Norkfolk County Farm Tour Day

Who:       Food writers, dieticians and home economists
What:      Ontario Agriculture Week Farm Tour
Where:    Norfolk County, Simcoe
When:     October 8, 2015
Why:       Tour 3 Ontario Farms for Ontario Agriculture Week and #loveONTfood 

I spent a glorious sunny fall day in the country this week visiting 3 Ontario Farms thanks to the partnership between Farm & Food Care Ontario and Foodland Ontario and the generosity of local farmers.

This is an event scheduled to coincide with Ontario Agriculture Week October 5 to 11, 2015.

Ambrosia apples from Schuyler Farms

 I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go because we had to meet up to board a couple of buses in an Oakville carpool parking lot,  but thanks to the great organization by Jennifer MacKenzie from Farm & Food Care, who arranged carpools for me and a few others to be able to get to Oakville and back I was able to do the tour.  I was also fighting a cold and hoped that it wouldn't get in the way.  I think the fresh farm air helped a bit.

We arrived at about 8am and there was a table set up in the parking lot with muffins, scones, apples and tea and coffee.  Then we boarded the buses and departed for our 3 farm tour.

We toured Berlo's Best, Bonnieheath Estate Lavender & Winery and Schuyler Farms Ltd.

Berlo's Best Farm

Peter Van Berlo & son 

The first farm was Berlo's Best which is the largest sweet potato grower in Canada. Their new facility was built in 2006.  They harvest, store, cure and pack all of their own sweet potatoes and provide over 10,000,000 lbs of potatoes annually.  It is owned by Peter Van Berlo Sr. who operates it with his 2 sons.  They own 1800 acres and employ 100 workers.  Growing sweet potatoes was a learning process and along the way they designed and built their own specialized equipment to do the job of harvesting better so that they could make it easier to harvest quickly without injuring their workers.  They decided to grow sweet potatoes because the tobacco crops started going down and they didn't want to step on any other farmers toes in producing the same crops.  I would say they made the right decision and sweet potatoes is a lot better for people than tobacco is anytime.  They also grow Ginseng and about 80% is exported to China.

Bonnieheath Estate 

We boarded the bus again and headed over to Bonnieheath Estate Lavender & Winery for a tour and for lunch.  Owned by husband and wife team Steve and Anita Buehner since 1990.  Also affected by the shrinking tobacco market in 2006 the farm owners decided to diversify and they developed a well rounded business to weather some of the seasonal inconsistencies of owning a farm.  They grown Lavender and sell Lavender products in a little shop in their Winery. They also grown grapes, apples and grains and have their own wines that they sell on site.  On the day we visited it was Steve and Anita's Anniversary as well as Steve's Birthday so I would say we were there for his Birthday lunch which was excellent. The lunch was catered by The Combine.

Bonnieheath Lunch

Our delicious local lunch Menu:

Welcome:

• Warm Norfolk Apple Cider spiked with Maple Vodka
• Grasslands meats longhorn beef Corndog Bites with grainy mustard and smoked tomato ketchup
• Sprouts for Life Kale Cups, black kale, radish, fennel, black peanuts with Pristine gourmet dressing

Lunch

• Norfolk Caprese Salad with Sovereign Farm heirloom tomatoes, Pristine gourmet olive oil and Fior de latte
• Local pickles, asparagus, cauliflower and garlic scapes
• Housemade Focaccia served with Pristine gourmet oil and vinegar

• Grilled Y U Ranch Longhorn Beef with Burning Kiln Winery jus
• Caja China Leg of Lamb from Schuyler Farms with stuffing and lavender jus
• Berlo's sweet potato casserole with Jensen cheddar and toasted Ontario pecans
• Warm Spiced Norfolk golden beets

Dessert

• Bonnieheath lavender beignet, salted chocolate dipped beignet with lavender pastry cream

Everything was fantastic, I think my favourite things were the sweet potato casserole and the tender beef and of course the beignet hit the dessert sweet spot.

