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Who says places dedicated to history can’t make money and get attention in new ways? Black Creek Pioneer Village is a site that interprets daily life in Upper Canada as lived the early 1800s. It recently unveiled its new Black Creek Historic Brewery. Historically accurate to 19th Century methods, the on-site brewery uses ingredients from the site. They are making the beer using historical methods (that means no electricity, folks!), and selling that beer on site in its restaurant, the Black Creek Historic Brewery Restaurant and Pub. You can buy beer in bottles called “growlers” (see above) that are returnable, so the beers have green cred in more ways than one.

I think it’s great that Black Creek Pioneer Village has found a way to marry sustainable products and local job creation in a way that will help them create better awareness of the Village itself. Well done! The organization is also brewing their ales and porters offsite (under the supervision of the same Brewmaster) in bigger batches to sell across Ontario through the LCBO.

They are making Black Creek Dark Ale, Pale Ale, Porter and India Pale Ale. Plans for brewing an Amber Ale, Stout, Brilliant (I don’t know what that is but it sounds worth trying!) and Barley Wine (9% alcohol) and Mild (3% alcohol) on site are in the works. The beers are made with water, malted barley or other grains, hops and yeast. Hops serve as a preservative; no artificial preservatives are added.

According to historians at Black Creek Pioneer Village, “In pioneer times malt liquors were seen as a wholesome part of a healthy diet. With doctors few and far between, special brews were created with herbs and used as medicine. Beer was often safer than the local water and it was a part of any social gathering, whether at one of the many local taverns, or a barn raising. Every British soldier received beer, or beer money, as a part of his daily rations. ...at its height, there were over 300 breweries in 130 towns across Ontario.”

Here are a few lovely photos of the beer is made. It’s worth a visit – to see how it’s done, and don’t forget – pick up a few growlers to see how the beers taste!

The "Halfway House" where the beer is made

Beer is fermented in wooden kegs (of course!)

Making the beer

Black Creek Pioneer Village Porter, as sold at the LCBO

I’m lucky to have the best mom in the world. Maybe you feel that way about your mom too. Sweet and fun and caring, moms give so much to so many. It’s great that there’s a day designed to recognize all they do. But how can you make mom feel special without having a negative impact on the earth? Here are seven ideas for green mother’s day gifts.

1. How about seeds – or even seedlings – for heirloom vegetables. Try these heirloom beet ideas from Canadian Gardening. Look for more veggie seeds from canadian companies, such as Cubits Organics.

2. Make her some scones from a heritage flour, such as Red Fife wheat. You might find this at your local farmers’ market, health food store or other shop specializing in artisanal goods.

3. Create an online photo album of pictures from the past and present and invite other family members – and your mom – to contribute to it. Tools such as this one are paid but your albums are private and ad-free.

4. Lavish her with Canadian-grown lavender, in one of its many fabulous forms. From teas to aromatherapy products to soaps and balms, lavender offers a wonderful natural scent. (And taste – I love lavender ice cream!)

5. Giver her music. Music is a wonderful gift, whether it’s being introduced to new music, having the opportunity to hear music live or even trying to make a little yourself. Give mom music in whatever form she’ll enjoy most – a playlist, a CD, orchestra tickets or even voice lessons!

6. Chocolate. You might get in trouble if you don’t offer your mom chocolate! To make your chocolate selection lighter on the earth, look for fair trade, organic chocolate. I like the chocolate that Equita and Camino have to offer. Some chocolatiers are quite skilled at mixing and matching chocolate with other flavours, making for a veritable chocolate-noshing adventure.

7. Giver her time. In our December/January issue of Homemakers, one reader described how her daughter hosted a monthly lunch, not just for her but for several of her mother’s friends as well. The enthusiastic group have continued on the tradition as a potluck lunch.

I hope this list gives you some ideas for thoughtful mother’s day gifts. One thing about moms is it’s hard to know if they really like your gift or if they just really appreciate that you thought of them!

What gifts has your mom appreciated?

Thinking about a holiday in Canada right now? Well in most places it’s too warm for winter sports like skiiing, yet too cold for casual hiking and strolling about town. But it’s just right for a trip to the sugarbush. The sap runs in late March to the middle of April, as daytime temperatures crack the freezing point and the sun shines longer in the day. If you’re a fan of maple syrup, maple sugar or maple taffy, this is your time to get as sappy as you want about one of our country’s great heritage foods!

Maple syrup typically comes from two of the seven common types of maple trees: the aptly named sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) and black maple (Acer saccharinum L.).

