This weekend I had opportunity to visit two Simcoe County farms where I learned about organic growing methods and the intricacies of farming in general.
At the Cookstown Greens we learned about the advantages of buying locally grown foods. Here are a few:
- Locally grown food is tastier and more nutritious because it doesn’t travel long distances so it is fresher. The longer a vegetable sits the more of its sugars are converted to starches and it loses more nutrients. Foods imported from other countries are picked before they are ripe and are forced to ripen during shipping.
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- Transporting food is a major source of Canada’s greenhouse gases. It takes a lot of energy to transport food: It takes 435 calories of energy to move a 7 calorie strawberry from California to Toronto.
- Locally grown food preserves genetic diversity.
- Locally grown food is typically GMO-free.
We also learned that the 90s was a cheap food era — people just wanted food that didn’t cost much. But we are currently going through a food renaissance — people want quality produce that tastes good as well being nutritious. Many people are going to the market to look for specialty produce to put on their table and chefs are interested in using unusual varieties of vegetables in their cuisine. The Cookstown farmer said he was always on the lookout for novel vegetables, though most “new” vegetables have been around for hundreds of years. He searches catalogues and directories from around the world for something to satisfy our palate such as Garlic Scapes, Radish Pods, Garnishing Greens, Summer Nugget Squash, smooth Jerusalem Artichokes and colorful Winter Radishes. I saw All Blue potatoes 
and Roseval with red skin and marbled yellow flesh 
. As we walked along we plucked the green beans, the tomatoes and absolutely anything we thought was edible and tasted them as fresh as they could possibly be. Sadly, I missed out on the chocolate mint though. This is how it is described: chocolate mint has the always-enchanting aroma of chocolate combined with a bright spearmint taste.
We had a beautiful tour of the farm. There were flowers scattered around the area to attract specific bugs that keep pesty critters away. They grew edible flowers to add to salads (it looks very pretty!) and decorate cakes with.
We had lunch in a picturesque restaurant with foods made from the produce from the farm we had just visited.
In the afternoon we went to an organic apple farm where we were free to try any apple we wanted. I love apples, so I munched constantly, particularly enjoying the apple the grower called George 
She explained how there are a number of viable options for insect control. Producers can use oil spray to control mites and aphids and a clay product to control apple maggot. I always wondered what the white stuff on apples was. She said that she did not have a big catepillar problem — she was able to just pluck them off the tree herself. She is one very busy woman as she makes the apple cider to send to health food stores herself.
We came back to Toronto appreciating the work that goes into growing our food, the amount of knowledge it takes to run a farm, and the sheer variety of produce that we have never had the opportunity to sample. We are glad that concerned farmers are growing foods that are healthy for the aware consumer and doing minimal damage to the environment. I hope you get a chance to explore a farm near you and start to feel connected to the foods you eat.
