Field to Plate by NICHE MEDIA

to spring/summer 2010

Feeling Better Yet? Safety and green thinking destroy agriculture in B.C.

Farm Holidays

Gentle stays to Bootcamp

Who Owns Our Food?

Foods may look Mother Nature Fresh...

ALSO: Your Local Farmers’ Market DIRECTORY

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Contents

to VOLUME 1 • number 1

INSIDE

SPRING/SUMMER 2010

Cover Story

page

editor in chief

Who Owns Our Food? ... just because something is labeled organic does not mean that it does not contain GMOs...

chytra brown chytra@prospermediagroup.ca

DESIGN/PRODUCTION Donna Szelest donna@prospermediagroup.ca

CONTRIBUTORS Darcy Nybo Michelle Dennis MISCHA POPOFF

PUBLISHER

CRAIG BROWN PROSPER MEDIA GROUP INC. cbrown@growersjournal.com 105 - 1979 OLD OKANAGAN HWY. WEST KELOWNA, BC V4T 3A4 P. 778.755.5727 F. 778.755.5728

Pros and Cons of

Community Gardens page 3 Farm Holidays Gentle stays to Bootcamp

Feeling better yet?

Epicurean Delight Truffles

A delicacy in the Okanagan...

Safety and green thinking destroy agriculture in B.C. page

Reproduction in whole or in part, by any means, without prior written permission, is strictly prohibited.

page

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

page

Your Local Farmers’ Market Directory page

Field to Plate is published seasonally. It is delivered by Canada Post to members of BCFGA, packing house cooperatives, and members of the BC Wine Institute. Copies are available at local farmers’ markets, natural grocery outlets, and select wine stores. Subscriptions for those outside of our free distribution area are $36 per year. Views expressed in Field to Plate are those of their respective contributors and are not necessarily those of its publisher or staff. Contents copyright 2010.

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ARTICLE

Pros and Cons of

Community Gardens

unity

Comm Barlee n e d r Ga

By: Darcy Nybo

e’ve all heard about community gardens; however, not many of us have seen one, let alone been part of one.

St. Paul Community Garden

Creating a community garden takes hard work, dedication, patience and a passion for growing things. It is fortuitous that these are the same traits you will find in most gardeners.

At Har tman Comm unity G arde

A small group of dedicated gardeners formed the Central Okanagan Community Gardens Society in 2003. At first it was an uphill battle. Becky Vien, Secretary for the group, explains. “The hardest part was getting land from the City of Kelowna,” she says. “Our first garden is on land that was donated by the Unitarian Church. Once we had the land, the City gave us some money to start

Winfield Community Garden

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Pros and Cons of Community Gardens continued

Hartman Community Garden in Rutland

up the project. Once we proved we could be successful, they warmed up and showed us more sites. Since then we’ve had no problem with the City providing us with property.”

That first garden was constructed in the fall of 2003 and the main planting began in the spring of 2004 on Cawston Avenue in Kelowna. Ruth Mellor, Chair of COCGS recalls it was only 10, 4 x 4 raised plots and 3, 4 x 2 wheelchair accessible plots. “We gone from there to gardens that are 40 plots of 10 x 20 feet,” she says. Mellor did a lot of research in the beginning and went to a conference in Toronto. “While I was there I listened to speakers who looked after inner city community gardens. They talked about how beautiful they were despite the occasional bouts of vandalism. It was at this conference we learned that we shouldn’t put up high fences, as it makes it look like there is something valuable behind them. Any fences we have around our gardens are built to keep out animals.” Mellor continues, “That’s one of the things that took us so long to get property – the City was worried about vandalism. So far all we’ve had is sheds broken into; however, once they realize it’s just tools and hoses, they leave.” She laughs when she recalls a different type of break and enter. “We had some people last year who came into one of the gardens and took what wasn’t theirs. It turns out they thought because it was a community garden they could just come in and pick the food. We’re having signs made up shortly to inform people of how a community garden works.” Winfield Community Garden