Schuyler Farms

Brett Schuyler

The last stop was Schuyler Farms Ltd.. Also family owned and run and we were hosted by newly married couple Brett and Carrie Schuyler.  It's Brett and his whole family that owns and takes care of all of the aspects of the Sheep, Apple, Cherry and Grain crops. The farm is over 150 years old and they have about 3000 acres. It has also gone through modifications and modernizations.  They employ 100 seasonal workers and 6 full time workers.  They are very concerned with sustainable practices and use about 2,000 to 3,000 tons of compost.  Their Sheep live in an open field and are protected by an electric fence and 2 well trained guard dogs that live outside with the sheep.  They are bread for this job and their thick coats allow them to be outside in the winter.  They have another Irish dog named Dell that lives with Carrie a certified Sheep Herder who works with Dell to round up all the sheep.  It's an amazing sight to see them in action. 

We learned so much about all of the individual farmers practices and how they had to adapt to the challenging farm market by creating new equipment or extending retail products to their operations or just rotating different crops.  The Ginseng for example can't be replanted in the same spot after harvesting it.

Farming is difficult work and there are no guarantees that the weather will cooperate and a crop will be successful.  It's a calculated gamble for some farmers that have had to be smart to stay afloat.

We were given so much information that if I wrote about all of it in this post you wouldn't be able to read it all.  I encourage you to think about doing a Farm tour if you are able to and meet the farmers and see how your food is grown and processed and thank them for what they do.  Without them you would sit down to your dinner table with nothing on it.

Think about eating Local this week and as much as you can year round.  It's a good thing for you, it's a good thing for the local economy and it's a great thing for the environment.
I picked up a bag of Berlo's Best sweet potatoes and I have one roasting for my dinner right now and it smells fantastic. They are sold to Sobeys and also small bags at FreshCo so see if you can find some.

For more information:

Berlo's Best Sweet Potatoes  www.berlosbest.com
Bonnieheath Estate Lavender & Winery  www.bonnieheathestate.com
Schuyler Farms Ltd.   www.schuylerfarms.ca
Foodland Ontario www.foodland.gov.on.ca/english
Farm & Food Care Ontario www.farmfoodcare.org

To see more photos from our farm day tour on twitter and instagram check out #loveONTfood

Disclaimer*  The tour and lunch were complimentary but all photos and opinions are my own.

Berlo's Best sweet potatoes

Lovin Local at Yonge Dundas Square

           Who:        Live green Toronto
           What:       Lovin Local Food Fest
           Where:    Yonge Dundas Square
           When:     August 8, 2015
           Why:       To showcase local food & music
           Hashtag:  #lovinlocal
           Website:  www.toronto.ca

I have gone to the Live Green Festival a few times over the years but this year Livegreen Toronto added the Lovin Local Food Fest to the mix with a 1 day festival at Yonge and Dundas Square.  I went down to check it out and got there just in time to see my fav local Chef Lynn Crawford finishing her local food demo on the main stage.  She is always fun to watch because she really engages the audience.





I was planning on sticking around to see the Spoons.. .yes a band from the 80's that I once did makeup for on a video shoot back in the day.  But I went down there at about 1:30 and pretty much checked out the whole festival in about an hour so I was getting tired of waiting around so I left.  If I lived closer I would probably just go back for the Spoons.  Jully Black is also playing a bit later than the Spoons but I am old and have things to do like write this blog so I skipped out.

But you never know what you might find at these street festivals so while I was wandering around and checking out the food vendors I was listening to the artist that was on after Lynn Crawford and then all of a sudden this guy really caught my attention.  I never heard of him before but this guy had loads of energy and was all over the stage and really rockin the stage.  I still don't know who he is but now I know his name at least,  it's Eric Zayne.  I would suggest that you keep an eye out for this guy because I have a feeling he will pop up and get some attention.

