Vert-à-Go

The City of Saskatoon has been holding its yearly public ward meetings over the past few weeks. These meetings are usually held in the autumn, but were delayed because of the timing of the federal election (looks like they may have to permanently find another time for them, as we may well be having another election this October too).

The Ward 6 meeting on 22 January, which I attended, was a good opportunity for area residents to ask questions of Mayor Don Atchison, Councillor Charlie Clark, and representatives of various city departments. As I posted on Twitter the day of the meeting, so many people focus on national and provincial politics and forget that we can often make bigger and more positive changes to people’s lives at the civic level!

People at the meeting got up and spoke about the need for community gardens and more public green space in the ward, as well as their desire for better infrastructure and support for cyclists and pedestrians in the city. They also expressed their concern about lead levels in the tap water in older homes and the availability of recycling facilities. Justifiably high praise was also passed on to city council about the new Saskatoon Farmers’ Market location on River Landing.

So what is the city doing about the public’s concerns? It is currently investigating the possibility of converting some of the Victoria and Nutana school grounds to public park space, and is scoping out a number of potential community garden sites (sadly, the current Nutana Community Garden will be no more after the 2009 growing season, as the lease will soon be up and the land is slated for development–I’ll be writing more about this soon). I believe that the city is more than willing to try to accommodate and help set up community gardens, but the main obstacles are finding a suitable public space that has easily available water for irrigation. We need to push hard to identify more of these spaces and get gardeners behind the projects. If you’re interested in finding out more about community gardening in Saskatoon, get in touch with the Saskatoon Community Garden Network (you can join the Facebook group or email Dana Barrand for the next meeting details in March–I’ll also be posting them here soon).

The mayor freely admitted that the development for cycling paths is woefully behind schedule (it would apparently take 25 years to carry out the city’s planned scheme at the current rate) and pledged his support for the concept of human-powered transport. However, he didn’t give any details on how an accelerated timeline would be achieved. Saskatoon is so compact that a bike journey often need take no longer than one by car (and is very often faster, when you consider time to find parking). Riding a bike keeps you fit, reduces air pollution, and saves you money. It’s a no-brainer. Interested in improving cycling access, safety, and support in Saskatoon? Tell your city councillor and the mayor that this is something you strongly believe in. There’s also a Facebook group to support safe cycling downtown (a notoriously dangerous hotspot, as even the mayor admitted at the meeting that Saskatoon’s drivers “are not very good”).

Advice was given out to worried homeowners who cannot afford the estimated $4,000-7,000 it costs to replace old lead water pipe connections (and renters whose landlords are not willing to replace them. It was stressed that that the source water in Saskatoon is extremely pure, but that lead can accumulate while the water sits in the pipes nearby or inside the home. This has become a concern in cities across the country. To minimise horrible water wastage*, it was recommended that people take showers first thing, then let each individual tap run for 30 seconds before using it for drinking. Filters were also recommended. I’m not quite sure how the many people on limited incomes in the city who may be having problems finding the money for their existing water bill are supposed to find extra money for filters and for all this additional water (not to mention the expense of getting the water tested)!

It is a really unfortunate situation, as Councillor Clark pointed out at the meeting, because many people have bought (often older) homes closer to the centre of the city at least in part to try and reduce their environmental footprint. When we moved back to Saskatoon, we chose our neighbourhood largely because it was within easy walking distance of most places that we want to go. I collect rainwater to use in the garden and have put in more drought-tolerant plants. Through much more careful use of water and lights, we had managed to greatly reduce our utilities bill over the past year. But if it happened to have lead connection pipes, we would either have to use our fridge water filter for cooking and coffee/tea as well as fresh drinking water, or run a huge amount of water down the drain every day. Fortunately for us, I discovered that the main line had been replaced about 15 years ago, before we moved in. But there are thousands of homes that still have the old connection. To find out whether you have lead water connection pipes, phone the city at 975-2491 and they will look up the details for your address.