COGCS now oversees seven gardens in Kelowna, Wi nAt Hartman f i el d and Community G arden We st Kelowna w it h a n e w one st ar t i ng up this spring in Nor th Glennity ommu ton C more. E ach s w a C n garden has a Garde board member who is that garden’s coordinator. Each COGCS member must follow a Winfield Community s e t of g u i d el i ne s f rom Garden in Spring du e s p ay abl e (currently $18/year) to when their plots must be weeded and deadlines for planting. Community gardens are a concept many schools are now looking into. “The Rutland School near the Hartman Garden has plots there,” explains Mellor. “The Town Centre Garden in West Kelowna has a large area set aside for George Pringle Students too. Teresa Banka has been sharing her expertise with other schools that are waiting to start up gardens on their property. For the past four years she’s been working with the schools and teaching them which plants to Winfield Community Garden in Fall plant so they are able to harvest in the spring and fall, not in the summer when school is out.” Aside from fresh food and flowers, a community garden helps people grow too. “There’s a sense of community in these gardens,” says Mellor. “There is sharing of ideas, a coming together. In our gardens you will find mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, siblings, cousins and neighbours all getting to know each other better. Even Interior Health has a plot for a seniors outreach program at the Barlee Garden. Aside from focusing on getting more space for their gardens, the COCGS is working on having the City of Kelowna change their policy on housing developments to include some form of on-site community garden. It’s a great way to keep our communities growing together.

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Farm Holidays

ARTICLE

Gentle stays to Bootcamp By: Darcy Nybo

arm stays are catching on as more and more people want to experience the Okanagan lifestyle.

For those who prefer the quieter, less physical type of farm stay, there are a wide variety of options to choose from. (agritourismbc.org). Waking up to the crowing of a rooster, the low growl of a tractor engine or the boom of an orchard cannon may seem like enough farm excitement for some. For others, only the full farm life experience will do. Kim Stansfield and John Gordon of “The Vinegar Works” at Valentine Farm in Summerland (valentinefarm.com) have a unique arrangement for Canadian and International youth under 30. Stansfield explains, “We are registered with WWOOF; World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (wwoof.org.) and last year we had students from Japan, Brit-

ain, Germany, the United States and even Canada. Most are students who are looking for a Canadian experience and a place to speak English.” That experience includes work. “Students know in advance that they are coming to work on a farm,” says Stansfield. “They work about five hours a day, and when they are finished for the day they head out and cycle and hike the trails around Summerland.” At Valentine Farm workers stay in separate housing but are very much a part of the family. “We take them out shopping, over to friends houses, to birthday parties, etc. It’s a way of integrating them into your life and giving them a good Canadian experience,” says Stansfield. And then there’s the work. “It’s real farm work,” she laughs. “We aren’t making work for them.” In March, students help with planting seeds in the greenhouse for the market garden. As the season progresses, they will fix wooden posts, prepare soil, plant and weed gardens and put in cross fencing for moving around the horses and the llama. Come summer there’s a lot of hand leaf picking (as they are organic and don’t spray) as well as tying down vines and more weeding. On the whole, everyone benefits from the arrangement. “We need more young people in farming,” says Stansfield. “You don’t see a farmer at a job fair. If we can pass this knowledge onto someone else, they may become farmers themselves or at least gardeners.”

For the non-students among us there is a place that ranges from ‘light duty’ to a full ‘boot camp’ experience. Working Horse Winery is one of those places. (workinghorsewinery. com) Tilman Hainle and Sara Norman have created the Working Horse Winery Boot SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Farm Holidays: Gentle Stays to Boot Camp continued

Camp where you can literally come and try out the fine art of being an Okanagan Farmer. “You get up early, eat when we eat and help with whatever chores are happening that day,” says Norman. “Apart from the vineyards, horses and chickens, this year we will have over two acres of heritage, non-GMO, certified organic vegetables. There’s a lot to do from planting to weeding to harvesting.”

