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DEVOUR! The Food Film Fest

Do you attend any of the events or workshops, films, or amazing meals? There is such a dizzying array of things available during the 6 days of Devour! that there is literally something for everyone. Over and above the mind blowing meals I’ve enjoyed and thought provoking films that I’ve seen over the years, I’ve also learned how to properly butcher a fresh rabbit, to make bread, to pickle & preserve non-traditional ingredients, and been shown how make cheese, and mix a perfect whiskey. Do you love wine? Devour has you covered. Are sustainable farming practices important to you? Check! What about silly food films to make you laugh, or others so stark and bare and truthful that they make you cry? Yep. It’s there.

Josh, Patricia, Izaak, Lily & Frank have been huge supporters of Devour! for as long as I’ve known them. Besides providing local & visiting chefs with their gorgeous organic vegetables, they also make it a priority to take in as many food films as time will allow. Given the massive span of film topics, it can certainly be an emotionally draining week. i know that I have walked out of the Al Whittle theater on more than one occasion during Devour! with my heart either broken or hopeful, and tears glittering on my cheeks.

With both ticketed and free events taking place all over Wolfville, as well as Windsor and Kentville, I hope some of you have a chance to take some of it in. Even just a walk through the ever lovely Wolfville during Devour! is something special. Every nook and cranny seems filled with clusters of people discussing film or food or workshops, and the town sparkles with such a delicious excitement. You also never know who you’ll meet. I’ve chatted hot sauce with Chuck Hughes, talked farming with Bill Pullman, had drinks with Paul Virant & Jean Joho, shared a bus seat with Lucy Waverman, ate oysters with Bob Blumer, snapped a pic with the legendary Jacques Pepin, and shook the hand of the the late, great, Anthony Bourdain.

So…….. That’s my “Food Thought” for this week. If you have the chance to soak up any of the goodness of Devour! (Oct 22-27) DO IT! You can check out all of the events online or in the printed program, and they’re also very active on social media. When it comes to films about food, farming, sustainability or small scale artisans, there is no better encyclopedia then Devour!

See ya there!

Kim

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So how do we reduce single use plastic in our vegetable production? It’s front and center in the minds of most producers in the valley (that, and the incredibly wet and cold spring we just made it through) This problem is bigger than simply clearing out our shelves of a couple hundred U-Line 5 lbs plastic bags, and it’s more than switching to paper, or bulk sections in grocers and farm markets. Changing producer and consumer habits is an up hill climb, I’m talking a steep climb, way higher then trecking up the North Mountain to get to Halls Harbour…

What exactly is the problem?

Our climate is changing, not warming, changing. Weather patterns, sea levels and soil infrastructure around the world are shifting. People have decided to rally around eradicating plastics as small means of helping mitigate our collective impact on our environment. Single use plastics surround us and it feels like there has been a conscious awakening to reduce petroleum based, thin shiny bags, and wraps. More than 40% of the plastic we use is single use, and only 5 % of plastic we throw away is recycled. Since 1950 (when the use of plastics really took off) we have created roughly 9.2 billion tons of plastic and a whomping 6.3 billion tons has never made it to the recycling bin (Laura Parker, National Geographic June 2018). Our plastic world, causes an array of problems. From releasing micro doses of toxins into the environment, to not being able to break down and simple accumulating as mass amount of garbage all around us. It is ending up in our water ways, in our soils, on our roadsides and in small ways in our bodies. Efforts to address plastics are already underway with the June 2018 commitment to the Ocean Plastics Charter. The charter included commitments to work with industry to achieve significant reduction and recyclable goals by 2030/40.

Goals for 2030 – 2040 are too far in the future to feel tangible. At TapRoot we work hard to grow food that is good for our bodies and our planet in hopes that we both may be prosperous into the future. It is important for us to also make sure that when we send our produce out into the world, we do so in a way that does not contradict these morals. Right now, yes, we sell some of our produce in plastic. And now that needs, (and I can’t stress enough NEEDS) to change.

What are we doing?

Right now the majority of produce that we sell wholesale goes out in plastic. This happens for two reasons. Plastic holds th integrity of the food. Once the produce leaves our farm, it is out of our hands, we don’t have the ability to oversee how it looks and how it holds up on a grocers shelf. Things like overwintered root vegetables or spinach and salad mix, will quickly go soft if they are left out in the open air. Plastic hold the moisture into the plant, allowing it to stay “fresh” before it makes it into your home. Second, plastic helps in lowering the risk of bacteria forming on our produce, making it unsafe to eat. Things like E. coli can for on leafy greens if they are exposed to humid warm temperatures allowing the bacteria to flourish. Having that plastic bearier helps to hod off the spread of bacteria.

Those two points are always on our mind, how do we keep out produce looking and tasty good and safe, while we work to be-rid plastic. With our CSA members we made a promise to get rid of plastic. This was an easier step for us as the produce is picked, boxes and sent out to members the next day, we make sure everything stays crisp and fresh between our hands and theirs, it’s a quick transfer.

