FARM:shop Interesting city farm

You could call FARM:shop a legal grow-op: they are growing vegetables inside an abandoned house instead of dope. And some tilapia fish, not to mention basil and chickens on the roof.
FARM:shop is, literally, a farm growing in a shop in London. A small eco-design group, Something & Son, rented the empty house from the local authority and they are trying to show how sustainable farming can be carried on in the city.  Check it out, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/farmshop-farm-building.php#ch02

Local as it Gets

A family living in Mesa, Arizona, has decided to convert an old unused backyard swimming pool into a very productive DIY urban greenhouse, which they named Garden Pool. Within a small, mostly enclosed space, they grow all kinds of vegetables and herbs, as well as raise chickens and tilapia fish

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/garden-pool-family-of-four-grows-food-in-swimming-pool-arizona.php?campaign=th_rss

New Festival Celebrates Local, Sustainable Food & Drink

New Festival Celebrates Local, Sustainable Food & Drink - CityNews

A new food festival set to take over Fort York this weekend caters to all those who like to think long and hard about a meal before eating.If you take pride in purchasing local produce, meats and other items, the first-ever Conscious Food Festival is likely to whet your appetite.The celebration of healthy, local and sustainable food starts at 11am Saturday and runs through to 7pm Sunday at the historic site at 100 Garrison Rd.The event will give urbanites the chance to meet the people who produced the food featured at the festival. There will also be live music, workshops and chefs will be on hand for cooking demonstrations.

Food Connect

Food Connect is an award winning social business that works in collaboration with brilliant local farmers around Brisbane to deliver the best food in the world efficiently, affordably and equitably. Our unique distribution system is flexible, convenient and most of all healthy for you and your community. We are passionate about changing the way food is grown and distributed in this and any country where exploitation of farmers and customers is rampant.

Check it out, http://www.foodconnect.com.au/

Where I'm At Now (Part 2)

The next post in the series of some of the transitions we've made.

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a big coffee drinker.

Coffee is actually one of my exception items on my 100-Mile Diet (Details in future post)

A lot of coffee is produced in countries that are politically unstable. What this means in very brief terms, is that the coffee is controlled by large coffee cartels. The cartels market the coffee and make the profit passing very little along to the farmers.

The farmers are then forced to enlist their families, since they have no money to pay workers, and are denied proper meals, education and medical treatment. 

Fair Trade Coffee is usually grown in farmer owned cartels or co-ops where the farmers make more of the profits allowing them to live better lives. Most Fair Trade Coffee growers also grow the coffee organically and are excellent stewards of the earth.

 

One of the companies I've found is Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-operative Limited , http://www.justuscoffee.com/Default.aspx

I'm not trying to promote this company, I'm just using it as an example. Their site has a lot of info about Fair Trade.

 

Just Us! also has tea, chocolate and sugar, all from the Fair Trade variety.

For me, it's only Fair Trade Organic coffee at home and I look for it in coffee shops too.

Buy-local push prompts Ontario grocers to go independent

Dale Kropf calls it Independence Day: On July 3, his five grocery stores in southwestern Ontario ceased to be Sobeys franchises.
Corporate policies prevented him from buying local products, he says, so he joined forces with four other former Sobeys franchisees and formed the independent Hometown Grocers Co-Op.
"We feel that local food, local presence is huge in our market and we wanted to take advantage of that," Kropf says.
Read more here, http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/07/14/f-grocery-stores-independent-buy-local-meat-produce.html?ref=rss

Local Cheese for Eastern Ontario

Hey all, I was just recommended to a local cheese company in Eastern Ontario.

Their milk is produced in a 100 mile radius, non GMO feed, antibiotic free and humanly raised.

Check them out, http://www.fifthtown.ca/

Get Local

This year, I’m going to work a bit harder to eat more meals made with local ingredients.
The majority of my home meals already conform to the criteria I’ve established for myself.
There are a few exceptions (condiments) that are not local. In these cases, the product has to be organic.
The problem I have is with my daily lunch. I often take a lunch, but choices are limited when you eliminate processed and imported foods. I only have a few choices.
There’s also days I don’t take a lunch. Most of the available lunch spots are food court restaurants or street vendors and the majority of those buy from a central wholesaler. The street vendor does have local potatoes fairly often but not the oil.
It looks like I’ll have to eliminate the food court and get used to my brown bag lunch.

Local Eating

So, the 100-Mile Diet has all but taken over my life. There are now only 2 products I can’t find locally, coffee and beer. I do make my own beer so I’ve at least cut down on transportation. When it comes to food, I can find local products all year now. In the winter, I have a hydroponic lettuce grower and can find peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes as well as lettuce.

We’ve recently found local pasta. These guys actually mill their own flour and their products are great.



The other major find is Rowe Farms. They are based in Guelph and raise local, antibiotic and hormone free livestock. They have beef, chicken, lamb and pork as well as eggs and cured products. They use nitrites instead of nitrates to cure their products.
I can guarantee that their meat will taste better than anything you have had unless you buy from a farm already.
They now have a store in the Leslieville area of Queen St in Toronto and their products are available in select stores, but I do my shopping at the farmers’ market on Saturday.


