This Blog Has Moved Recently...

Posts over the past year can be found at:

The Good Villager.

We are still in China, but now in the province of Hainan in the very south of the country. Join me!

Online in China

I finally bit the bullet and signed up with a service that allows me freedom of information and speech in China. For the last two months, I've been without Youtube, Facebook, Blogger, and a host of other random sites that are apparently too dangerous for a mind on the brink of independent thought. For those who fell into the abyss too long ago to remember, the sudden inability to access basic modes of self-expression is odd. I decided to just live with it as I still had access to Wordpress and my other blog, The Good villager, but that changed recently. Not sure whether my ISP was the culprit, but I suddenly found that Wordpress was taking a long time to load and when it did, none of the formatting was there. Impossible to use. That decided me. I have to write and communicate. Eating, sleeping, breathing, writing, sharing ideas. They are basic needs to me.

The Good Villager is covering a lot of stuff. I had mentioned that I wanted to bring Something To Chew On back to its original intention - covering farmers markets and related things. I may just do that. Stay tuned...

Going to China...

The Good Villager, Something to Chew On, and Bees Alive! are going to China on Thursday. Hunan province. We are excited and are hoping to encounter good, local organic gardening, farming and beekeeping/bee stewardship initiatives. Hopefully something we can become involved with using basic Mandarin :)

Stay tuned!

Toronto: St Lawrence Market

One of my favourite places to go when I am in Toronto is the St Lawrence Market. In addition to being a place to find good eats, it is a fantastic place to watch people and life, listen to music and talk to strangers. I do it all.

There are two buildings to this market: the Saturday Farmers' Market or North Market building (which houses other things, namely antiques, on other days of the week), and the South Market building (open Tuesday to Sunday with two floors of permanent vendors of many different products, including fruit and veg). The two markets straddle Front Street, with Jarvis Street bordering the east sides of both buildings.

There has been a farmers' market in this location since about 1803, making it one of the older markets in Canada. I've had the opportunity to sell at the Saturday Farmers' market, and like all markets old and new, there are politics. Squabbling over 2 inches of space that your table has been moved by another vendor, the unavailablility of a cart at the exact time that you want to load or unload your produce. But there is also a family-like feel. For long-term vendors, you get to know both your neighbours and your customers, and when you're not there, people miss you.

The South Market, according to some of the vendors at the Saturday Market, is "for tourists". I am not sure that that is the most accurate statement, and I didn't get the impression that the comment was a compliment. While I am a farmers' market purist in many ways, and have a strong dislike for touristy things, I do actually like the South Market quite a bit. There are some shops/stalls within this market that might be interesting for tourists, but there is a heck of a lot of atmosphere, which scores high for me. There are also many, many locals shopping there. I've watched downtown Toronto cops on their early morning beat stop in to say 'hi' to vendors and pick up their morning peameal bacon breakfast sandwich (so much for donuts!). And I remember one March morning sitting with my coffee and a pastry watching the market start to get busy, and a fellow sat down and started talking to me. He was very local and had been coming to the South Market a few days a week for the past several years to buy cheese, meat and other things. I guess you are more likely to find items that are not local in the South Market (e.g., there is a fellow housed in the basement who imports honey from around the world), but it is still an excellent place to shop, sit and watch.

Myself, to sum up the differences between the two markets using my own behaviour as an example, I go to the North/Farmers' Market if I want to buy produce, and I go to the South Market if I want entertainment, a place to sit down with a good view, and to buy things like fish, imported item, or Niagara region wine.

I'm always satisfied after a visit.

Honey at the Perth Farmers’ Market

When I first started this blog last year, my intention had been to solely write about Farmers’ Markets (hence the url), and I may, in fact, revert to that original intention. Anyhow, at the time, I had been setting up and developing farmers’ markets in Northern California with a non-profit, and in general, I tend to visit both markets (and universities) wherever I travel. Markets are important community events/institutions, and honestly, you can tell whether a community is thriving or not by the presence of a market, and then the quality of and attendance at the market(s). I love going to them, taking photos, talking to vendors, buying fresh food, watching the unique dynamics of each market, and writing about them.