You can choose your level of workload at Working Horse, from light duties to a full day’s work. Right now, guests stay at the Working Horse Inn and in the future there will be expansion for other accommodation. A two day farm stay including accommodation and all three meals, (which you help harvest and prepare) start at $350 for a group of four. “This is my favourite form of exercise,” says Norman. “You are moving all day, using all your muscle groups and doing it in the fresh air. You are interacting with nature, as well as the horses and chickens and the gardens you are working in.” In the late fall the focus shifts towards harvesting of the gardens as well as the grapes in the vineyards. For those who want to drink the fruit of their labours the lightly aged whites can be sampled as early as next spring. “When people sign on to do this they also receive a bottle of wine from the period they were involved with the farm,” explains Norman. “We are fairly new, and we’ve found many of the people who want to stay here are those who have heard of us through organic connections and through our Draft Horses.” Guests so far have been as nearby as the Okanagan and Vancouver and as far away as Nova Scotia, London, England and Majorca, Spain. Norman also hopes to attract more families for the less intensive farm boot camps. “It’s great to watch the kids recognize that the chicken they just fed was the one that gave them eggs for that morning’s breakfast. Most kids, and even some adults, don’t understand where their food comes from. Eggs don’t come from the grocery store, they really do come from the chicken pecking at the ground by your feet.”

You are a beautiful, living, breathing person with a body that needs care and attention. You are not made of plastic and you do have an expiry date. Would you fill your glorious body with harmful chemicals and genetically modified ingredients?

We wouldn’t.

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SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

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SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

FEATURE ARTICLE

Who Owns Our Food? By: Darcy Nybo

ho owns our food? The short version is – we do. What we purchase through our personal choices stimulates the economy to create more of what we like, right? The questions should be: do we know who owns our food before we buy it; who owns the rights to our food and is it what we are led to believe. Those who are striving for a healthier lifestyle may give brand preference to products they believe are more wholesome and on a friendlier, smaller, greener scale than the large mega companies. You may think that all the organic products in your grocery store come from an independent organic processor; however, many don’t. People are shocked when they find out companies like Kashi are actually owned by the Kellog’s Corporation and Celestial Seasonings is owned by the Hain Celestial Food Group which in turn is 20% owned by Heinz. So are we picking the foods we eat because we enjoy them, or has marketing played a huge role in defining what we think we want to eat versus what we know we should eat? Buying on looks alone can be deceiving. Food may look Mother Nature fresh; when in fact many of the foods available to us today are genetically engineered. We can no longer assume it is healthy because it looks good. The reality is that most of our food no longer comes to us to from fresh, healthy soil, where growers simply weeded. The same is true for beef, pork and poultry products. Our visions of cattle roaming the fields, pigs snuffling around in spacious pens, and chickens happily peck-

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

ing in barnyards is, for the most part, far from the truth. Take meat for example. Most of the animals we eat, have been dosed with low levels of antibiotics in their food and water since the 1950s. Tyson Foods took advantage of this general knowledge and marketed ‘raised without antibiotics’ chicken. Tyson is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork products, exporting to over 80 countries and generated $26.9 billion in 2008. Unfortunately this claim was false, as antibiotics were involved, and they settled a law suit for false advertising which forced them to shell out $5 million as compensation to unhappy customers. It is a great example of ‘buyer beware’. Even though we know and understand that advertising is there to ‘sell’ us; we still believe that what is being said is truth. A $5 million dollar payout when you generate $27 billion a year may be worth a few white lies. Modifying our food doesn’t just happen to our meat products. A huge amount of genetically engineered food has replaced the fruit, vegetable and grain crops of our grandparents’ day.

