Hello Farm Folk,
It’s hard to believe…The Cutting Veg was launched ten years ago. It’s been an incredibly full and rewarding decade, highlighted by the remarkable community involvement throughout. Whether you’ve been an on-farm volunteer or intern, a participant in the Global Garlic Project, helped with our condo community gardens, received our produce through our farmers’ markets, attended our workshops, or simply enjoyed reading our newsletter, your contribution to our community farm has been invaluable. Over the past ten years, here are a few of the things we have accomplished together:
- Grown 365,000 bulbs of garlic and helped thousands of gardeners and farmers to get started with their own garlic crops.
- Ran a Community Supported Agriculture program for 4 years that grew to over 350 families per year.
- Harvested and distributed thousands of pounds of organic produce annually
- Trained 50+ farming interns and countless volunteers, many of whom went onto start their own farms, and/or to work in the local food movement.
- Worked with approximately a dozen condo communities in the GTA to launch organic condo community gardens.
- Led numerous workshops on organic gardening, preserving the harvest, composting, etc.
- Cultivated personal, social, environmental, and economic health through organic agriculture.
So, how are we celebrating our ten year anniversary? We’re getting back to work! We’ve made great progress in the food movement over the past ten years, but there is so much more to be done. Here are some reminders of how we can all continue to contribute to the development of a healthy food system:
- Cook with whole foods and eat eight-to-ten servings of fresh produce daily.
- Grow food organically — in your home garden, at a community garden, or by helping out at a local farm.
- Compost your food scraps.
- Preserve some of the local harvest through canning, drying, freezing, and storing.
- Start your own garlic crop.
- Source your sustainable produce food at local farmers’ markets.
- Sit down regularly to eat home cooked meals with friends and family.
- Get involved in a community garden, kitchen or local student nutrition program.
- Get kids involved with all of the above.
Happy Ten Year Anniversary Everybody. Now, Get Back to Work!
And Keep Livin’ on the Veg!
Daniel
P.S. New garlic varieties becoming available this summer: Tibetan, Cuban, and Argentinean!