The issue of recycling was also raised. Mayor Atchison expressed his support for recycling facilities, but thought better results could be achieved through the use of several “super-depots” located throughout the city. Councillor Clark disagreed, stating that he thought that a curbside blue box collection program could work well in Saskatoon. I have to say that it doesn’t personally seem to make much sense to me to have thousands of cars burning gasoline hauling newspapers and plastic back and forth all over the city when one vehicle could do pickups. The success of Saskatoon Curbside Recycling seems to show that when people have the convenience of door-to-door pickup, they will recycle anything that isn’t nailed down and will often pass the recycling bug onto their friends and neighbours. It would also provide the necessary infrastructure to begin collecting organic/kitchen waste, which would be so much better properly composted rather than dumped into the landfill to create methane gas. I don’t think people will really be willing (or should be willing) to drive their used coffee grounds or potato peelings halfway across the city twice a week to a central collection point.

There were many other issues raised at the meeting that night, but these are the ones of most relevance to my blog. For a good overview of the issues raised at the ward meetings, check out Sean Shaw’s blog–he has attended many (if not all?) of the city ward meetings this month and posted notes on those for both Ward 4 (where he plans to run for councillor in the autumn) and Ward 6. Thanks, Sean!

If you feel strongly about any or all of the above issues or anything else (I’m sure you do!), you can get in touch with City Council via this online form or get contact details for your local councillor here.

* It has been recommended that a tap be left running for 10 minutes before water is used for drinking if it has not been flushed out in for 6 hours. The expense and sheer waste is staggering, frankly. But then, so is the idea that you might be drinking water with an unsafe level of lead in it.

First two photos by Danny Pederson-Bradbury

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year, although it is also celebrated in parts or all of Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, and Mongolia). I started marking this holiday about a decade ago because a) the winters are very long here in Saskatchewan, and any extra excuse to do something special in January/February seems like a fine plan and b) I love the excuse to cook a big fun special meal for the family.

Those who celebrate this holiday usually have a big feast on New Year’s Eve. It worked out better for us to get together tonight, though, so I got started first thing this morning with the duck that I’d picked up from Pine View Farms on Saturday (that was the morning that it was -47C with the windchill–can you blame us for wanting a party?). After going over the bird and removing the remaining feathers/stems (ducks are notoriously difficult to pluck), I plunged it into a big pot of boiling water for a few minutes, then pulled it out, dried it, and basted it with a honey water mixture. Then I hung it up in the basement and turned the fan on it. It looked weird, but the only way to get a really crispy skin for Peking Duck is to make sure that it’s completely dry before you roast it. I left it to hang for over 5 hours–it’s best to leave it as long as possible, especially considering that you somehow still need to find time to make a whole whack of pancakes to wrap the duck in. I’ve tried a couple different recipes and methods and think there is just no getting round the fact that unless you can find someone to make them for you (or a store–please tell me if you find one that has them, because I’ve searched everywhere!), you’re just going to have to spend 1.5 hours in front of the stove making miniature pancakes if you really want to eat Peking Duck. Which I do, but this is probably why I don’t make it more than once a year.

Pancakes out of the way and covered with a damp cloth, I got started on the pork dumplings. I hadn’t planned on making these and was going to have a simple soup to start instead. But then I read about how it is considered especially good luck to eat jiaozi in Northern China for the New Year–so I threw caution to the winds and added them to the menu too. I didn’t have any wonton wrappers, so ended up making the wrappers from scratch for the first time (I’d actually never made dumplings before either). This was a mildly insane decision, but I followed these nicely detailed and extremely amusing instructions, making the filling out of ground pork (Pine View Farms), ginger, cabbage, and green onion, and rolling out 48 pastry discs (“GO FORTH! MAKE DISCS! TILL YOUR ARMS FALL OFF!”), then filling them, pinching them shut (which locks the luck in, apparently), and steaming them before serving with soy sauce for dipping. They really weren’t hard to make at all, but they just took A. Very. Long. Time. Pre-made wrappers would save time and energy. I would definitely make them again, and would probably even do my own wrappers, but would also put the rest of the family to work to speed things up, assembly-line style.

Back in the 1970s, my mom and grandma took a Chinese cooking class from a friend’s father who shared his yummy recipe for sweet and sour pork (it’s brown, not that scary bright red colour). It has become a family favourite, so I also whipped up a batch of that to go with some side/back ribs from Pine View. This made a lot of meat dishes for one meal, but it also produced a lot of leftovers, so I was able to give some to my grandma so that she wouldn’t have to cook tomorrow. It also meant that I wouldn’t have to cook tomorow, which was good, because by this point, I was starting to get fairly serious kitchen fatigue. I don’t know where the guy in Eat Drink Man Woman found the energy (note: that link is not for the squeamish)!

