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

Suzuki's Top 10 Sustainable Seafood Picks

It's not uncommon to hear David Suzuki say, I am fish. What he means is that humans aren't much different from the living, breathing species that come from the sea. This is a good thing to remember when choosing your food. Enjoying seafood sustainably means acknowledging the animal's unique role in nature, understanding how it got from the water to your plate, and managing how much of it we consume.
Get the list here, http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/eat-for-a-healthy-planet/suzukis-top-10-sustainable-seafood-picks/

Reimagining Detroit as Grow Town

I saw an article about this a while ago. Interesting.

Over the last six decades, the city of Detroit has lost half its population, shrinking from more than 1.85 million people in 1950 to just 912,000 in 2008.
The population plunge has left vacant vast tracts of land that some people in the city want to see used for growing food. Hundreds of community gardens have sprung up throughout the urban core, and several large-scale farms have been proposed within the city limits. Read here, http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/reimagining-detroit-as-grow-town/?hp

October is Non-GMO month

Celebrate Non-GMO Month!

October 2010 will be the first ever Non-GMO Month, with a special Non-GMO Day on 10.10.10. Close to 600 retailers nationwide are registered to participate!

Read more here, http://www.nongmoproject.org/

Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer.
Continue reading here, http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458,00.html

Monsanto

Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Saskatchewan Canada, whose Canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's genetically engineered Round-Up Ready Canola by pollen from a nearby farm. Monsanto says it doesn't matter how the contamination took place, and is therefore demanding Schmeiser pay their Technology Fee (the fee farmers must pay to grow Monsanto's genetically engineered products). According to Schmeiser, "I never had anything to do with Monsanto, outside of buying chemicals. I never signed a contract. http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm

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.

Where are the bees going?

Eco-Libris blog reviews the new book of investigative journalist Michael Schacker 'A Spring Without Bees', where he gives a clear reply to the question why the bees are dying and offers solutions to this crisis that poses a great danger to the world's food supply. "Only 26 years" said the beekeeper, "this is how long we have. After that, you will be eating only corn, wheat and rice." Read more here,
http://ecolibris.blogspot.com/2008/08/spring-without-bees-by-michael-schacker.html