When reflecting on what goodness helped carry me through 2020 I noticed that over and over again several things arose, one of which was the absolute gift of locally- sourced, fresh vegetables.
If you have read my writing in the past it will be of no surprise to you to hear me raise a toast to the humble Earth borne root vegetable. I am a Celt through and through in that I could likely survive on root vegetables alone and find therein, sustainment and joy both.
In the early days of the pandemic, I found myself feeling suddenly anxious about our ability to access food. What if the supply chain crashes? Quickly, I remembered a conversation I had a number of years earlier with local food purveyor Aaron Koleszar regarding his local, organic food delivery service. A brief email request was soon sent and I happily discovered that he indeed was still in the veggie business and taking new customers. Hooray!
Having had a very delightful, several year-long CSA experience with the amazing Southeastern PEI grower, Amy MacPherson (whom we endearingly referred to as Veggie Amy) I knew well the benefits of supporting a local, organic vegetable, home delivery. We had ended that relationship amicably a handful of years ago when we began growing enough of our own vegetables to no longer justify her solely growing season, service.
Since then, our family garden has more than doubled in size, growing even larger again this season thanks to my partner’s significant efforts last May. Thankfully, through the hard work and dedication of our eldest Maria, and the sustained support and interest of our other two kiddos, the garden is wonderfully providing us with an abundance of delicious vegetables, herbs and even dried beans with some produce grown in quantities enough to preserve for winter.
(For New Year’s Day dinner we made several delicious vegetable lasagnas using oven roasted tomatoes we froze in recipe sized jars last Sept, as well as our own dried herbs such as oregano and thyme. We also made bean dip with our garden herbs and tomatoes as well as jalapenos, blanched and frozen back in October. Tonight the jalapenos made their way into homemade hummus by Lucas.)
Yet, the garden has shown us that we would need a small acreage to grow enough food to provide any real sense of food security for this largely vegetarian household of essentially five adults.(Well, one mid teen.) Sure, having 8 or 10 Lower Salmon River squash in the larder is a nice winter supplement but they won’t keep us fed for long.
Hence, the role of the local vegetable service in ensuring household food security became readily evident.
By the second email last April, from Aaron K’s Organic Veggie Delivery, I knew we were on to something wonderful. In early lockdown, the email order lists of available produce became Earthly tethers for me in a time of great general uncertainty. There is something so wholesome and energetically invigorating in sitting and planning your meals as much as possible around seasonally available, local organic produce. Scanning the list of what was available each week became a soothing tonic to the stress and sadness which was threatening to overwhelm.
Unfortunately, as I hadn't planned for a pandemic the growing season before, we soon ran out of our frozen tomatoes. Happily, last spring, my oldest daughter and I found delectable local grape tomatoes available in the veggie orders. These became cheery dietary fixtures. Chopped onto chickpea crepes, sautéed with kale over quinoa for part of Easter brunch, paired with peppers in bowl after bowl of springtime pasta salad, the little grape sized tomatoes were like sweet sunshine kisses in a spring of not enough hugs.
Having spent years buying the cheapest potatoes available, I know the frustration at opening a ten lb bag of second rate potatoes only to discover you can’t find enough good potatoes to cook a meal for your family.
Not being persons of great financial means we have been criticized for moving away from cheap food and choosing to buy local organic, when possible.
Why not just get all your food at Walmart or Giant Tiger?
And while there have been times that I have purchased there, I am always thinking of Ian Petrie's wise advice (and I am paraphrasing here) to pay as much as you can for your locally sourced vegetables. It sounds counter to a usual approach to economic frugality, but Petrie, who understands the damaging dynamics of industrial agriculture sold in box stores knows how harmful and unsustainable cheap food truly is. Food growing is difficult, underpaid work which is strange given we all need food to survive.
Why don't we humbly value food more?
So, despite my keen understanding that money does not grow on trees, I always plead the case for paying even just a little more, if you can, for local, organic food by reminding others about who buying local feeds...Not just my family but the grower's family, the purveyor's family, the local business owner's family. You get the picture.
Besides, how better to invest in your children’s future than by investing in the vibrant beauty of bright, local flavors fresh from the giving Earth? They learn the comfort and benefit of health giving food, grown nearby.
To me, it is a win-win situation.
I also look at our support of local food as an investment plan with far better potential returns than any RRSP could provide because supporting local organic/sustainable growing practices helps nourish the soil, provides jobs for people and fosters community.
Does this mean I never buy imported vegetables? No. I do and admittedly during this pandemic have purchased too many bags of frozen imported produce as freezer staples to supplement our local goodness. (This was much to my children's chagrin as this is very out of character for me and represents parental instability to them!)
Would we keep up our veggies order as our own 2020 garden began to bloom with a wide variety of delectable plants became a pressing question last summer. We talked with Aaron K., who is nothing if not accommodating and cheerfully flexible and decided to keep on ordering from him those items we had not grown ourselves or could use in greater abundance.
It was a match made in fresh food heaven.
This winter, with Aaron moving his veggie order to more of a bi-weekly rotation, we decided to add a small buy in to Maple Bloom Farm’s first winter CSA. We can round out our own vegetable needs while helping support a local growing enterprise and some other local small food businesses through what may well be another difficult year.
Riverview Country Market, another local source of great, fresh Island produce, successfully launched their online service at the beginning of the pandemic and continues to offer online purchasing as well as curbside pickup. Through them I had my first foray into online shopping with the Localine grocery platform to purchase some of their produce as well as grocery items we need to meet specific dietary needs.
Soon thereafter, Aaron K’s Organic Veggie Delivery turned to Localine and just recently, Maple Bloom Farm launched their winter CSA utilizing this service as well.
For some people, pouring over seed order catalogues is a winter pastime. I am one of those persons although my eldest and I choose online viewing of local seed orders. Getting that email showing you what local produce is available and reminding you to order gives me that self-same feeling of delight.
I can think of little else that infuses me with so much hope for the future as the goodness of supporting local growers.
Dreaming of what soups and curries I will make for my family to dive into after a late day walk, is to me, a comfort like no other.
Thanks to all the Island growers who work so hard to ensure we have food to eat and to those whose work it is to see that Islanders can access local food. And a great big shout out to those purveyors who added donation options to their shops to help ensure that good local produce gets into the kitchens of those Islanders who need it most.
Kudos as well, to a gov't who sees the import of feeding fresh, local food to Island school children.
Wishing you the warmth that envelops a kitchen as sweetly fragrant turnip steams and the nourishment of vegetables to see you through.
Happy 2021!
Cheers,
Jill
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