As for the Food Portion.   I waiting in the smokey big green egg lineup to get a Steak Sandwich from Bespoke Butchers for $6.  The steak was good but I really wish the bun was toasted or a bit fresher.  It was a bit dry so it took away from the juicy steak a bit.   I also tried 2 pakoras from Bindia for $2.  A nice little snack with tamarind sauce on top.  I picked up 2 cookies from Brad Long's Cafe Belong booth for $3.  I got one double chocolate and one chocolate chip.  I just ate those and they were delicious, especially the double chocolate one.  I also picked up a bacon and cheese Scone which I have't tried yet.  It was $3 from Marche 59.  I never heard of them before so I don't know anything about them but they had a nice selection of baked goods that included muffins and quiches.

There was a huge amount of corn from the corn roaster guys but I am sure they won't go through that much corn in one day.   I don't know how well attended this festival will be because everyone seems to be either doing Parapanam stuff or going to the Taste of the Danforth.  It wasn't very busy when I was there but I picked the busiest lineup for food of course.  Anything where there smoke there is usually a crowd of people.  There was lots of things for the kids to do at this small festival and I even got in on the dress up selfie pics for a bit of fun.

I always like to support local vendors and Canadian artists so I like to showcase these types of events as much as I can.  I hope you read this and have time to drop down there before the end of the night but if not I hope you look out for more of these kinds of festivals in the future.

#lovinlocal  is put on by the City of Toronto but too bad it got a bit overshadowed this weekend.

For more information:   City of Toronto website 

The Good & Bad of Toronto Summer Farmer's Markets

FARMER'S MARKETS

I have a love / hate thing going on with some of Toronto's summer farmer's markets lately.

While I believe in Farmer's Markets and buying local and supporting our farmers I have been frustrated by a few of our local Toronto Markets.

Why?

I have been trying to go to as many different markets around town as I can over the past couple of years to see what the different ones offer and to see what different markets happen on different days.

While I haven't gone to all of the Toronto Markets I have gone to a lot of them.

Let's start with the GOOD.

1. I love to wander around a market and see new things and new vendors different markets.  A lot of the small vendors come from either storefronts our are working their way towards brick and mortar shops and restaurants.   I love to support that.

2.  It's so nice to shop at an outdoor market on a bright and beautiful sunny day and get some much needed fresh air.

3.  It's great to see who is getting your money as the money you pay generally goes to pay the farmer or vendor or the person you are giving your money to as apposed to a long chain of people.

4.  Supporting farmer's and small vendors grows the economy in the city as they are able to directly spend it back into our economy or invest in the future of their businesses.

5.  Generally no line ups.   Not always.. I have lined up for a fish taco or something like that on occasion, but generally you can pick up stuff fairly quickly without going through a football field of processed foods.

6.  Generally No processed foods, although some things creep in when it's prepared food that is sold.  But if you are buying straight fruits & vegetables there isn't a processing plant dumping more stabilizing chemicals into the food.

7.  You can get away with a lot less wasted packaging.  Things aren't shrink wrapped and triple wrapped.  If you buy potatoes you still get a plastic bag if you need one but that's it.  It's not a container in a bag in another bag.

 And now the BAD.

1.  Recently I went to the Leslieville Farmer's Market which I love.  It's a great sunday market with music and stuff for kids.  Lot's of local shop vendors and a great variety.  Very high quality food.  Sounds good right?  Yup it was great until I got back to my car and got a $40 parking ticket after I just spent $80 on all the vendors at the Market.   As I was lifting off my ticket from my windshield I saw the  parking officer stopped with a man speaking to the driver.  My friend and I walked over to complain and found the gentleman was already doing a good job of complaining for us.   The parking officer was doing everything to get away from us before more people surrounded the car.   The man was very angry and called the parking office right away and complained and then gave the number to my friend who also called and got a lady on the phone that said she had already received a lot of calls from the market.  She told my friend to call back the next day.  She couldn't do anything.  I should point out that there wasn't a sign on the street and the market is at a little park off of Eastern Ave.   There isn't a lot of public parking there.   I had gone to that market before as it's near where my friend lives.  I parked in about the same spot as I had done previously when I didn't get a parking ticket.   So why did I get one this time?  My friend was more angry than I was and she called the next day to see if she could get the ticket cancelled.  She was just told that it had to go through the court process.   Talk about a waste of taxpayers time and money.  Come on people.   What's wrong with this city?   The other man that got a ticket said that he came from North York as I did specifically to go to that market.  It's a lovely way to spend a sunday afternoon but the cities greedy ticketing ruined the experience.   Why would I want to go there again and spend money and then drop another $40 on a parking ticket and the added hassle?   The people that lose are the vendors who aren't making a wad of money and people like myself who like to support them and have a nice time at the same time.  Ok that was a big one.  On to the next bad thing.