Who Owns Our Food? continued

Genetically engineered or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are created by taking genes from organisms such as bacteria, viruses or animals and inserting them into other, often unrelated, species. Unlike traditional breeding, genetic engineering creates new organisms that would never occur in nature. The term ‘genetically engineered (GE) food’ refers to any product containing or derived from GMOs. In Canada, up to 70 per cent of the processed foods found in grocery stores contain GE ingredients. The most common GE ingredients come from crops like corn, soy, canola and cotton. Biotechnology companies like Monsanto genetically engineer these crops to produce a pesticide or to withstand the application of herbicides. The number one producer of GMOs is Monsanto. You may have heard of them because of a Saskatchewan farmer named Percy Schmeiser from Bruno Sask. He was sued by Monsanto when some genetically modified Roundup Ready canola seeds blew onto his land and sprouted. Yes, the same people that make Roundup for killing weeds, created genetically modified, Roundup resistant canola. Monsanto sued Schmeiser for patent infringement and demanded payment for the wayward seeds! Schmeiser lost the first two court cases and then took it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada drawing international attention. The Court determined that Monsanto’s patent was valid, but Schmeiser was not forced to pay Monsanto anything as he did not profit from the presence of Roundup Ready canola in his fields. Schmeiser was never compensated for the damage caused to his field by the presence of the genetically engineered plants. It’s not just cotton and canola that are genetically modified. In 2006, a pig was engineered to produce omega-3 fatty acids through the expression of a roundworm gene. Strawberries and tomatoes have been genetically engineered with the natural anti-freeze of the arctic flounder to protect them from freezing. Modern science has discovered a way to create food that stores better, travels better, and

looks better. The downside is that it has created plants that need specialized care to survive, usually in the form of fertilizers, from the very same company that engineered them. So are GMO foods bad for us? The answers to that are as varied as the thousands of GMO foods out there. All genetically engineered crops contain bacterial DNA. This DNA contains a genetic element that stimulates the immune system to start a sequence of reactions leading to inflammation. Exposure to these genetic elements may lead to promotion of inflammation, arthritis and lymphoma (a malignant blood disease). The truth is that GMOs are a fairly new phenomenon and no long term testing has been done. Unfortunately, neither Canada nor the United States require genetically modified foods to be labeled as such. At least 35 other countries have adopted mandatory labeling for any product that has been genetically modified. The European Parliament passed laws in July 2003 on GMOs, lifting the seven-year ban on the introduction of new biotech products. Japan, Malaysia and Australia require proper labeling so con-

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Who Owns Our Food? continued

sumers can choose between foods that have been genetically modified, grown conventionally or have organic origins. Health Canada states that “the Government of Canada recognizes that for many Canadians, labeling of foods derived from biotechnology is an important issue of consumer preference or choice. Under a standards committee established by the Canadian General Standards Board, a Canadian standard for voluntary labeling of GE foods entitled Voluntary Labeling and Advertising of Foods that Are and Are Not Products of Genetic Engineering was developed to address non-health and safety labeling.” Despite our busy lives and our hectic schedules we need to make the time to educate ourselves on our food. The world has become more complex and with it – so have our food choices. The reality is that food monopolies exist, and the only way to have a voice in this is by voting with our wallets. Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to stop shopping at your local supermarket. Sure GMO foods aren’t labeled all the time, so look for labels that declare non-GMO. Let’s not forget organic foods. Our government is very strict in this department and does not allow manufacturers to label something 100% organic if that food has been genetically modified or been fed genetically modified feed.

Destination FOR THE Organic Gourmet THE

WorkingHorseWinery.com

Vegetables/ Herbs

Gourmet Kitchen Store

Winery

Farm

Vineyard Inn

1.877.448.5007 10

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Also, just because something is labeled organic does not mean that it does not contain GMOs. It can still contain up to 30% GMO so read the label to ensure is says 100% organic. This applies to eggs, as well. Eggs labeled as free range or natural are not by default unmodified; look for eggs that are 100% organic. Take a field trip to the supermarket and look at the labels on fruits and vegetables. If it is a 4-digit number, the food is conventionally produced. If it is a 5-digit number beginning with a 9, it is organic. If it is a 5-digit number beginning with an 8, it is genetically modified; however, do not trust that all GE foods will have a label identifying it as such, because labeling is optional. We may not visibly control how food is produced, modified, or distributed but we can do little things to make significant changes. Food prices are much higher in other countries because they reflect the true market value. Farmers who aren’t subsidized can barely eek out a living putting fresh produce on our tables. It’s time we realized the importance that conventional and organic farmers play in our lives. It’s up to us to decide if we are worth it.

