Locavore News by Elbert van Donkersgoed
Posted: August 12, 2009
Categories: Food in the News / News from Sustain Ontario
Perspectives on good food and farming
Get Growing – Community Gardens for 2010
Interested in learning how you can start successful community gardens? Want some hands on practical tips and information you can put to practice right away? Get Growing- Community Gardens for 2010 workshop will help you plan your new community gardens project or strengthen the already existing community gardens in your communities. Cost is $20/person. Registration is required. Call Janice Zielinski, Middlesex London Health Unit, 519-663-5317 ext. 2596. Website
6th Annual Taste Local! Taste Fresh!
Tickets on sale. Sunday, September 20, 2-5 pm — Riverside Meadows Park, St. Jacobs. Cost is $65 per person (includes all tastings, welcome champagne and one-of-a-kind pottery plate). Group discounts available. Information and tickets at Foodlink Waterloo website or contact the Foodlink office 519-513-8998.
Seeds of Change Food, Guelph Jazz Festival – Saturday September 12 11:30am-11:30pm
Taste the culinary delights that regional chefs have to offer, all while enjoying world class jazz. The tent will be located on Upper Wyndham St. For more information, visit the Guelph Jazz Festival.
Wellington Rural Romp- Saturday September 26th 11am-4pm
A one day self guided tour of over 20 farms and markets in Guelph and Wellington. Taste testing, guided farm tours, children’s activities and more. Information about the Wellington Rural Romp is on the 2009 Guelph Wellington Local Food Map and more information can also be found on the Rural Romp events poster (4.0 MB PDF file).
Buy local: Ignatieff
While touring the Peterborough Farmers’ Market on Saturday, federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff chatted with supporters and shoppers while spreading a message of buying and eating local. Peterborough Examiner story.
Guide to farm-fresh food launched
The expanded Proudly Northumberland Farm Gate Guide is out, and offers 59 county locations for fresh, locally grown and raised food, or restaurants preparing great dishes from this bounty. Restaurants are included this time. A PDF document is available at Proudly Northumberland Agriculture Resources website.
Get Fresh…Eat Local Farm Map
2nd edition of Get Fresh Eat Local farm map for Middlesex-London area. Copies available from Middlesex-London public libraries. Electronic copy posted on Healthy Living website.
August 2009 Local Harvest (Waterloo Region)
Latest issue of Local Harvest featuring Zucchini and a local farm profile on Conestoga Garden Produce. Issue available for download.
Short-line railway has long history and a future in agri-food
Considering the sharp decline in manufacturing, Sagaskie thinks Guelph and Guelph Junction Railway is in a prime position to grow its agri-food business. Food sales actually increase during times of recession, he said. For the past three years Sagaskie has been working to attract and establish LVB Milling, which is poised to build a wheat mill plant just north of the Skyjack plant on Woodlawn Road. There is a shortage of flour mills in Ontario. The company is expected to start construction on its state-of-the-art $19-million facility early in 2010. Guelph Mercury story.
Agricultural Countryside Strategy
This is the third in a series of reports regarding agriculture, prepared as part of Sustainable Halton. Sustainable Halton is the process through which the Regional Official Plan is being updated to bring it into conformity with the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe 2005 (Growth Plan) and the Greenbelt Plan, 2005. The purpose of this report is to present a preferred strategy for agriculture in Halton and to comment on the implications of the strategy. As the issues of sustainability, local food supply and climate change become more pressing, the importance of maintaining a strong, local agricultural presence grows. In the technical background reports prepared in Phase 1 of Sustainable Halton, a sustainable, economically viable agriculture industry was confirmed as an essential part of Halton’s vision for the future. Sustainable Halton Report 3.04 (3.3 MB PDF file).
Savour Ottawa shows off top-quality food available locally
Savour Ottawa took to the road Tuesday and Wednesday, busing restaurateurs and other participants to Eastern Ontario farms to get a first-hand look at what local food products are available. Organizers were pleased with the first foray and are likely to repeat the exercise in the fall, said Ottawa Tourism spokeswoman Jantine Van Kregten, noting Savour Ottawa covers about a 160-km radius. Ottawa Sun story.
Beef with Sobeys
Sobeys – a chain that flies the banner “The Hometown Advantage†– now confronts nine former franchisees from Ontario farm country who have mutinied to form their own Hometown Grocers Co-op. Corporate policies prevented the stores from buying locally, and only allowed them to purchase federally inspected meat products, which come chiefly from three companies (Maple Leaf, Cargill and Tyson). So the stores joined forces, setting up their own co-op to buy locally raised and grown products. Now Magazine story.