may find more “good, responsible citizens” in the way that I define them with Green affiliations, but it is certainly neither required nor even important. Responsible
citizenship is separate and different from politics and party platforms. Essentially, it is based on actions resulting from a personal belief system rather than words resulting from what one thinks people want to hear.

I, myself, belong to no party, and have beliefs that come from all political ideals. I don’t believe there is a list of things you must do to be a model ‘responsible citizen’, but I think there are some basic guidelines that can lead you to following a more responsible path. My list-in-progress, includes:

• Live free as long as your actions don’t take freedoms from or cause harm to another being
• Respect nature above all else
• Never doubt that the smallest of causes can lead to the greatest of effects
• Remember that ‘want’ and ‘need’ are two very different things – most people truly don’t understand what ‘need’ means

Just wait, I will become entertaining again ;) I just want to start with some basics.

Preamble: Citizenship

I will be blogging at length about what it means to be a good villager, a good citizen, and yes, for my purposes, I like to use the two terms to mean similar things. I wanted to begin with a few thoughts. First, what is a citizen?

Merriam-Webster defines a citizen as ‘a person owing allegiance to and entitled to the protection of a sovereign state’. It is implied that the citizen is a free one, and the power of the state is held by the people for the people.

So, a political term, and one that implies rights and freedoms. It is strictly a human-focused term, there is no concept of humans as part of a greater society or whole. There is also no concept of personal or community responsibility for other people, for the environment, and for the uncountable living beings that are not considered citizens, but who are as much affected by human action as we are.

As citizens, we elect representatives who act on our behalf and in our best interest. We have no responsibility other than to elect the representatives, pay taxes, and follow the rules set out for us. This is enough for many to grumble – the perceived lack of control in the affairs of state, that is - but essentially, the release from personal responsibility is, to most, well worth having to pay and obey.

I’d like to see citizenship in a different way. Aside from the forced participation in arbitrary political constructs, our first duties and affiliation should be with the greater environment in which we live – the one without artificial boundaries such as time and place and species. With this kind of affiliation, there are no elections – each citizen is captain of his or her own ship, and must make appropriate responsible decisions. There are no laws other than to do the right thing – meaning do no harm – to ensure the survival of the environment.

Stay tuned. There is much more to say. I am converting gradually over to my new blogspace:
http://thegoodvillager.wordpress.com

Where the bees are...

I was out walking today through downtown Oshawa. It is not the most encouraging of downtowns, but I will say that it is easy to nip off the down-and-out main streets onto lush pathways and follow the water. I was cutting through the library parking lot and over to one of these pathways and contemplating my not-employed state. I don't even have a volunteer project going on right now. Speaking to myself, I said, "I need to be spending more time with...," and before I could fill in the blank, my head turned to my left, and in the tiny purple flowers was a beautiful, solitary bumblebee. The pollen sacs on her legs were full to bursting with golden powder. I bent to admire and commune as she went about her important work of pollinating. We then went on our separate ways.

My camera was stolen a few months ago, and I miss being able to snap the wonders of the last two years of my nature adventure and learning experience. I have a camera coming to me soon thanks to some soon-to-expire Air Canada air miles, and I will be up and running again. The photo above is a memory from Chico, California. I'd visited the University of California farm and was helping out washing and sorting melons, and I took a few moments to try to capture the activities of a busy honeybee. I was rewarded with a bee bum.

City or country, our bees are still hard at work. Let's respect them by keeping their/our environment clean, and give them thanks and space when we see them.

And the bee goes on...

Since my last post, I left my winter bee work to focus on job applications. I have learned a great deal about bees and their role in the environment generally, and the food system specifically. We need them. And I'd like to keep them in my life as both an interest and well, so that I can continue to eat the foods that we take for granted.