We have been using paper bags and pieced of linen to package items in our CSA. Members have learnt that once they receive their greens in paper bags, they must be transferred to containers once put into their refrigerators to make sure greens don’t wilt! Our second action (so far) in reducing plastic is to sell bulk greens at the Noggins Corner Farm Market in Greenwich. Bulk greens are put out and monitored daily, we take on some loss, but us loosing some leafy greens for the sake of reducing plastic is worth it. There are paper bags, or of course bring your own bags to use for these bulk sections.

And that is where we are at. Two small steps, but steps non the less. As we work through these consumer struggles together, please let us know if you see or know of great alternatives to packaging in plastic. We will continue to increase our bulk options, as the uptake for bulk increases. Together we can change our habitual consumption around plastic items. If you see available bulk items and you are keen let us know, share the excitement. We are all in this together, that is motivation enough.

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INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

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I’ve said many times before that I’m no baker by any stretch of the imagination, however, this one is so easy that even I can make it happen. Because we get such beautiful bags of frozen local cranberries in our shares every now & then, this is the perfect way to use them, any time of year. I especially love them before the next season harvest is ready because they’re like a little punch of sunshine in your mouth.

Cranberry Muffins

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup orange juice (or lemon)
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 cup chopped cranberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 & if not using a non stick muffin pan or muffin liners, lightly grease with oil. mix together all dry ingredients & set aside. Mix together eggs, orange juice & oil & add to dry ingredients. Mix just enough to incorporate wet into dry and then fold in cranberries.bake for 22 minutes or until golden brown.

Top these off with some homemade jam or a swipe of butter when they’re fresh out of the oven. They also freeze very well, so I tend to double batch so that I can pull them out for lunches as needed.

Enjoy your muffins & I’ll see you next week!

Kim

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Let’s take a critical look at the age old saying, “You are what you eat!” This statement stands true weather you’re a human being, a chicken or an earthworm! The things we put into our bodies have an effect on us, physically and mentally. And with us human beings at top of our food chain we have the privilege of access to lots of different foods that influence our well being. Plants, fungi, animals, and water are all part of our varying diets, and all of these foods have intakes and diets of their own to help them grow, just as we use them to eventually help us grow.

It’s important to recognize where our food is coming from. If that piece of spinach we are eating was grown in a poor soil environment, and it needed a lot of human inputs ie. fertilizer, pesticides and fungicides to grow. It will not be able to give your body the full spectrum of nutrience a green is capable of. This is simply because the the beginning of it’s food chain was not able to supply the amount of nutrience that spinach needed to grow. Let’s compare that, to a piece of spinach that was able to use the healthy bacteria and readily available nutrience in a healthy soil environment. Plants and animals that grow in healthy nutrient rich environments are able to supply our bodies with more energy and vitamins. They too need to live healthy lives so that when their energy is finally passed onto us, it is done in the most clean and healthy form possible. If you are eating plants or animals fed foods that you yourself would not consider safe for consumption, what is the point in consuming that animal, “you are what you eat” right?

Why We Raise Animals

Soil resilience and soil health are incredible important to vegetable farmers. As organic producers it is  fundamental for us to  raise our animals on pasture. As farmer Josh says, “The animals at TapRoot Farms are on pasture because that’s where animals need to be, on the soil!” It is not only fair to the animals to be able to live healthy lives but “It’s very beneficial to the soil to have the animals eating, and foraging on the grass. There is a symbiotic relationship between animals and soil and the biology. On our farm the animals are a big part of recycling the nutrients in our fields. They eat the grass and ruminate, and if they are not ruminating animals, their food passes through and essential nutrients from their digestive systems comes out the other end more available for the grass or the vegetables to grow!” We are proud that eating our meat benefits our bodies as much as it benefits our farms resilience and soil building. 

The Costs of Raising Pastured Animals

Having our pigs and cows out on pasture, and our chickens, running free range on the farm, are some of the ways we ensure resilience. We supplement our animals grass and vegetable scrap diets with NON GMO grain, and soy based feed from Purina. Sourcing non GMO grain is extremely important to us. Josh says, “we aren’t really sure about the health risk to the animals (when using GMO seeds), and so we avoid the potential risk.” And in terms of using GMO seeds or grains, “we don’t like that the GMO seeds are patented. They are basically Frankenstein seeds. You can’t reuse them and we like the practice of seed saving, and the continued use of seeds!”

Raising our animals in this way means that when we bring our meat to market it has a comparably higher price point. But raising happy animals with healthy diets also means our meat has high nutritional value, flavour and provides buyers with a more holistic understanding of their meat. “There is really no other way we would farm, we are animals lovers, we are omnivores and we enjoy eating meat, especially when we know were it comes from and how it was raised” Says Josh.  You can find our pasture raised, non GMO meat in the Freezer at Noggins Corner Farm Markets, offered as a share in our weekly CSA and soon in the cafeteria at Acadia University. 

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