To go with the rice and spareribs (we ate the two previous dishes as separate courses), I also stirfried a big batch of vegetables in soy sauce, sherry, and sesame oil. Usually I would have done another vegetable dish, but after going all out on the dumplings, I figured we had more than enough food already and could eat salad tomorrow. It’s considered unlucky to cook white food on New Year’s Day (it’s the colour associated with death), so I used green ones instead, including locally-grown pea shoots (and a bit of garlic, shh, don’t tell). I left the pea shoots long because long leafy greens signify long life and are considered lucky too. They were actually quite fun to eat that way; rather like spaghetti, and they tasted just like spring.

The grown-ups drank Tsingtao beer (oops, I forgot to offer the green tea), and for dessert there were baby mandarin oranges (also lucky) and fortune cookies. I had planned to make ox- and goldfish-shaped cookies in honour of the day but simply ran out of time. Rather hilariously, my fortune read, ‘TAKE PAINS TO PREVENT GETTING COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED’. Ok, I won’t cook like that every day, I promise!

Chinese New Year Feast

• Pork dumplings (jiaozi), made with green local cabbage, green onion, ginger
• Peking Duck pancakes, served with green onion and cucumber strips and duck sauce
• Sweet and sour pork ribs
• Stirfried green vegetables (broccoli, organic celery, green onion, pea shoots, garlic)
• plain rice
• Mandarin oranges and fortune cookies
• Tsingtao beer/green tea

Mr Chan’s sweet and sour pork ribs

• about 2 racks (1.5lbs) of pork spare ribs (it’s also nice with chicken wings/drumsticks)
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vinegar
• 4Tb dark soy sauce
• 2 cups water

Mix together. Brown ribs, drain off fat and pour sauce over ribs. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 2 hours.

The WinterShines Festival will kick off tomorrow night at Market Square (the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market). Everyone is invited to come celebrate all the fun and beauty that the Saskatoon winter has to offer during this fun 16-day festival. The opening ceremonies will begin at 6:30pm and there will also be ice carvings, entertainment, and hot chocolate throughout the evening. Don’t forget to dress warmly, bring a lantern, and join in for the in motion “Illuminate the Night” walk.

The River Landing Market Showcase will also take place between 6-9pm, so head inside to warm up and enjoy the hospitality of your friendly local farmers, food vendors, and merchants! Samples of market food and beverages will be on offer and there will be music throughout the evening.

River Landing Market Showcase/WinterShines 2009 Festival kick-off

When: Saturday 24 January, 6-9pm

Where: Market Square (Saskatoon Farmers’ Market), River Landing, 414 Ave B South, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

For more information: WinterShines Festival, Tourism Saskatoon, (306) 242-1206

Photo by Danny Pederson-Bradbury

Steep Hill Food Co-op’s next no-markup day is Thursday, 29 January. This means non-working members save 13% and non-members save 25% off their bills. It’s a great chance to stock up.

Steep Hill carries:

• Bulk organic grains, flours, cereals, nuts, seeds and beans (some locally-grown)
• Organically-grown fruits, vegetables and juices
• Locally-baked goods and baking needs
• Organic/free-range eggs
• Organic beef, naturally-raised chicken and pork, and Saskatchewan fish
• Herbs, spices, coffees and herbal teas
• Special dietary needs
• Personal care and household items

No-markup day at Steep Hill Food Co-op

When: Thursday 29 January, 11:00am-6:30pm

Where: Steep Hill Food Co-op, 730 Broadway Avenue, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

For more information: Steep Hill Co-op, (306) 664-4455

My source spotted a few organic produce specials at the Extra Foods on Broadway: a 3lb bag of organic BC Gala or Granny Smith apples for $2.99 and organic bananas are under a dollar. She said that organic avocados were also on sale. The flyer lists organic BC Ambrosia apples for $1.29/lb, but I’m not sure if they’re available at the Broadway location or not. The location on 51st Street has a good range of organic produce.