As this video shows, maple syrup production is not only a sustainable activity that gives us a reason to conserve forests, it’s a way for people to connect with the landscape and it has lots of ecotourism potential as well.

Here are a few Canadian maple sugar festivals coming up. Just post a comment if know if you know of another one.

- Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festval at Bruce’s Mill, Ont., March 5 to April 10
- St-Pierre-Jolys Sugaring Off Festival, Manitoba. April 16-17
- Bronte Creek Provincial Park maple syrup festival, weekends in March
- Elmvale Maple Syrup Festival, April 16

- Proulx Berry Farm near Ottawa has sugarbush events on until April 25.

- Visit Sugar Moon Farm in Nova Scotia on weekends and you could catch their spectacular brunch.
- Taste gourmet products and take a tour of a modern syrup operation, Maple Cabin Enterprises, in St. Donat, Que.

For a directory of Ontario pancake houses, click here.

Once you have that locally made maple syrup (or sugar, or any of the other great maple products out there), perhaps you’ll want to try it with a recipe. Homemakers has a lots of recipes featuring this sustainable sweetener: try Maple-Glazed Rutabaga and Parsnips, for example!

Do you love the taste of maple syrup?

Tea is my comfort food. Given that I enjoy two to three cups of tea a day, I’ve thought a lot about how my tea habit affects the earth, from the source of the tea itself to the purity of the ingredients to the tea’s packaging. When I found Organic Garden’s certified organic, fair trade tea, I thought I’d try it out and let you know what I thought.

Choosing organic tea makes sense to me, and yet it’s not easy to find. Beyond that health benefits of avoiding pesticides, selecting organic foods means supporting healthy farming practices, which are easier on the local ecosystem and the farmers themselves.

Here are some things I look for when buying tea.

- Is it Fair Trade?

- Is it certified organic?

- Is it loose tea? (Best option for tea at home, since it’s low waste, and you get to use a funky tea ball)

- If comes in tea bags, are they unbleached? (Good option for tea on the go)

- Is the tea stored in a way that keeps in fresh and flavourful?

It’s not easy to find bags that fit all these criteria. Organic Garden’s certified organic Earl Grey tea, imported by Ceylon Organics Limited Canada are just $3 for 25 bags. The tea is certified under the USDA Organic standard; the box says “In conformity to the stringent international organic standards, no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers of any kind are used.”

This is a fairly mild Earl Grey, with a medium black tea flavour and just a mild hint of bergamot. I think that I’ll continue to use my more boldly flavoured full-leaf Earl Grey loose tea at home, but it’s nice to have a healthy alternative for tea at work at elsewhere. (Yes, I take tea bags with me on trips, so I can enjoy tasty tea wherever I go!)

Do you care if your tea is organic?

Looking to create more growing space in your yard this year? Maybe this is the year to let your garden take over some of your lawn.

North Vancouver mayor Darrel Mussatto is encouraging his city’s residents to make the most of their real estate by growing food on it, rather than manicure grass. According to this article in the Vancouver Sun, Citing reasons such as food security and the cost of food, Mussatto says, “We want people to convert the yards of single family homes to gardens and even commercial farms.”
The idea of converting lawn space into produce space may  horrify anyone who has spent loads of time manicuring their lawn into a perfectly groomed green carpet. After all, aren’t lawns already pretty eco? Well, sorry, but no. They’re a monoculture that doesn’t offer native insects and wildlife much in terms of food or protection. Lawns crowd out native plants that do offer these benefits. And people often dump chemicals on them (see study here showing that yes, this is still happening). That cause harm to the aforementioned wildlife, and, surprise surprise, us. So, in my books, lawns aren’t eco friendly.

Companies that use a tuft of green lawn as a symbol of “going green” are clearly disconnected from what makes a healthy planet. To read about how a grass monoculture became a ubiquitous North American concept, click here.

This is the year for me to tackle the lawn problem in my own garden and landscaping design. I have raised beds in my garden, but they only get late-day sun. I have space to grow foods in containers on my little deck, and they can get a fair bit of sun through the course of the day. If I want to enjoy delicious home-grown veggies, I’ll have to take over a lot of my little backyard lawn, which gets sun for most of the day.

Here are five steps to transitioning your lawn from a high-maintenance monoculture into a prodigious, environmentally beneficial garden:

Step 1: Evaluate your needs
How do you use your lawn now?  Will you need to do more than garden in that space? How can you accommodate other activities around your garden?

If your yard is a place for kids to play, perhaps you want to keep a large area of your yard as an open space to run around, so some drought-tolerant grass may be the best thing for you. However there are low-growing groundcovers that can create a mat of verdant beauty that you don’t need to mow. For areas that won’t see too much foot traffic, try Dutch white clover or even thyme.

