| We have a curious relationship with food in this part of the world. On one hand, we worry about it – wondering whether we’re eating healthy and fighting feelings of guilt associated with the calorie, fat or carb content when we suspect we might not be. And on the other hand, we take its abundance and relatively affordable price for granted, so much so that we’re throwing it out by the truckload. Literally. Experts estimate that between 40 and 50 per cent of all food produced in North America is wasted. A report by the Waste & Resources Action Programme in the United Kingdom paints a similar picture, with about one-third of all food bought never being consumed. Continue reading Our shocking, food wasting habits I’m taking a little break from food and farming blogging over the next few days. We’re heading south on a roadtrip that will take us through Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Some have already pointed out to me how crazy an undertaking that is for the middle of August given the heat and humidity in this [...]  We took advantage of the recent long weekend to spend a few days in the Kawartha region of Ontario. The village of Lakefield was our principle destination – and the highlight of our weekend a visit with our friend Jennifer MacKenzie. Jen and her husband, Chef Jay Nutt, own Nuttshell Next Door, a cafe in downtown Lakefield. Continue reading Checking out the local cafe
My brother called me a food nerd today. I guess he’s right when I consider what I was doing to make him call me that. We are in Switzerland this week and today we were in a mountaintop restaurant above Zermatt, having lunch. As soon as my lunch arrived, the first thing I did was arrange the plate in front of me and then take a photograph of what was placed in front of me. I didn’t think much of it, really; after all, it’s become almost second nature to me to take photos of food and food products wherever I am – in restaurants, at markets and in stores. Continue reading A food nerd’s mountain top lunch  I grew up on a farm in rural Ontario and after about 15 years of living in the city, I returned to the country this past January when my husband and I bought a house just outside of town.
There are many things I like about no longer living in a sub-division – but one of my most pleasant surprises was discovering that our neighbour kept some poultry next door. And he has a rooster as part of his flock. Continue reading Reconnecting with nature’s original alarm clock  When they’re planting their crops, farmers in this area must always keep an eye out for unexploded bombs. Their lands were once battlefields and the dangerous remnants of those conflicts are still a threat today, decades after the end of hostilities.
Now any number of war-torn corners of the world may come to mind as you read these words but the truth may surprise you. The farmers I’m talking about farm in Belgium, in the fabled Flanders Fields made famous by the poem of the same name written by Canadian doctor John McCrae during World War I. Continue reading Where food, farming and bombs collide It’s Mother’s Day today. Moms are special and hold a central place in any family – and the same is probably true even more so on the farm, where Moms are central to keeping home, family and business running smoothly. Fellow blogger Shaun Haney of Real Agriculture has a great post on his blog about this very subject today. Every day is Mother’s Day on the farm, he writes, and even though I grew up in a farming family too, that’s a sentiment that I never gave much special thought to before Shaun broached it on his Facebook page a few days ago. Continue reading Food, farm and Mom | |
