haddon.peter

YOU ARE WHAT ….. You Buy?  Waste?  Grow?

You’re likely familiar with the old adage “you are what you eat”. The expression apparently originated with French lawyer Anthelme Brillat-Saarin in his 1826 writing Physiologie du Gout, or Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante. I suspect most of us however link the phrase to the popularization of nutrition. 1930’s American diet guru and  nutritionist Victor Lindlahr is credited with being the first to use the phrase in English linking what one eats to the state of one’s health.

Today, that connection between our food choices and our health now extends beyond you and me to the survival of the planet as we know it. Here’s what noted author, entrepreneur, and environmentalist Paul Hawken says about the power of food choices in his 2021 book Re-generation: Ending the climate crisis in one generation.

“What we eat and how it is produced has a profound impact on climate. When you drive a car, you know you are emitting greenhouse gases. (But did you know when you go grocery shopping…) in many cases, the bags of groceries in the backseat have a greater impact on climate than the car trip you are making to and from the store?

Recent studies show 34% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are caused by our food system… including food production, transportation, processing, packaging, storage, retail, consumption, and food waste.”  Imagine then the power we have in our day to day lives to reduce our GHG emissions simply by re-thinking what we eat. And re-determining where that food comes from!

“Localizing food – buying locally grown food or growing our own – may be the greatest single activity one can choose that encompasses such a range of goodness for life, health, water, children, and the planet,” writes Paul Hawken.

Hawken’s point is being embraced by both wanna-be and experienced fruit and veg gardeners right here in our own neighbourhood. This Spring QCHCA’s Climate Action group helped seed CHUFF – (Quadra) Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers – a group that meets one Sunday morning a month to tour each other’s gardens and share advice, experience, inspiration and yes even plants. Here’s what folks are saying so far – “I love getting into the backyards and visiting other people’s gardens.”  “Friendly group, not cliquey, knowledgeable.  “My food growing knowledge is expanding and so is my vegetable garden!”

Want to grow your own, or more of your own food? Reduce food waste and GHGs? Try CHUFF.

Next gathering Sunday 10 am to noon July 3^rd.  Topics: Self-sufficiency and rat control.

Contact shermorgan.hi@gmail.com for more information.

SOURCE: Re-generation. Ending the climate crisis in one generation. Paul Hawken. Penguin Books. 2021

How to accomplish all that in one act? Grow your own… food that is.

For the $3.69 you spend on a head of lettuce imported from California you could buy a packet of seed sufficient for you and your neighbour to be eating nutrient-rich lettuce from June to September.

Don’t have time? One positive outcome experienced by many families during our stay-close-to-home- Covid-summers was the choice to try growing a few vegetables. A phenomenon ensued! The primary B.C. producer of vegetable, fruit, flower and herb seeds sold out of many seeds. And, our children learned what fresh green beans really taste like. And, how fun they are to pick. And oh those tomatoes.

With our late Spring temperatures the soil is still cool enough to plant many of the early crops that are  gratifying to grow – peas, a myriad of lettuces and greens, then beans, squash, and yes tomatoes.

Don’t know how? Start small. Make it fun. And, if interested, join CHUFF – (Quadra) Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers – a growing group of both gonna-be and experienced food growers that formed just this Spring in your neighbourhood. CHUFF is a volunteer initiative of the Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association’s Climate Action Group. What are people saying? “A friendly bunch of people … lots of useful information… loved the chance to see someone else’s garden”.

We meet one Sunday morning a month in member’s gardens to share our experiences and our quandaries (like, controlling rats in the compost). Next gathering Sunday May 29. Topic:  Notes from a Small Garden. Vertical growing, programmable water system, hardscaping on the cheap. Contact shermorgan.hi@gmail.com for more information

Do you already grow food in your backyard? Would you like to start?   Join CHUFF – Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers is a growing group of folk who live within Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association’s boundaries (now including Swan Lake) who already grow their own food, or who want to start their own first garden, or who wish to support local, sustainable food producers.

Whether you have a backyard chockablock with beds for vegetables and fruit trees, [Read more…] about Growing Good Food in Your Backyard