I also checked the Safeway flyer online and they have a lot of organic produce on sale. I like that you can search their flyer for the word ‘organic’ (or any word, obviously!): strawberries ($3.49), lots of Canadian/US apples for $1.49, celery $1.49, green peppers $2.99, Canadian white mushrooms $1.99, frozen blue/raspberries/mango $5.49, (these are all Club Safeway specials so you need to use one of their loyalty cards).

Extra Foods on Broadway has moved apples and other organic fruit further down the store to the middle aisle because the organic ‘ghetto’ section was getting too crowded. It’s great to see organic produce being normalised and put right among the ‘regular’ food. Safeway has been doing this a lot more in the past year. I was thrilled to see one of their main strawberry specials last year was all-organic and given high profile right at the front of the produce department at the 85h Street location–they didn’t even have a non-organic variety offered at all that week, which is great, considering that strawberries are one of the most chemically-treated fruits out there and a great organic choice.

Sowing the old seeds by Steffe

(click on the image to learn about the great story behind this photo!)

The 10th annual Seedy Saturday seed exchange & eco-fair is fast approaching! Seedy Saturday is a fun and informative event promoting heirloom seed-saving, biodiversity, and sustainable living. Come along for lunch, check out the many interesting information booths, and join in on the free presentations on several topics of interest. There will also be children’s activities running throughout the day.

If you would like to book a display table for the event (the cost is $20, or $10 for a half-table), contact dana@chep.org or 655-5322. See you there!

10th Annual Seedy Saturday

When: Saturday 14 March, 12-5pm

Where: Princess Alexandra School, 210 Ave H South, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

Admission: $2. Lunch $2 or whatever you can pay

For more information: Seedy Saturday events (Seeds of Diversity), Dana (dana@chep.org or 655-5322)

“Do you know where I could find pork products that are natural…from happy pigs, etc?”

- Rachel, Saskatoon

I am not a fan of the way most pigs are treated to provide grocery stores with quantities of pork. Permanently confined in a windowless smelly building on hard bare floors in cramped conditions, large-scale pig barns certainly do not allow pigs to express their “pigness”, as Joel Salatin would say. It is a cruel way to raise these animals, who would spend their time foraging and rooting if left to their own devices. I also found, when I used to buy it years ago, that grocery store pork often had a nasty backtaste to it–to me, it sometimes smelled (and seemed to taste) like a pig barn! I now buy my pork from Pine View Farms. It has a wonderful flavour with none of that taste. They don’t raise the pigs themselves on their own farm, but sub-contract out to another farmer near Hague, who raises them in small numbers on straw:

“Our hogs are raised according our All Natural protocol. No antibiotics, growth hormones or animal byproducts are fed or administered. We do not use gestation crates, sows roam free and farrow in birthing pens on straw. The feeder pigs can roam around outside and root in deep straw to satisfy their natural instincts.” –Pine View Farms web site

We usually buy a side of pork from them at a time, but there are a number of retailers in town who sell their products. Steep Hill Co-op usually has chops, bacon, and ground pork. Their bacon and chops are available at Dad’s Nutrition Centre, as well as their mild Italian and chorizo sausage. Greystone and Attridge Co-ops also stock Pine View pork (cuts will vary). It is cheaper to buy directly from Pine View Farms, however. You can go out to the farm store, or they will also deliver to your house for a flat fee of $18/order. I have combined an order for friends in the past, which saves on time and gas for everybody.

There will soon be another option for pork raised to ‘beyond organic’ standards in the Saskatoon area: Lori Walldner, a former organic producer of pastured livestock, is now marketing a variety of food products by organic fellow-farmers ranging from meat and eggs to grains and (coming this summer) vegetables. She expects to have pork available in March–I’ll post again on her other products when I have more information (I’m also double-checking a longer list of Saskatchewan producers and suppliers and will add it when it’s done).