Do you bring out a table and chairs to dine al fresco? Perhaps you could locate a small patio area within your new garden space, perhaps next to a tree (which can be used to hang lighting from). For instructions on laying a stone patio, click here.

To create a beautiful border to your vegetable garden, consider using lovely wildflowers. They will attract pollinators such as bees to help pollinate your veggies.

Step 2: Take stock of threats

Is your yard a haven for neighbourhood cats? (Mine is.)  You may need a structure around your veggies to prevent them from using the space as a litterbox. Are raccoons often prowling through your yard at night? Again, protect your food plants.  Raccoon contact means potential exposure to raccoon roundworm, which can cause brain damage and loss of eyesight. Front-yard gardens may suffer from road salt damage (see my earlier post about road salt here), so you may need to plant salt-tolerant plants around the border of your garden, such as blueberries.

Step 3: Plan out your space

What can you do with your new-found garden space? Plotting out your plans may help you decide what you want to grow, and where. To draft your plans, first measure the space. You could represent the area on graph paper and sketch in the garden beds, patio stones, furniture and other features on it. Or you could take a photo of the area and draw on it, either via a print out or using a program with built-in stencils such as OmniGraffle.

Image via Wikipedia

Step 4: Build your garden beds

Turning a lawn into a garden is best done by building up the space into raised beds. Use stone or wood to create boxes to fill with high-quality soil and compost. Kits for building raised beds with lumber corner pieces make building the beds quick and easy. I love the kit linked here from Lee Valley.

Step 5: Select your plants and start your seeds!
As I wait for spring to arrive, I’m enjoying buying seed packets and researching seed starting. Seed packets note when you can start your seeds and when you can plant them outdoors. Enjoy planning a mix of fruits, veggies and herbs that you love to eat. Try to include some early starters and late bloomers so that you’ll have super-local produce throughout the growing season.

Do you think you could give up a slice of your lawn for a kitchen garden?

Muffins made from a Red Fife muffin base

I had to try it. Heritage grain mixes from Grainstorm were offered through my organic food box delivery, and I couldn’t resist ordering the Red Fife Muffin Base. Sure, it’s Canada Organic certified, yes, the organic, heritage wheat is grown in Ontario (supporting organic farmers), and they even sounded healthy. But would these muffins be delicious?

When I received the package, I realized that the muffin base was vacuum packed in a foil bag. I found out that the company mills the wheat themselves, then quickly mixes it with other ingredients (for various mixes, including pancake mix, bread mix and more) and then immediately vacuum seals the mix for freshness. Here’s a terrible snapshot I took:

The recipe sounded unusual to me, although I admit I don’t bake often. (That’s why an easy mix is so appealing to me in the first place.) You combine eggs, butter, olive oil and a fair bit of plain yogurt, then mix in the muffin base. The base itself is low in sugar, and contains a lot of flecks of – you guessed it – Red Fife wheat. It’s certainly very unusual looking compared to a refined flour base. But would it feel gritty?

I actually had more muffin mix than the 12 muffins the package indicated, so I could have made a couple more. It took a few minutes longer to bake than the cooking time noted, but every oven is different. In spite of these variations, I have to say that, after enjoying a big bite of a muffin still warm from the oven (one of life’s simple pleasures, I’d say), the muffins are tasty and have a good texture.

When I make them again, I’d probably add some dried apple, nuts or cranberries to the mix, just to add a bit more flavour. But Grainstorm suggests such additions on their recipe page.

Will I make them again? Yes. Aside from the fact that the muffins are delicious, I’m keen to support farmers of organic Red Fife wheat, Canada’s original wheat and the genetic base of todays’ varieties, dating back to 1842. The wheat variety is apparently good at adapting to a variety of environmental conditions, and can be sown in spring or winter. Red Fife was originally grown in Peterborough, Ont., by David Fife and likely has European roots, as shown in this Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada document. Red Fife is so popular once again, for its taste, texture and suitability for baking, it even has its own Facebook page!

Where can you get Grainstorm products? You can order them online, or look for them in grocery stores that support organic food producers.

Do you like this kind of packaged, convenient organic fare?

Dad's cookies, now with renewable energy!

Can big manufacturing facilities really go green? While I’m a fan of small-scale production, I think that when a large-scale company decides to get its energy from renewable sources, it can make an enormous difference in the fight against climate change. Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Kraft bakeries in Scarborough, Ont., and, after donning a lab coat, hair net, earplugs and other safety gear, I got to see the Dad’s Cookies operation in full swing, powered by renewable energy.