There appears to be a bit of a buzz in the news about the bee crisis. And yes, it is a crisis. Colony collapse disorder and disease and death are the words of the day. But other than that, the public doesn't really know what to do with this information or really what it is all about. I would recommend reading "A Spring without Bees" by Michael Schacker or "Silent Spring" by the brillian Rachel Carson for a better understanding. Regardless of how complex the bee crisis is, the number one issue is the use of sprays and various chemicals (insectides, fungicides, etc) that are killing the poor things. The research is there. There has been some success fighting chemical multinationals in Europe (see research and impressive banding together of beekeepers in France), but in North America, we are still in denial. The companies have too much power, and the people are not well informed.

I just hope we don't try to do something after it is too late. To bee healthy, we need to take action now.

http://www.co-operative.coop/ethicsinaction/takeaction/planbee/

IKEA furniture for bees!

What does a beekeeper do in the winter - well, in a place where cold, nasty winter exists? She prepares for spring, of course. And one of the many spring preparation tasks a beekeeper can take on is building frames to replace broken and unusable ones and to allow expansion of the number of existing hives. And for me, the beginning of 2010 marked open season for building frames - 2,700 of them.

Does one need any previous knowledge or experience to engage in a task like this? Well, a view of the big picture helps, as 2,700 frames is plenty of work given the steps involved in producing a ready-to-go frame. Also, experience putting together a piece or two of the infamous IKEA furniture is a bonus, at least for the initial hammer and nail assembly part of frame-building. You see, if you buy pre-cut frame pieces, you'll find yourself in an IKEAesque dreamworld of cheap wood product that splits before the nail even makes contact with its surface and a puzzling end product where 90 degree angles are not allowed to come in pairs. Luckily, unlike with a IKEA chest of drawers, my frames will fit into the bee box despite trapezoidal tendencies.

One thing I've noticed in the process here is the usage of fine motor skills and small muscle strength - that of the hands, wrists and forearms. One of the steps in frame-building is stringing thin wire back and forth across the length of the frames. Extensive use of pliers is needed to manipulate the wire and keep it taut. Even with careful attention to muscle usage and regular break-taking, I'm finding a great deal of aggravation of my existing repetitive strain injury. I'm trying to work on some techniques that will minimize the strain on my hands. Another chapter in the efficiency/long-term physical health balance.

My aching back!

And it's not just backs. All joints and muscles are susceptible to injury and strain when you are farming and gardening. Often it is the repetitive movements required that give us grief at the end of the day and that build up over time to create long-term problems. But what we don't often think about is the development of physically correct ways of doing things as preventative measures for injury and strain.

Ergonomics. The science of fitting the workplace and related equipment to the worker. A long-standing interest of mine. I became a volunteer ergonomic assessor when I worked for the Government of British Columbia back in the day, and although always on my mind, my proactivity lessened once I left government and my volunteer position. And my focus had been on office ergonomics. But my passion for designing sensible and healthy workplaces has flared up again since I started farming.

Farming and gardening can be brutal on the body, and with the former, at least, I have found that taking the time to assess a task and do it in a physically sensible way can be seen as a waste of time, overthinking, and let's face it, downright wimpy by hardcore farmers. It seemed to me that while lip service was paid to "listening to your body", what was truly valued were speed and strength. But how long does pure brute strength last, if you ever have it at all? Age, sex, body build, and physical health are all factors that affect strength. Does that mean that only the strong should farm and garden? Not at all. Strength means nothing if you bust your back moving the wrong way while carrying too much. And taking longer to carry out a task in order to save your body means you can save yourself pain and suffering and continue rewarding physical work later in life.

I am a proponent of inclusiveness and accessibility when it comes to participating in food systems work. And with very few exceptions, I believe that everyone can and should be involved in food systems work regardless of whether you live in the city or country, regardless of age, sex and physical limitations.

Stay tuned. Once bee season starts again in Ontario, I plan on making ergonomic forays into Canada's rigid beekeeping practices...

The Buzzzzzzzzz

And the months go by...