2.  I picked up some fruit at another market closer to home the other day and went to wash the fruit and pulled off one of those supermarket stickers.   In case you didn't know about the codes on those stickers; anything that starts with a 9 is organic and anything with a 4 is conventional.   Ok.. so here's what got me upset.  I am willing to pay more if it comes directly from a farmer and it's Organic.   But when it's just conventional fruit that I can get at a supermarket for less money then what's the incentive other than a sunny day to go out of my way to a farmer's market.   My closest grocery store is a loblaws that is a 5 minute drive away from my house and I can walk to a small Asian Market around the corner.

How would I know if it was just a vendor that went to the Food Terminal and just picked up a case of fruits and vegetables from who knows where around the world.   I go to the markets because I am looking to support local and keep the fruits and vegetables off of the trucks driving down the highways for miles and miles or getting shipped days in advance on planes etc.

3.  Let's go back to the parking.  A lot of the markets around town don't have anywhere that you can park.  They are assuming everyone that shops at the market is within walking distance.   Well what if you are shopping for a family of more than 4 people?  Can you carry a watermelon, potatoes, apples, tomatoes etc home on a bike or walking a distance?  No I think not.   I can walk to the thursday farmer's market in North York but I can't buy more than 2 bags of things because I have to walk it back blocks to get home and it gets too heavy to carry.  

4.  Let's talk about the hours.  The farmer's market hours are all over the place.  Some start at 8am and go until 2pm..  some start at 3pm and end at 7pm...  there's one I would like to go to on saturday but it starts at 8am and ends at noon and would take me at least 45 min to get there and there isn't much parking so unless I leave my house at 7am it's not worth going there.

5.  What's available.   You can't control the weather so the one factor in going to the markets that wastes a lot of time is the fact that if the weather is bad some vendors don't go to the market or they go to other markets on other days.  If the seasonal weather is bad then it's unpredictable what you will find at the market.  It's tough to shop for what you want to make if you can't find the ingredients you need.  I understand this but I have had to go to multiple markets to get the things I need because they either don't have a vendor that sells lettuce or whatever or they have sold out.  Then I have to go to a grocery store after all of that to get my missing ingredients, defeating the whole purpose.

6.  Buying market foods don't last as long as supermarket foods which is probably a good thing because that means they are more natural products but it's bad because unless you run home and start cooking you don't get much shelf life before they rot as most are picked at the ripest point.  I have had to throw out a few batches of strawberries and cucumbers etc before I was able to use them up.  That's bad.  

7.  Getting to the markets in Toronto.  It's becoming like an obstacle course or something from Amazing Race to get to a farmer's market in Toronto with all the constructions and street festivals and charity runs around town.  You can't bike there, you can't drive there so unless you live across the street be prepared to waste a whole lot of time getting there.

Ok.. so that's my list.  It seems as though the Good and the Bad are pretty evenly divided.   So you have to make your own decision as to where you are going to shop this summer.  I will continue to explore the markets in search of a market that has more good than bad reasons to give them my money.

Here's my pick of some of my favourite markets.