Tom Heintzman, President, Bullfrog Power (left) and Chris Bell, Kraft Canada Vice President of Snacks

Dad’s Cookies are a Canadian favourite, with 4 per cent of the Canadian cookie market and over 16 million packages of cookies sold in Canada each year. From now on, those cookies, made in Kraft’s Scarborough and Lakeshore bakeries, will be made with renewable energy. Kraft has partnered with Bullfrog Power to not only buy its electricity from by renewable sources (hydro, wind and solar), they will be the first customer to use Bullfrog’ Power’s new offering: green natural gas.

This effort is just the latest initiative in Kraft’s sustainability plan; in the past three years they’ve created zero waste facilities, reduced their energy use by 25 per cent and cut their water use by 15 per cent as well.

So what is green natural gas?
While conventional natural gas is a fossil fuel from non-renewable sources, Bullfrog Power is collecting, processing and distributing gases from the decaying matter in landfill, starting with an operation in Quebec.

When your food waste and other landfill garbage decomposes, it releases gases, particularly methane. Those go into the atmosphere from most Canadian landfills, a harmful source of greenhouse gas emissions. A few landfills capture their energy-rich gases now, converting them into useable energy, but much of it is wasted in the process. But if those gases are instead captured, processed and delivered to your home or business, you can burn them in your typically 94 per cent efficient furnace to heat your home, your hot water and power some of your appliances, wasting very little of the energy. True, you’ll still emit carbon dioxide, but it’s 20 times less as potent a greenhouse gas as methane, according to the US Climate Change Science Program.

How does Bullfrog Power deliver the green natural gas?
Just as Bullfrog Power does now with electricity, they’ll replace the amount of natural gas its customers use from the main gas line with green natural gas. As their customer base grows, Bullfrog will expand its operations to ensure they have sufficient capacity. Green natural gas will be available in a few of months to customers beyond initial pilot projects such as Kraft’s.

As Tom Heintzman, President of Bullfrog Power told me yesterday, “You have an environmental choice in everything you use. Energy arguably has the biggest environmental impact of everything you use.” And since have lots of opportunities to create energy from our waste, it’s great to know that we have ways of reducing climate change impacts while doing great things such as making cookies in the process.

Are you more keen to buy a product if you know it’s made with renewable energy?

More of our food is wasted than the quantity we eat in Canadian restaurants each year? Yes, a study by The George Morris Centre, an agri-food thinktank, (story linked here) says it’s true – $27 million in food is wasted here each year. “This wasted food represents approximately 40% of all the food produced in Canada,” notes the study authors.

It strikes me that food and energy are very similar. We have enough of both here in Canada at the moment, but we’re worried that the cost of both will go up, and that, given population growth, the demand for both will go up. We’re also concerned that there may be shortages of both due to resource depletion (oil and gas reserves; soil fertility, climate change effects and poor land use choices). But there is a lot of waste involved in both, in part because we as consumers are inefficient (we throw out a lot of spoiled and unwanted food; lots of cars on the highway contain only one person), and because both our food and our energy come from a long distance away from the end user (us).

So, just as local energy savings mean a lot (upgrade your old fridge and pay hundreds less in electricity each year), enjoying local food can mean avoiding a lot waste as well.
- Buying locally means supporting food produced near you, so less food is lost to spoilage as it’s transported (and less energy is used, a bonus for the earth).
- High-quality foods from local producers are usually a bit more expensive than big-box grocery prices, so perhaps we’re likely to buy smaller amounts. Eating smaller portions of healthy food is good for our waistlines.
- Growing your own fruits, veggies and herbs means harvesting just what you need for your evening supper.
- Knowing the work that goes into  growing your own veggies means you’re more likely to can, dry, freeze, donate or otherwise make use of extra food.

I made avoiding food waste a goal a year ago, and Homemakers.com has helped me with this!  I’m now adept at steering my softening, wilting and otherwise imperfect yet edible foods into delicious meals. Here are a few examples.

- Egg dishes, such as strata. Try the options in this fun recipe how-to story, Strata-Various 1-2-3.
- Soup. I often make “kitchen sink” soups, which contain everything but. I do try to create nice flavour pairings, and I follow Homemakers guide to creating homemade soup, linked here.
- Risotto. Here is a collection of risotto recipes from the Homemakers test kitchen.
- Paella. Try using leftover rice in this tasty paella recipe.
- Pasta. In this article, our food editor, Andrew Chase, shares how to create tasty pasta dishes with meat and veggie leftovers.

Do you find food goes to waste? How do you try to avoid wasted food?