Naturally and/or organically-raised pork (Saskatoon area)

Pine View Farms ph: (306) 239-4763

Lori Walldner ph:(306) 955-8402

Silky shark and bottlenose dolphin, Costa Rica (Sharkwater documentary)

Last week it was reported by Rob Stewart (director of the documentary Sharkwater) that both Loblaws and The Great Canadian Superstores were selling canned shark fin soup in the run-up to the Chinese New Year. He wrote on his blog:

“After Sharkwater’s release in Canada, Galen Weston, the CEO of Loblaws, brought me out to dinner with his wife Alexandra, and expressed his great interest in supporting the cause…Selling shark fins en masse; supporting the destruction of sharks, the oceans and the ecosystems we depend on for survival is how Loblaws supports the cause. Its outrageous that its happening in our own backyard… after we already know shark populations have dropped more than 90%. Help us fight this, and show Loblaws and Galen Weston that this was a bad decision… and lets get shark fin removed from Canadian Superstores. There’s still time to turn this around.” –Rob Stewart on the Abandon Fear blog

I’ve previously written about the dire situation of the world’s shark population. When I read Rob’s post today I got set to fire out an email of complaint to the corporate head office, but then learned (to my delight) that Loblaws had already withdrawn shark fin soup from all its stores’ shelves a few days later in response to the public outcry. This just goes to show the importance of letting the powers that be (whether they be corporate or governmental) know our opinion about how they run their business (or what they decide to do with our money). Speak out! Fill in a comment card, call your MP, write a letter to the editor! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. For more information on what you can do to help sharks (and other ocean life), visit www.savingsharks.com.

Lettuce and carrots nestled up against anemones, dianthus, and daylilies in the front garden

Last spring I took the plunge and dug up our front lawn.  I had gradually been chipping away at it over a number of years, replacing it with low-maintenance perennials. But that wasn’t enough–I wanted something I could eat! I put in a herb spiral and planted carrots, lettuce, spinach, and other greens. The first year was a big success and I was really pleased with the result.

The front garden is not only far more attractive and inviting than it used to be (we actually sit out front now, which we never used to do). It is also now filled with plants that are appropriate to the yard’s micro-climate, which require less maintenance (no mowing!) and which were kept going almost completely with rainwater the entire summer (no need to choose between an ugly dried-out lawn or a big water bill). Plus, we could eat most of them!

Many people are getting excited about the growing Food Not Lawns movement. I’ll be giving a talk for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) at J S Wood Library next month (Wednesday 11 February) on what it’s all about, and show you how easy it is to transform your front lawn into something really special that can nourish the body and the soul. I’ll be showing a lot of pictures and examples and there will be plenty of time for questions and comments. I’m reallly looking forward to it, and hope to see you there!

Food Not Lawns presentation (for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society)

When: Wednesday 11 February,  7pm

Where: Lower Auditorium, J S Wood Library, 1801 Lansdowne Avenue, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

Admission: FREE!

For more information: Saskatchewan Environmental Society, susan@vert-a-go.com

First Family/Inauguration Cookie Pack from Little Rae’s Bakery

With only 10 days, 13 hours, and 6 minutes to go in Bush’s time in office (but who’s counting?), pretty much everyone is already casting their eyes forward to US President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on 20 January.

So what do we know about Obama’s likely approach to food issues?

• Much speculation has been made over the fact that Obama both read and responded to Michael Pollan’s open letter in the New York Times to the ‘Farmer-in-Chief’.
• Sustainable food advocates have been campaigning for Obama to turn part of the White House lawn into an organic garden, and it turns out that the White House already has a rooftop garden that helped provide both the Clinton and Bush families with very local produce.
• The Obamas plan to keep the current White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford, who creates “original dishes with American flavor” and who shares the Obamas “perspective on the importance of healthy eating and healthy families”.
• Reaction from the left has been decidedly negative to Obama’s pick for Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack–a big advocate of biofuels, GMOs, and biotechnology who used Monsanto’s private jet while he was governor of Iowa. Should we be dismayed? Or maybe he isn’t the agricultural antichrist after all?

For more up-to-the-minute info on the “Obama Foodscape”, check out Obama Foodorama. And if you’re in the catchment area for Little Rae’s Bakery in Seattle, don’t  miss the First Family/Inauguration pack of cookies, designed “to honor the entire first family to show our support and hope that when we stick together, when we lean on those closest, we are strongest.” Because the Obamas couldn’t adopt a dog from the animal shelter due to allergies, Little Rae’s is donating a portion of every sale to the Humane Society. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.