1. Leslieville - if you can bike or walk there it's a great market.

2. Brickworks is really nice but it's a pain to get there.

3. St. Lawrence Market has that saturday market feel with regular vendors and the option to go to north and south buildings and get all kinds of things.

4. East Lynn Market is a lovely compact little market with parking available and really great produce vendors.

5.  St. Jacob's is the ultimate Farmer's Market and worth the drive to Elmira/Kitchener area and there is parking.  Lot's of mennonite farmer's selling straight from their farms nearby.

You can get a list of the markets from the Toronto Farmer's Markets website.

Looking for Local food at the Green Living Show

Denise Livotti owner of Petits Chefs Academy in Vaughan and I visit the Green Living Show at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto to chat with Agatha Podgorski of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance about supporting local farmers and chefs from all over Ontario.

Agatha and Denise

 Foodland Ontario presented the Culinary Adventure Pavillion section at the Green Living Show  this year.

"The Ontario Culinary Adventure Pavilion raises awareness of the environmental and health benefits of choosing fresh, sustainable and local farm foods all year round, and showcases Ontario’s unique culinary tourism industry".

I wanted to connect food and being green and how the 2 things are in sync.

Denise and I tried some of the food that was presented at the show and found it all very delicious.

There were also lots of teas, hot sauces and other various food samples at the show to try.

Perch Tacos from Hooked

Bacon buttertarts by Madelyn's Diner

Porchetta sandwiches from Niagara Speciality Foods

Orange soda braised turkey on a bun from Port Restaurant

Chocolate from Chocosol

One booth that I really liked was the TerraCycle booth where they had rows of plastic containers containing things that can't normally get recycled but they have set up a service for consumers to send a box of specific items to them free of charge and they recycle them into products like bags etc.  All of those juice boxes and shampoo bottles can have a second life now and not sit in landfills that are ever mounting around the globe.  

I enjoy going to the show to see new and innovative products that combine great design and a practical approach to making things better in the future.

The Locavore at Riverdale Farms

The Locavore Sarah Elton chats at Riverdale Farms.

This week I combined my exploring farmer's markets for this blog with my Directing job of working on the Documentary Eco Losers.

I met up with the Locavore author Sarah Elton at Riverdale Farms this week to discuss her book and how it relates to helping the Eco Losers Family with their year long challenge to change their lifestyle.

Sarah talked about how she looks forward to things being in season and thinks it makes food more special to only have it when it is at it's peak of freshness. She stressed that the reason she prefers to be a locavore is because the food tastes so much better.

She decided to start thinking about where her food comes from when one of her children came home with a shrink wrapped cookie that was made in China.  She decided it was time to investigate where the food her family was eating was coming from.   In an effort to be socially responsible and feed her children the best possible food they can have access to.   It changed her whole way of life and sparked the book The Locavore.   Sarah is a journalist who has gone on her own personal journey to make better choices.

We did our interview in front of an area where there were cows relaxing in a fenced in area of the Farm.  I swear one cow was very interested in our conversation as the cow just watched our every move.  If you think about cows having intelligence then I think you would think of how you eat a bit differently.

After we wrapped our interview we both picked up some local food from the Farmer's Market at Riverdale Farms.

On a side note.  It took me about a half an hour to head down to the market by car to meet with Sarah but it took over 45 minutes sitting in gridlock on the Don Valley Parkway at 4pm to get back home.    Reinforcing my thoughts on shopping local and being able to support local communities.   Sarah had the luxury of living near the market but unfortunately I didn't.   But it did make me think about food transport and how many trucks there are on the highways these days.  And while I was sweating sitting in my car on in the hot afternoon rush hour sun it made me think about how the weather around the world has changed dramatically and how governments aren't acknowledging that there has been a shift in the world.

Pick up Sarah's book and if you can make some changes in the way you buy your food and influence more people to do that then maybe we can encourage grocery stores to buy products that come from shorter distances instead of Asparagus from the U.S.  maybe it can come from a farm in Ontario.   Just a thought.