Need a gift for someone who has everything? Maybe that girl (or guy) just wants ta have some (easy on the earth) fun. I think that the gifts below are green because they’re low waste and they help support ecotourism or your local economy. They’re just a few ideas I’ve been saving up, so please share your own favourites!

Music lessons. That dusty violin could use some love. Reunite your friend with her instrumental passions – or give her the confidence to try out something new, like her singing voice – and you could get a front-row seat to a budding musician! The Royal Conservatory of Music offers courses, and music stores often have information about local instructors.

Courtesy Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve

Forest adventures. Just because you’re nervous about zooming through the treetops suspended from a ziplining wire doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy a ticket for your friend to do so. Check your local ecotourism destination (or try this one in BC) for this and other fun options such as canopy tours. The tour shown above is offered by the Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve. It’s half a kilometre long and 10 to 20 metres off the ground, for a beautiful birds-eye view. Or go spelunking – otherwise known as caving – an opportunity to light up a headlamp and squeeze your way through tight caverns as you explore the depths of the earth. Giving gifts that support leaving the landscape wild helps ensure we have wildlife habitat for the future.

Theatre or orchestra tickets. Give an entertaining, feel-good gift that lasts all year with season’s tickets for local productions. Support a community’s efforts to create music, build sets, make costumes and generally share the joy.
Make it ecological: Look for venues near your friend, so she doesn’t have to drive.

Cycling or padding tours. Athletic friends looking to get away from it all – and see a beautiful landscape up close – might love a summer adventure  such as these paddling trips offered in Newfoundland and Labrador or these Eastern Ontario cycling trips.
Make it ecological: Look for itineraries that include lodging and dining options near the route.

Dinner for two. Give your friend a delicious, bill-free night out and support a restaurant that features local food. You’ll support local agricultural producers, from cheese mongers to meat producers to veggie growers and more.
Make it ecological: Ask the restaurant if they offer local wine and beer selections.

Spa appointments. Nothing says friendship (among women, at least) like giving some total pampering time for both of you, so you can share the fun and pampering of pedicures, massages and facials. Where else but at the spa is it really, totally all about you?
Make it ecological: Ask about organic ingredients and check that nail polishes are free of nasty chemicals such as formaldehyde and toluene. Why? See my earlier post on the subject.

Bird-watching or hiking kits. Bring out the nature lover in your friend with a field guide - to the birds, the trees, the flowers, the frogs and toads, even the mushrooms of your area. (Ontario residents can use the Royal Ontario Museum’s digital field guides here. Those in Western Canada might enjoy this book. ) Add trail maps and trail mix and an insulated flask for hot drinks, and perhaps a membership to your local conservation area or park, and you have the makings of a beautiful experience with nature.
Go the next step: send your friend on a birding tour, such as this one to Canada’s Point Pelee National Park.

Is there a great experience in your area that Eco Logic readers should know about?

What experiential gift would you love to receive?

Executive Chef David Garcelon, courtesy Fairmont Royal York Hotel

As he offered a tour of the roof-top garden and apiary last week, 14 storeys above Toronto’s Front Street, towering over Union Station and with a view of the Toronto waterfront, The Royal York Hotel’s Executive Chef, David Garcelon, showed us a modest looking group of sea-foam green wood boxes. It turns out that the six stacks of beehives (established in partnership with the Toronto Beekeepers Cooperative and FoodShare) are home to enough bees to produce 500 pounds of (fabulously floral-scented — I tried it) honey used by the hotel’s restaurants in the past year, about a third of the honey the Royal York uses annually (the rest is sourced from local Ontario producers).

Yes, apparently you can have an apiary at the heart of Canada’s largest city. (And one offering terrific puns: hives are given names such as “The Bee & Bee Suite”, “Honey Moon Suite” and “Stayin-A-Hive Suite.” Groan.)

The space is also home to an herb garden: the bees help pollinate edible flowers and delicious herbs planted in the hotel’s garden beds. Served seasonally in the Royal York Hotel’s EPIC restaurant, the hotel’s rooftop honey and herbs are part of their environmental program. And the basil-scented rooftop makes a great tour for hotel guests.

The Royal York's rooftop garden

The Fairmont’s rooftop space is beautiful and prodigious, but it is not massive and it doesn’t meet all of the hotel’s needs. To me, whether it’s food or energy production, we’ll find a more sustainable future if we all participate in the patchwork rather rely on just a few sources. If we try to create at least some of what we need, in a healthy, low-impact way, and source the rest from those who have bounty to sell, we’ll all lower our carbon footprint –- and reap the delicious rewards.

The hotel also composts!