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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?

Responding to a protest yesterday of about 150 people at the Kingston Penitentiary trying to halt the removal of cattle from the prison’s farm program, Vic Toews, federal minister of public safety said, “My responsibility as public safety minister is to ensure that individuals who are in our facilities receive training that is appropriate, and skills that are appropriate, to the environment that they will be returning to.” Prisoners in the Kingston program were producing food — eggs, grains, milk, meat — for themselves and other area prisons; excesses were donated to local food banks.

So, apparently there is no work to be had, no money to be made in agriculture. Just because we all eat, and just because our health benefits improves when we eat fresh food, and our environment benefits when we consume our food from smaller farms closer to where the food is distributed, well apparently reaping these benefits isn’t what serving time in prison is supposed to be about.

It’s sad to hear that prisoners who were learning to farm will lose those skills, who were benefiting from the healthy food they cultivated will have to eat food of lesser quality. I’d feel like someone’s giving up on me.

And farmers? As members of the National Farmers’ Union expressed, they feel that the federal government is saying that there’s no future in agriculture, no value in local food production. According to a recent release, Jeff Peters, a Save Our Prison Farms campaign member from the Frontenac Cattlemen’s Association said, “This government has insulted all farm communities in Canada by declaring farming an irrelevant training for offenders. Do they not believe that contact with nature and rural values such as self-sufficiency are the basis for rehabilitation and a safer society?”

Maybe someone will shed some light on why closing this and five other similar programs across Canada makes sense. Do you have any insight?

“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?

We’re heading into mid February, and while we’ve had a relatively mild winter here in Toronto, it still feels long! No doubt our grandmothers’ root cellars would be getting a tad depleted by this time of year, and our stores are no different today: local vegetables, even those that keep well, are less available, so if you’re committed to local eating, try to look away from that produce from California, not to mention Israel!

I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy Ontario foods while eating out recently. Last week I took my mom and my partner to The Local Company, a Toronto restaurant located on the Danforth. (Disclosure: I heard about the restaurant via a media release, but they didn’t know I was coming – I received no special treatment.) I’d practically given up scanning menus for local options, so it was lovely to see ingredients such as celeriac, parsnips, onions, butternut squash, beets as well as maple syrup, cheeses and locally raised meats such as veal, chicken and pork. Apparently Chef Steven Wilson creates condiments, garnishes and ice creams in house. The meal was a delish treat in many ways – it felt great to support local farmers in February!

Homemakers magazine’s food editor, Andrew Chase, is a big supporter of eating sustainably, so he also develops many recipes with seasonal ingredients. A few of my favourites for this time of year are Stuffed Turnips, Scalloped Celery Root and Coq au Vin.

Are you finding ways to work with local ingredients through the winter?
Have you found a restaurant that features local food? Tell me about it!

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?

I like to use honey and maple sugar as alternatives to regular sugar, since I can get both of them from local producers.  While I don’t have a sugar shack or apiary in my backyard, there are many within an hour’s drive, not to mention at farmers’ markets.

 According to sugar industry statistics, 90 per cent of the sugar we use (the white sugar we buy in bulk) comes from cane plants in South America, Central America and Australia. We usually import it in an unrefined form, then bring it over by the shipload to process.

It sounds to me like the cane sugar producers may not be getting the bulk of the profits, and there is research showing how cane harvesters are plagued by respiratory ailments from the harvesting practice of burning the cane.

Canadians used to get a lot of our sweet stuff from sugar beets, as told in this interesting report from Statistics Canada, but the crop is only grown in Alberta now (aside from a bit of Ontario production that goes directly to the U.S. market).

Luckily, we have fabulous local, sustainable alternatives to cane sugar. I love stirring these organic maple flakes from Equinox (a Quebec-based company) into my tea, tossing them onto a dessert and using them to make a glaze on salmon or pork.  I’ve also used a more powdery maple sugar from Gibbons Family Farm in Eastern Ontario. 

A friend of mine dabbled in the apiary business a couple of years ago, and I’ve been savouring my dwindling stash of honey from the business. But I know when I run out, there are lots of other local producers, creating honeys from organic flowers, each crop with its own special flavour, such as lavender honey. 

Beyond the nice flavours they bring, both honey and maple syrup offer some health benefits.

Celebrate honey with this recipe for Honey Pear and Hazelnut Tart from our Homemakers Test Kitchen, or try our food editor Andrew Chase’s Maple Custard Ice Cream. Delicious!

Have you used honey or maple syrup as a sweetener?

Just about every day, as part of my job at Homemakers magazine, I’m researching information about health and nutrition. While there may be some grey area in the healthfulness of coffee or the most effective way to meet our calcium requirements, one thing’s for sure: eating a variety of fruits and vegetables as a significant part of our diet is key to being healthy.

With that in mind, I recently subscribed to an organic food delivery service. I received my first box yesterday evening, and I was thrilled to peel back the lid and see the lush organic pears, parsley, mushrooms, Boston lettuce, grapefruit several other foods inside. Here’s a picture of what it included. The is the “basic box” from Front Door Organics; it costs $35, and I can decide if I want it delivered weekly or every two weeks. Knowing that I’ll be unable to resist the temptations of farmers’ markets this summer, I think I’ll upgrade to their custom box, at $40, and have it delivered every two weeks. That way I can get more of my favourite things and steer clear of the stuff I’ll get at the market (I’m thinking of super-ripe raspberries. Can’t wait!).

Front Door Organics is about organic food first, but they do promise to offer local food whenever it’s available, and a note in my box showed which foods are from Ontario (the mushrooms, the radishes, the potatoes and the Boston lettuce). They can also add other grocery items to the box if I add them to my order, such as coffee, milk and eggs, perfect for those really busy times (or when I’m home with a cold). The note also included some of the company’s principles, notably that they will not purchase food that’s delivered by air travel. Air travel “…accounts for 4-9% of the total climate change impact of human activity.” As I’ve realized recently, it’s all about the greenhouse gasses.

Do you have trouble finding organic food in your area? Is it important to you to eat organic? Do you consider what you grow at home to be organic?

My partner and I moved into our first home this past November and this is the first time I’ve had my own soil. The place is in Toronto, so I have no illusions about the purity of the soil (especially since we seem to get a lot of cats traipsing through our backyard), but that won’t stop me from trying to grow healthy fruits, veggies and herbs in our garden.

So I consulted a few books on growing herbs and heirloom tomatoes. I’d received a couple of seed catalogues in the mail, but I couldn’t tell which of the plants might be a native species.

I’m bent on this native species thing because there isn’t a whole lot I feel I can do for the wild things we share this earth with, but perhaps I can provide a bit of food and some refuge for a few critters. So I searched the Evergreen native plants database and chose some seeds from cloverroads.com, including Prince William, which I’ve seen in the Thousand Islands, a few varieties of tomatoes – some for sandwiches, some for sauces – and just for the heck of it, acorn squash. (I love to take the top off, drop in a bit of butter and maple syrup, and microwave it for about 10 minutes.) I know the payoff of these labours will be months away, but I can almost taste the first basil and tomato sandwich.

What are you growing in your garden/on your balcony/on your window sill this season?