ARTICLE

Feeling Better Yet? Safety and green thinking destroy agriculture in B.C. By Mischa Popoff

paradox has developed in the province’s food economy. The B.C. Liberals decided during their previous term to make B.C. the only jurisdiction in North America to squeeze small meat processors right out of existence. With

nowhere to process livestock for local sale many farmers abandoned the business. Last fall the NDP finally responded with a private member’s bill to allow local meat production. (We’ll get back to that shortly.) Both parties claim to be acting in the interest of the public but any farmer can tell you that the elimination of bureaucracy is the only solution. There was never evidence that meat from small farms and local abattoirs was less safe than meat from large farms processed in large facilities. But that didn’t stop Don Davidson, the B.C. Liberal’s point man on the so-called Meat Industry “Enhancement” Strategy, from accusing small farmers of routinely hauling sick or dead animals to their local abattoirs to be processed for human consumption. Davidson got away with making this slanderous accusation because he knew the people he was attacking on behalf of then Minister of Agriculture Pat Bell and Premier Gordon Campbell were ill-prepared to defend themselves. Family farmers and family-run abattoirs made an easy target. An expensive, top heavy inspection regime mirroring the one that fails to work in huge, federally inspected facilities (witness the 2008 listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf) was forced onto the backs of small B.C. meat-processors. The Liberals picked

a few winners across the province and handed them grants and low-interest loans so they could hire staff to keep up with paperwork and make hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars in renovations to their facilities, including offices and showers for their new federal-provincial inspectors. In spite of this generosity with your tax money, Liberals found they still faced enough of a backlash that they decided to launch workshops to underline the importance of “local food security,” the idea being that if there was some sort of disaster like a third-world war or if it turned out Al Gore was right and croplands dried up or were flooded out (whichever), then at least we’d still have some capacity to produce food locally. To sum up the story thus far, the B.C. Liberals destroyed local food production at the same time as they promoted it. In purely political terms I guess you could say it was brilliant. A good friend of mine, Pentictonite Michou Szabo, facilitated a series of these local, organic, food “security” workshops in the Okanagan on behalf of Interior Health. Again, a brilliant political move since the Ministry of Health had nothing to do with the destruction of local food production that was being carried out simultaneously over in the Ministry of Agriculture. In fact − and this is where the bureaucratic irony runs deeper than a coal mine and is twice as dirty − oversight of local meat production had for decades been handled through various provincial health authorities the same way health authorities ensure restaurants are clean and safe. But, citing cost-overruns, health authorities claimed they could no longer inspect the handful of meat processors in this province, which was just a tiny bit strange considering the MUCH larger number of restaurants they keep safe every day, along with daycares, swimming pools and drinking water systems.

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

Feeling Better Yet? continued

But no matter; keeping locally produced meat safe would no longer be the responsibility of the Department of Health, even though it clearly is a health issue. And yet, miraculously, bureaucrats over at Health managed to find the money to run the aforementioned workshops throughout the province on “local food security.” Feeling better yet? Well hold on: it gets better… (worse actually). I had occasion to ask my friend Szabo what measures Interior Health would take to ensure the local food they were promoting was indeed local and safe. Her answer was all-too typical: as long as local producers could show paperwork indicating their product was local, safe, and (the big money-maker) certified organic, that would be good enough. No surprise inspections, no tests, nothing but paperwork. Surprised? Just be grateful daycares, swimming pools and drinking water systems receive a bit more attention than this. And didn’t this all begin as an effort to improve food safety? You know, to stop us from eating carrion? So why were the Liberals so tough on local meat production but completely lackadaisical on local food production? Restaurants are always inspected on a surprise basis and are routinely tested; why not farms? Some cite the cost but certified organic growers, by way of example, already pay thousands of dollars in annual