As you can see, if you scroll through my posts at the other site, or the few on this site, I just can’t limit myself to markets. I probably could, but I would need to travel a bit more than I do currently (I wish!). I write about bees (in addition to my site, Bees Alive!, ergonomics, responsible citizenship, gardening and the environment. It is all related :)

Today, however, with a focus on bees and honey, I am going to write about a market I had the pleasure of visiting for the first time two weekends ago. A few of my favourite topics, to be sure.

The Saturday farmers’ market in Perth, Ontario is a nice little set-up. Despite the fact that a large music festival was going on that very weekend, they had excellent traffic – an indication to me that Perth is a healthy, thriving community. There was good variety in vendors. In comparison, the vendors at the Smith’s Falls market I visited a week later ALL sold baked goods in addition to whatever else they had – not a good sign. The Nanaimo, BC downtown market has a similar problem, but with jams. But at Perth, a baker or two, good organic veggies (with variety), a homemade soup wagon, and yes, honey!

There were two part-time beekeepers present. They had other doings, mainly to do with running gardens, but had incorporated bees into their activities. Smart people. One keeper had about 30+ hives. We discussed problems he’d been  having with bears and mortality rates, hive splitting and building up the numbers again. I

passed on some information to him about pacifying bees with citronella and spearmint.

The other beekeepers, also growing vegetables, had 2 hives. It is very exciting to see small vendors produce and sell. Not only do you get an opportunity to buy local products, but it is encouraging to see that huge operations haven’t forced small producers out of the picture. I also find that small producers are more likely to use organic methods, the larger set-ups more concerned with producing as much as possible regardless of the impact on the environment and the health of life forms. I like to support those with smallholdings – it is the way we used to work, and it worked…

Ontario's New Eco Fee

Like most people living in Ontario I knew nothing in advance about the new fee being imposed on consumers who choose to purchase products that fall under the province’s household hazardous and special waste category (prescriptions, paint, batteries, etc). Heck, I didn’t even know what Stewardship Ontario was until I opened one of the Toronto newspapers recently and read about the public’s latest grumblings.

Stewardship Ontario
These folks are funded by the Government to develop and manage the Province’s recycling program and they act as middleperson between Government, business and the public.

The Eco-Fee
Actually, it is not that new, despite the recent grumbling. But it has been expanded to address a new service that allows twenty-two hazardous wastes to bypass the landfill and be processed properly. Stewardship Ontario charges their ‘stewards’ (the brand owners of products that fall under the hazardous waste category) to properly process the waste. The stewards may choose to pass on the charge to retailers who sell the product. The retailers may choose to add this charge onto the customer’s bill as a separate fee. Of course, the brand owner may embed the charges in the cost of the product. But when the former takes place, the customer sees the fee on his/her bill and believes a new tax is being charged and thus becomes indignant.

Transparency or Ignorance
It is a tough call. North Americans have adopted the notion of the illusion of transparency like nowhere else on earth. Transparency, ideally, and not limited to Government doings, is the idea that consumers or users can find out exactly where their money is going. In the case of Government, we want to know what the heck they are doing and are planning to do with the insane amount of tax dollars that are collected. And in Canada, we pretend that transparency exists. Mission statements, action plans, balance sheets, etc. In other countries, where basic freedoms exist such that questions can be asked of rulers without being thrown in prison, many taxes are just embedded in products and services and everyone seems happy to stay ignorant.

