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It’s hard to find made-in-Canada stuff these days. There are proudly Canadian companies, but where are their goods made? Usually not here, not even on this continent. That’s why, when developing the Homemakers Summer 2011 issue (out now!) I was so happy we found many stylish items for our Made in Canada story. (Props to Style Editor Karen Kwinter, Art Director Annette Waurick and Photogarpher Felix Wedgwood for the great story shown below.)

This Canada Day I’d like to highlight one of the companies we featured for their particular fit with Eco Logic. Totem Bags of Oakville, Ont., is the ultimate recycler. As their video below shows, they take vinyl advertising banners, used innertubes and seatbelts and use them to make fabulous tote bags, messenger bags and other styles of bags. Durable, low maintenance and downright sexy (doesn’t that describe Canadians, too?) these bags are great for everything from chic shopping to stowing baby needs to a trip to the gym.

Do you prefer goods that are made in Canada?

The Canadian local food season is underway! It’s too early to put tender plants in the soil (I don’t know about your garden, but I might just dent my shovel if I try to dig a hole right now). But it’s not too early to buy seeds, trade seeds, and (yes!) germinate seeds (OK, indoors). Amidst all of this I’ve noticed that seed exchanges seems to be a hot trend.

I heard about so many several seed-swapping events happening this March and April, last weekend I finally found my way to “Seedy Sunday”, an exchange event in north Toronto. I was blown away by the number of people who’d turned out, from young couples to grannies to big families with kids.

Some people were there for the free seeds, but many were there to chat with growing experts and buy their little envelopes of good things to come: organic, native and just plain delicious and beautiful plant seeds. After all, what else can you buy for just a couple of dollars that can provide for you – nutritionally or aesthetically – for a whole season?

I had a chance to meet Laura Watt of Cubit’s Organics, who sells organic and heirloom-variety seeds from her home-based business in the east end of Toronto. I bought the veggie and herb seeds from her, including the beets, tomatoes, purple peppers and herbs shown in the photo at the beginning of this post. Laura has a terrific blog about local, heathy food, linked above. You can buy her seeds via her Etsy shop, here.

Colette Murphy of Urban Harvest was there too, featuring her expansive line of certified organic, Toronto-grown seeds. That’s part of her display, above. She sells so many varieties of tomatoes, and I wanted to buy them all!

It was hopeful to see these tender young plants from Heritage Line Herbs of Alymer, Ont. They were also selling some vegetable oil blends, vinegars, and of course lots of seeds.

Given the popularity of this seed exchange, I’ll definitely have to make it out to the many native plant sales coming up in late April and May. Because I know that I won’t have sown all the seeds I’d like to, and I’ll have some catching up to do!

Do you like buying seeds? Have you ever exchanged seeds, cuttings or bulbs with anyone?

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.

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?

It’s getting to be that time again, locavores. We’ve dined and snacked our way through the fall harvest of perishable produce. Now it’s time to embrace what we can grow in area greenhouses, your local producers’ meats, cheeses and preserves (and, of course, baked goods such as pies) and those hardy foods that will stick with us for the long haul: squashes and root vegetables.

While by February I’m easily tempted by a juicy Californian berry, at the time of the first frosts of fall I’m keen to make roasts, stews and other savoury treats. I love making squash recipes because most of them are so easy!

My dad taught me this acorn squash recipe, a quick solution for a weeknight side dish:
- Cut a lid off of an acorn squash (OK, this is easier said than done. Be careful with that knife!)
- Scrape the seeds and slimy pith into a strainer; keep it up until you’ve removed all the gooey material from the inside of the squash
- Drop a pat of butter into the squash, then spread it across the inside of the squash
- Pour about a tablespoon of good-quality maple syrup into the squash, then swish it around so it covers all the surfaces
- Put the squash into a bowl with a little bit of water in it. Put the squash’s lid back on
- Microwave the squash for about seven minutes or until you can easily slide a knife blade through it
- Scoop out the buttery, mapley squash, or cut off a quadrant it, skin included, to serve