Please visit their website for lots of information on their farm and products. http://rowefarms.ca/index.html

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian members

Hi all,

Thanksgiving is coming this weekend and I hope you all have a great holiday.I hope you will consider adding some local fare to your menu.This is the season for a lot of locally produced food.I'll be celebrating this year with another 100 Mile Thanksgiving. This will be my second year on the 100 Mile Diet.

I was able to attend the launch of the 100 Mile Event in Grafton, Ontario this fall. There are a lot of local farmers in the area and I was pleased to have been invited.I was also able to attend the Cobourg Harvest Festival. Another great venue for local farmers.

Don't forget to add your comments and suggestions to the I am Earth group page. Maybe you have tips for greening your life or just something you want to comment on.Barry.

Back

Well I'm back after a few weeks off. While I was vacationing, I had the chance to attend the first 100 Mile Diet Event in Grafton, Ontario.The event had numerous local producers and even had a booth selling the 100 Mile Diet book. I picked up a copy.
I hope this event will grow into an annual thing.

Ok, it's done. I've put more of my money where my mouth is.

My house is officially Bullfrog Powered. No more oil, gas, nuclear or destructive hydro-electric for me.
Now it's all wind and non-destructive hydro.

http://www.bullfrogpower.com/index.cfm

This week, starting on July 1st, I stopped driving to work. This is actually going to save me $150 - $200 CDN a month.
Just a short Bio-diesel ride to the electric subway. I don't think they're Bullfrog Powered though. Maybe I can lobby them. HA!
This saving is actually going to allow me to cover the cost of Bullfrog and the carbon offset. Kewl eh!

The next big thing on my agenda is to purchase carbon credits to offset the rest of my emmisions.
I'm waiting to October though, so I can re-calculate my carbon footprint after these changes. http://www.zerofootprint.net/

All this combined with the 100-Mile diet , http://www.100milediet.org/ should help me be a better caretaker of the earth.
And that's really what it's all about, right?

I've been replacing all my household cleaning stuff with environmental friendly stuff too.
I've been buying products from "seventh GENERATION". http://www.seventhgeneration.com/

Their slogan is from the Iroquois. It reads,
'In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.'
I've already decided to use this on my email signature. But isn't this a pretty good code to live by?

Seven Tips for Greening Your Barbecue This Summer

With Memorial Day Weekend just around the corner, millions of people will be firing up their grills to celebrate an American past time. Here are some quick tips to keeping your barbecue safe, waste-free, and fun! More here, http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2008/05/23/seven-tips-for-greening-your-barbecue-this-summer/

What It Costs To Build A Vertical Farm

The traditional concept of farming may soon be taking a new twist. Up until now, most people have envisioned farms as outdoor sprawling fields located in the country, but in the future, the picture may be replaced with a citified version of three dimensional "farms" that will be located right on busy city streets inside tall buildings, with one "field" stacked floor after floor on top of the other in order to make the best use of dwindling resources and space. Read here, http://gogreen.whatitcosts.com/vertical-farm.htm

The real Good Life: An entire village turns against supermarkets and grows its own food

It was a sitcom that inspired many a household to live off the land.
And although it might not attract the likes of Margo and Jerry to move to the area, an entire village is trying its hand at the Good Life.

In a bid to become less dependent on supermarkets, the residents of Martin are working together to become as self-sufficient as possible. Read here, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=559580&in_page_id=1770

Morality and Markets: The Depth of our Carbon Footprints

Change your lightbulbs, buy local food, keep your tires properly inflated: all of us in the green publishing space, both online and off, promote such actions as ways for all of us to live greener lives, and, more specifically, to cut our carbon footprints. But, the "simple actions" approach to sustainability also runs the risk of becoming simplistic, and even moralistic. Read here, http://sustainablog.org/2008/02/18/morality-and-markets-the-depth-of-our-carbon-footprints/

Who Owns Your Favorite Organic Brand?

What do Coca-Cola, Kellogg and Dean Foods have in common, besides being marketers of some of the most popular food items found on grocery shelves? They all own organic brands. Read more, http://ecochildsplay.com/2008/02/10/who-owns-your-favorite-organic-brand/

The Greenest Restaurant in America

U.S. (TGW) – Pizza Fusion will open San Diego’s first ever Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified restaurant in May. See more here, http://thoughtsonglobalwarming.blogspot.com/2008/02/greenest-restaurant-in-america.html

Sustainable farming is not an easy sell

Eat local food for dirt's sake.
That might be the simplest way to describe a guiding principle of Shepherd's Grain, a small, commercial cooperative launched by Pacific Northwest farmers hoping to market their wheat flour grown using "no-till" agricultural methods. Read more here, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/348201_dirtsider22.html

New Housing Development Features Shared Renewable Energy

In a small town in southwestern New Hampshire a big idea is emerging. It's a concept called cohousing and it's beginning to break ground across America. Here, twenty-nine families live in a neighborhood of single-, double-, and quadruple-family homes that are clustered on a small portion of 113 acres of pasture, ponds and open land. Read the article here, http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=51181