To Tax or Not To Tax
Lots of opinions on this. Myself, as an eco-anarcho-libertarian type of creature, I disagree with taxation and bureaucracy as a rule. But unlike many libertarians and the like who seem to think that humans can and should do as much damage to this planet as possible and all in the name of ‘personal freedom’, I am not opposed to charging fees to people who use or deal with things that harm other people or nature. So if you want to smoke, then you should pay more for your polluting, your extra health care needs, and your effect on the health of people who breathe in your pollution. Likewise, if you use toxic chemicals that, once disposed of, get into ground water, destroy ecosystems, and affect people and nature in untold ways, then you should pay more to deal with correct disposal.

Is the Eco-Fee a Tax?
Good question. The simple answer is ‘no’. The eco-fee isn’t a true tax in the way that sales tax is. The money doesn’t go to government (at any level), thank goodness. It is still a tax, however. Luckily, you can opt out of paying it by not using toxic products that require special disposal ;)

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.

.

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.

.

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...

Blackberry season rant...

It is blackberry season in Nanaimo, British Columbia (and other places, of course). On yet another walk today, I noticed more of these fruit-laden bushes - even more of a jackpot than I had found previously. It seems that wild blackberries are everywhere - easily accessible to those on foot, and the best part - FREE. So I have been taking advantage - combining exercise with my foraging for food. I bring a container with me and fill it to the brim. Breakfast for the next two days. And really, to not take advantage of a nutrient-dense, antioxidant-laden food such as this for FREE, is insane.

But the thing is, people aren't taking advantage. And as food access is a major interest for me, I have to ask 'why not?' Blackberries have been ready for picking for several weeks now, and will be available for a handful more, and the bushes are barely touched. Countless apparently starving people (over 10% of accounted-for British Columbians live below the poverty line*) are not picking, and sadly, the fruit will end up rotting. Not picking, even on weekends under clear skies on safe walking trails close to the centre of town endlessly lined with blackberry bushes.

I can't answer the 'why not' question, but I would love to know. I'm sure I could gather a long list of reasons ranging from a socialist 'the poor are not empowered and thus don't trust resources available to them' to a conservative 'the poor are lazy and prefer handouts to taking reponsibility for their own well-being and that of their families'. And it is probably some complex combination of this entire range of views. The bottom line to me is that it is sad that people with little money and children to feed aren't out there teaching their kids about ages-old resource-gathering as well as actually providing good food to them at the same time.

At least for now, that means more blackberries for me...

* source: http://intraspec.ca/CCSD/BC_Social_Development_Report_FINAL.pdf

**photo taken on the Trans Canada Trail in Nanaimo

In the beginning...

... there was reflection. Reflection on events leading to the start of this blog. As a tech-oriented person also qualified as a librarian, I've felt the pull, the duty to utilize Web 2.0 technologies. But as a practical person who only speaks when there is something worth saying, I've resisted blogging simply because I haven't had anything to say. So it is primarily reflection and its subsequent influence on what I hope will happen in the future that has fueled my need to create this blog.

I've been working in health policy and research for what seems like forever, and more recently in community-based research. On a personal interest level, I've been drawn to nutrition, exercise and food issues for a long, long time. I had a unique opportunity to combine all of these professional and personal interests about a year and a half ago. While attending a small educational conference in the virtual world, Second Life, I met a farmer. I was in Montreal, he was in Northern California. He'd started a nonprofit organization aimed at setting up farmers' markets in disadvantaged neighbourhoods with the purpose of not only providing access to local produce, but also to provide access to social services and nutrition and exercise information. In my opinion and using my professional language, I felt he was brilliantly setting up temporary, but recurring, "learning commons". I'll post on "learning commons" another time. He was also interested in catching the attention of academics interested in conducting research in these environments.

He had my attention.

Long story short, and I'm sure I'll post on this in more detail another time, I found my way down to California and devoted 8 months of volunteer time to the development of the nonprofit, the markets and their relationships and projects. Always a farmers' market afficionado, I'm hooked in a completely different way now. While I've had to return to Canada, my hopes for the future are, non-professionally, to blog on this phenomenon and synthesize existing and ongoing research, and professionally, to pursue my own research on markets. Good luck to me!