What about that strainer of seeds? Oh yes, acorn squash seeds are just as delicious as pumpkin seeds. Here’s my recipe:
– Run water through the seeds and swish the seeds around to remove the pith
- Line a baking sheet with foil
- In a small bowl, toss the seeds with about a teaspoon of olive oil, an emphatic dash of pepper and salt (I like using steak seasoning), a teaspoon of minced garlic and a less emphatic dash of both cumin and coriander
- Spread the seeds on the foil, bake at 250 degrees (120 C) for about an hour, stirring a few times to prevent burning

For squash recipes from the flavour experts, have a look at this collection from the Homemakers test kitchen.

What’s your favourite late-fall local food?

“If you ate today, thank a farmer.” That’s one of my favourite bumper-sticker slogans. According to the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition (OASC), Ontario’s locally grown food supply is at risk because of record debt loads held by Ontario farms.

While most of us are enjoying the literally fruits of farmers’ labour right now, the market experience doesn’t show the hard work required to bring us that food, and the lack of certainty for farmers amid a maze of legislation and a changing climate, among other concerns. OASC notes that Statistics Canada is forecasting a national farm income loss of over $164 million this year. Farmers rely on government programs to help deal with uncertainties, and, particularly small farms that produce a range of foods rather than one thing, are saying that those programs aren’t helping them.

It’s not just about food, it’s about jobs. According to the OASC, there are over 80,000 on-farm jobs and 718,000 jobs across Ontario’s agri-food sector. And it’s about our environment. Small farms are connected to the landscape and have a better understanding of their impact on local communities. The OASC says, “Our farm families readily adopt beneficial practices that contribute to environmental improvement – leaving the land and water better off.”

So what can the average Canadian do? Well, certainly there’s the tasty element: enjoy top-quality food produced as close to your home as possible, whether it’s berries, vegetables, cheeses, milk, breads, eggs or meats, or the jams, sauces and other more processed products that can be made with our high-quality local foods. We should ask our local retailers about seeing local goods in store. Sure, some of them are trying, but move beyond the storefront display and much of the food comes from other countries.

But we can also ask our MPs and MPPs to refine agricultural stability programs so that they better support smaller-scale farmers. We can ask them to fund programs that help identify local food for area residents, such as the Local Food Plus program, the Local Flavours program, and others that support specific Canadian regions. And we can ask for more transparent food labeling, so food wouldn’t simply be labelled “Product of Canada” (as it can be now, with massive loopholes) but would show a detailed breakdown of how much of the food is Canadian, so we can more readily decide what we want to buy.

Do you have any suggestions as to how the average Canadian can support local food producers?

When I’m sorting through stuff at home, there are things I know I want to keep, and there are things I’m ready to let go of and donate. But then there are those things I’m not quite ready to part with, the things that still seem to have a lot of value even though I don’t need them.

A new matchmaking site for our stuff launches today. Unlike sites where you simply sell goods, like eBay, or give stuff away, like Freecycle groups, SwapSity.ca is a bartering site that matches people in the same area. Here’s how it works, according to founder Marta Nowinska: “SwapSity makes the barter process a breeze. Users simply create one list of their swappable goods and services and another for the things they want in return, while SwapSity instantly generates local matches to jumpstart swapping. It is also possible to enhance listings with YouTube videos, photos and web links. Members can communicate freely and decide whether they want to accept a swap offer, negotiate or decline it. They can also equalize uneven barter exchanges with cash. Most importantly, membership and transactions are free.”

Very interesting! To get things started, I’ve just offered a one-year subscription to Homemakers magazine and a Homemakers tote bag, which I’ll buy for someone in exchange for plant pots. Come to think of it, I have a bunch of stuff in storage that I could probably trade for the makings of an entire garden…

Have you found a good way to trade, sell or give away the things you no longer need?