I have remained in this lovely area of Ontario (Lindsay/Bowmanville, etc) in order to further explore agricultural learning. Through my work with Lunar Rhythm Gardens, I met the knowledgeable master beekeeper, Ian Critchell (http://www.beeman.ca), and I have moved on to work with him in what will hopefully develop into an informal apprenticeship. I have much to learn, but I am fascinated already not only by the important and complex nature of bees' work, but also by their under-acknowledged and under-appreciated role in keeping us humans fed.

Getting a dialogue going with people about bees is also complex. Most people like, if not love, honey and related products, but they don't like bees. Most people also don't understand the delicate balance between bees, plant life and the poisons we put into our environment unthinkingly. Bees keep us alive, and we need to respect them. Preaching never works unless you have the charisma of a cult leader. Providing good role models for potential beekeepers and customers and letting people see your passion for the work can open a crack in the communication doorway.

Talk to your local beekeeper today to hear the buzz.

Viva zucchini!

Today, I had the pleasure of co-representing Lunar Rhythm Gardens at the Millbrook, Ontario's annual Zucchini Festival. We had the opportunity to not only enter in a few monster size zukes into The Great Big Zucchini Weight-In (we won second and third prize), but also to sell a bit of produce and network within the Millbrook area community. I, of course, had a blast. Markets and festivals can be incredibly fun and very important community events. Not only can you enjoy yourself, but the opportunity to make connections and learn new things is great. One of the things I like the most about these kinds of events, at least from a researcher's point of view, is to observe the relationship between vendors and customers. There is often more than an exchange of money. It is incredible the amount of knowledge that is passed - well the potential is there. Truly, it is up to the farmer/vendor to establish this kind of relationship, and honestly, I feel it is crucial not only to the sustainability of the vendor's business, but it is crucial to the sustainability of our future healthy societies. It is through these simple interactions that people learn about food, the nutritional and historical values of these foods, how to cook them, and what the difference is between a local, organic item and what appear to be similar items in grocery stores. On the flip side, farmers and vendors can learn from their customers and I've seen this time and time again. New recipes are passed on from clients, as well as likes and dislikes, personal growing experience, nevermind new ideas for marketing and connection-making. Such an important relationship and one that is just important to grow and nurture as our fruits and veggies.

Howling at the moon with the folks at Lunar Rhythm Gardens

If 2008 was about getting up close and personal with farmers' markets, 2009 was defined by finding my way into a close encounter of the agricultural kind through a farming internship. I think to truly understand food access and nutrition issues, you really have to get to the root (literally) of it all - you have to get your hands truly dirty and sow and grow. I spent some of the year looking for a place to lend a hand.

For one reason or another, none of the farms I contacted in BC worked out, but I have had some luck in Ontario. A few farms had been looking for folks to finish out the year's harvest with them in exchange for room and board, and I managed to get on with an inspiring new partnership called Lunar Rhythm Gardens (http://lunarrhythmgardens.wordpress.com/). The primary focus of this outfit is to establish a mutually profitable relationship between themselves (the farmers) and the community in the form of Community Shared Agriculture (CSA). In short, CSA promotes local food production and consumption when farmers sell "shares" of their yield to community members. Each week, members pick up their portion of what has been harvested by the farmers either at the farm itself or a specified location. In addition, the farm can organize events such as an afternoon weed and feed (a little work and then a potluck) - members get to know their farmers and other community members.

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I've been here a few days now and am in deep. I'm working and learning. I've been to market to sell - very interesting being on the other side of the table after my work last year helping to set up, promote and run farmers' markets. I've also been weeding, cleaning, picking, loading, unloading, preparing food for the animals on the farm, clipping turkey wings... and of course, my vocabulary is expanding. I'm tired, but I'm having a great time.

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In addition to the million or so questions I've already bombarded these truly amazing farmers with, I have one for everyone out there. Why doesn't each child in our country get a chance to experience life on a farm as part of his or her education? It is so incredibly important to understand and appreciate where our food - our REAL food - comes from...