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SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine

certification fees just for the privilege of filling out paperwork. One could be forgiven for concluding the Liberals were just preoccupied with optics in all of this, not results. Then last fall the NDP finally decided the whole “local food thing” was something they should get behind. That brings us to the NDP’s proposed private member’s bill which, instead of challenging the Liberals’ stratagem, proposes to work within it. The response to the NDP from Steve Thomson, our new Minister of Agriculture, is to point to all the money his party has thrown into the B.C. AgriTourism Alliance to promote local agriculture and food. Right… like tourism is going to save farming in this province. Thomson also touts the tax dollars his party has thrown behind such undertakings as Eat and Drink B.C., another waste of your taxes that won’t help farmers. But the height of absurdity is when he mentions the First Nations Agriculture Association, as if there was anything different between a native and a non-native farmer. Thomson, just like his predecessor at the helm of a ministry that’s supposed to help farmers, just can’t bring himself to do the one thing within his power that will help farmers in this province, regardless of their race – repeal his party’s punitive Meat Industry Regulations. And it seems the NDP can’t either. If one gang of bureaucrats bashes local food production while another props it up, and the Opposition stands idly by until they decide to get behind what remains of local food production just because it looks good, AND if all of this political and bureaucratic chicanery is carried out to the tune of hundreds of millions in tax dollars, you can rest assured that no matter how it plays out the only winner in the end will be the government. God help us all. This Democracy Mischa Popoff is a freelance political writer with a degree in history. He can be heard on Kelowna’s AM 1150 on Friday mornings between 9 and 10.

Epicurean Delight

COLUMN

Truffles

A delicacy in the Okanagan By Michelle Dennis

eople come to the Okanagan to experience a number of different activities.

Some come for the wine tours or fresh fruit, others come to soak up the warm sun as they perch themselves on the beach for the afternoon. This valley truly does have it all, from perfectly manicured golf courses to beautiful winery restaurants with breathtaking views. From specialty bakeries to lavender farms, this area offers an abundance of interesting discoveries which can make for some fabulous souvenirs or even take your dinner to a whole new level. Among wine, champagne and caviar, when we think of high end delicacies, truffles usually make our short list and they do come with a very hefty price tag. Topping out at a whopping $3000 per pound, we can expect that the best are coming directly from France. Well what if you could get some from right here in the Okanagan? In a few short years that will be a reality. France, Spain and Australia are perhaps best known for growing this Tuber. But thanks to a very select group of individuals, Canada with British Columbia in particular, will soon rise as a viable market for this product. With years of careful planning, dedication to hard work combined with a prime location, Quentin and Cathy Wyne have made it their mission to be the centre of excellence for the commercial truffle industry in Canada. Located in Lake Country, just north of Kelowna, their business is called Trufficulture and they’ve been in operation since 2003. Their property consists of 10 acres with just under half planted with

three different specialized trees inoculated with this fungus. The two inspiring entrepreneurs came up with their brilliant idea after researching our unique climate, which mirrors other truffle growing regions such as France and New Zealand. This area has proven to have the right mixture of moisture, humidity and degree days of sun needed to grow truffles with any success. Until their trees can produce truffles, Quentin and Cathy have been a priceless wealth of information to people who have purchased truffle trees for their own consumption. They even go as far as to hold truffle seminars, tours and workshops featuring food pairings, storing, cooking with and enjoying truffles at their location. “I love to share my knowledge and passion for this product”, says Cathy. As they wait for their beloved crop, Quentin and Cathy have kept extremely busy planning their entry into a new market. They have a detailed marketing plan that includes British Columbia wide distribution, teaming up with fine restaurants, local cheesemakers, oil and honey producers, fine food distributors and key people across Canada to help them sell this delicacy to the masses. They have also partnered up with the University of British Columbia and New World Truffieres to help support them through this exciting journey. At the moment, Trufficulture is still a great supplier for fine truffles, they do import up to 11 different varieties from all around the world with different kinds being available at different times of year. The black summer truffle is the most popular and sells out quickly so the best is to email them at info@trufficulture.ca Future plans include an area for retail sales at their location as well as all kinds of special events featuring celebrity chefs that can turn this rarely used delicacy into something spectacular. Tourists will soon get to add another reason to their list of why they should visit this popular region. This will truly help this valley command the attention it deserves.

SPRING/SUMMER 2010 • Field to PLATE magazine