Some may argue that large-scale farms offer efficient production, but I’m a big fan of local food. That’s because:
- I believe we have to have Canadians farming across Canada in order to have a safe and stable food supply, now and in the future. What if imported food becomes too expensive for most of us, or we begin to doubt its healthfulness? What if we lose the skills to farm?
- I think that many small farms are more stable than large ones, since the little guys can respond more flexibly to changing consumer needs.
- Farming can help support good use of rural land, and it can help keep land rural. (Stop right there, sprawl!)
- Farming goes hand-in-hand with artisanal food production. Who doesn’t love maple syrup, honey, jams, jellies, mustard, preserves, special cheeses?

It may be late November, but there’s still a lot of local food available at markets and grocers alike. Here are a few of my favourite Homemakers receipes featuring fall’s harvest vegetables:

- Maple Glazed Rutabaga and Parsnips
- Gorgonzola Parsnips (this is now a regular dish at the Ross family Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners)
- Carrot Souffle with Parsley Sauce (the only problem with this recipe is it’s hard to get enough of it while sharing with your family!)
- Curried Sweet Potato and Millet Soup (sweet potatoes are so good for us too!)
- Swiss Rosti with Cheese (perfect if you have local potatoes on hand)

Sunday’s Toronto Star featured a story by Margaret Webb, author of
Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms. Webb’s piece, linked here, shows the connection between food grown as inputs for low-cost, low-nutrition fare and unsustainable agriculture practices.

“…the demand for cheap food also puts pressure on farmers “to work every corner, every square inch” – eliminating woodlots, wetlands and buffer strips near vulnerable waterways. He knows that current farming techniques – growing too few crops in limited rotation, with chemical fertilizer, and returning too little organic matter to the soil – is mining his land of fertility, and that the current methods will not feed increasing populations.”

The causes – and solutions – are complex, but one thing seems clear to me: individuals need to face paying more for food, and demand nutritious food over fare with shelf life. And farmers need to get a bigger portion of the money that individuals fork out.

Last weekend I took in the Picnic at the Brickworks, an annual event held by Evergreen and Slow Food Toronto. It’s hard to imagine an event nicer than this — dozens of local food producers each teamed up with a top chef to serve up delicious bite-size num nums, complemented nicely by a splash of local wine or beer. I was in local food heaven!

Another local dining opportunity is coming up: Localicious is a WWF event offered at restaurants in many Canadian cities. The participating restaurants will serve up dishes made with local food, and a portion of the proceeds will go to WWF Canada.

Aside from these kinds of delicious events, I just hope I can take in a few more farmers’ markets before they close for the year.

How are you enjoying local food this year?

I’ve been receiving a delivery of organic food for a few months now, and I’ve been impressed with the local food available, particularly its intense flavour. Once in a while I pull back the box lid to find something I’ve never seen before.

A couple of weeks ago it was this crazy cauliflower, a fractal design in a harsh yellow green. Large and spiky, I was a little intimidated by it. What would I do with it? Too aggressive for a salad. Rather harsh for crudités. A couple of days went by while I thought about it, but this hardy cauliflower was in it for the long haul, and has survived long enough to get into stir fries, tossed into pasta and more. Because it doesn’t spoil easily and was fairly tasty, I’d order it again.

Yesterday  when I cracked open my veggie box (it’s from Front Door Organics) I stared back at the contents in total surprise. I’d ordered edamame – green soybeans. I usually buy edamame in the frozen veggie section of my grocery store, so I thought it’d be fun to get them fresh. And fresh they were, still attached to the stem! Now I’m glad I didnt’ have to stuff the rest of the plant into my green bin during the garbage strike, but as I sat there clipping off the soybeans into a container, I realized just how conveniently our food is served to us. Considering how much work goes into producing healthy food such as soybeans, it’s only fair that I would do the easy final preparations. And hey, not a plastic bag in sight.

What’s your favourite local food?