Food

Comment

Comment by Tyler Blanchett on December 5, 2012 at 12:37pm

Hi ­­! This is a message for the main contact or inspiring main contact. But if neither exists please read on always. IT’s important!

Thank you for your interest in Transition Ottawa! My name is Ty and I've been asked to assist TO by checking in with working groups in order to clean up our website and archive outdated material. Sorry if you have already received this email. We are asking groups to fill in and email back the questions below. Please reach me at tymblanchett@gmail.com.

TO Group Questionnaire
1. Name of Group?

2. Main Contact?

3. Best form of communication for contact?

4. Is group still active?

5. Should we remove profile or edit your group intro to say that it needs a lead organizer?

6. Are you using social media? Has it been useful?
7. Your Comments or favourite quote/joke/rules of thumb?


By the end of December please let me know how you would like us to proceed.

Thank you so much for your interest and participation! If you can, please continue. Here are our current events. http://transitionottawa.ning.com/events/event/listUpcoming

Cheers and take care of yourself because if you can’t take care of you, who will take care of everything else?

-Ty & TO

Comment by Kaia Nightingale on January 13, 2012 at 8:00pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2072383/Eccentric-town-To...

 Carrots in the car park. Radishes on the roundabout. The deliciously eccentric story of the town growing ALL its own veg 

Comment by Caelan MacIntyre on September 16, 2010 at 10:13pm

Local Farm Pool

Although there seem to be some programmes out there, it still may be feasible-- if only as a social outing excuse-- to form a group with a car or van (bikes?) interested in a once-a-month or so stop-and-shop at one or more of our many local (organic, herb, free-range meat, etc.) farms. There may be group rates; it may be more convenient for everyone involved; food should be fresher; and we'll be making valuable connections and familiarities with our local farming community and their locations.
While eventually we may do much of our own growing, we may still wish to add other items to our menus from time to time. Additionally, this may prove to be good as a transition and even as an emergency strategy for unseen events or insufficient larders, crops or knowledge of edible wildlife, etc..

Comment by Caelan MacIntyre on September 6, 2010 at 8:59pm

The Simplicity and Power of The Pestle & Mortar

Our dialogue over here made me reflect on how a lot of the industrial food we eat (i.e., Cheerios or peanut butter) or prepare at home using industrial-type processes (food processors, blenders, etc.), can be effectively replaced/"re-transitioned"-- often for the better: More flavour, less energy/cleanup/landfill. Cases in point: (I've used this therapeutic device to deftly crack open nuts for example, and it often works better for me than special-purpose and/or electromechanical tools)...
(Pamela; it does seem inevitable that our diets will change in any case, and probably for the better.)

Comment by Caelan MacIntyre on September 6, 2010 at 8:38pm

Bottoms Up for Bugs and Weeds

Eat The Weeds has many episodes and the host is pretty cool.

Frankly, I've always had a hard time with the concept of killing a plant just because it's thought of as a weed, especially when it grows wild and may not necessarily depend on direct gardening work; where it may have medicinal/health/gourmet properties; and where it may help other plants and the ecosystem in general.

Also, you can eat many different kinds of arthropods, and they are supposed to taste delicious and be good for you-- protein, fibre and all that...
Quotes from videos:
"Insects are of course brilliant food to eat because they are exactly the right sort of stuff that we need..."
"Advocates of insect-eating like to note that it's environmentally-sound [comparing it with beef]... Insects brim with vitamins and minerals..."

Comment by Caelan MacIntyre on August 20, 2010 at 8:28pm

Ok, Janina, here's one-- a small one, but one :) ...

For those who are knowledgeable with and have been collecting and/or planting seeds/growing plants/trees at/in their homes and/or in their gardens, and/or would be willing to sprout/offer some different and appropriate kinds (for the outdoors-- preferrably local-climate perennials) over the winter, please do so for one or more guerilla gardening sessions next year.
I can commit to the latter if I'm still in town and with suitable transportation.
In the mean time, those interested can also help stake out/discuss/take photos of potential locations.

;)

Edit: (and pardon all possible copies of my editing you may be receiving in your emails :)

Important: Please see my recent post.

Comment by Janina Hojczyk on August 18, 2010 at 11:48am

WOAH great list.
Time for a game plan?

Comment by Kaia Nightingale on June 15, 2010 at 11:17am

Becoming more food resilient is the part of transitioning we are personally most empowered to do. What can we do?
1. Grow our own food.
2. Share this food with others, show them our gardens, inspire them to grow. Give some seeds to get them started.
3. Convert unused flat roofs, driveways, patios, and decks to container gardening areas. Convert south facing walls to vines of all kinds, or layer up shelving for container gardening.
4. Explore season extenders. Some plastic over a hoop can raise ground temperature by up to 12 degrees.
5. Support local farmers. Find ways to buy from farmers as directly as possible so they can stay in business. One way is to sign up for a share in a CSA to supply local fresh vege this summer. (For contacts with local CSA farmers go to www.justfood.ca
6. Protect the NCC farmland that is rapidly being turned into construction sites.
7. Install a greenhouse for year round produce.
8. Reduce meat consumption (one of the best and easiest oil reducing actions you can take - which will also increase your health and wellbeing.
9. Check the labelling of all produce you buy and see if you want to be responsible for that many food miles when there are local alternatives.
10. Ask your supermarket or local food shop manager where the local food is. This says - "business will increase if you have local produce."
11. Buy organic, or at least pesticide free food. Pesticides use oil, ruin soil structure, and pollute our ground water, rivers and lakes.
(If expense is an issue, there is a stand in Byward market that is pesticide free, grown 25 minutes from town, and is the same price as ordinary food. The stand last year was opposite LaPointe Fish).
12. Raise awareness while socialising with colleagues, family and friends everywhere you go. "I just found a local source of..." "See how fresh this___ is - it's locally grown!" "I support a local farmer through my CSA shares. It's easy to do." "Did you notice this produce is from China? It's really worth checking where your food comes from."
13. Show Food Inc., the Cuba Revolution (maybe I don't remember that last title right), King Corn and other food related movies, then have a discussion afterwards.
14. Save seeds, particularly heritage seeds.
15. Create seed sharing coops so one pack of seeds can be fully planted in many gardens.
16. Research the seeds and nuts that will grow in the Ottawa area for alternative sources of protein.
17, Replace ornamental trees with edible food growing trees. Plant fruit and nut trees everywhere you can.
18. Convert unused green land around Ottawa to food growing areas. Our group photo is the grass outside Tunney's Pasture with Nanny Goat community vegetable gardens photoshopped over.