Good Food Box

A box of fresh, local veggies, some great friends (and brave ones at that), fondue, and desserts made for a heck of an evening.

What fruits and veggies, you ask. The ones from the Good Food Box Program! Here, good not only refers to the quality of produce, but to their social, economic, and ecological quality as well.

Fresh, Local, Love It.

All the produce in the Good Food Box (save the navel oranges in the Fruit box) come from BC. 40% of these fruits and veggies are harvested right here on Vancouver Island. Because the produce comes from local farms like Michell’s on Island View Road, you can eat easy knowing that you’re sautéing fresh and in-season produce (hence having more-cabbage-than-we-know-what-to-with). Now before we get carried away and start getting into our week’s follow up post on eating local and the slow food movement, let’s talk about what exactly you get in these boxes.

If you check out last post’s photo, you’ll see two bunches of carrots, two hefty, organic spaghetti squashes, an armful of Klondike Rose potatoes, broccoli, two heads of cabbage, three onions, and a bag of Granny Smith apples rivaling those $10 Safeway bags, and about ten kiwi. Guess the price.

Fifteen dollars! At a supermarket, we’d be emptying our wallets for this cart-load. So if you’re like us and worried about the price of eating local, then this once a month service is perfect. And if you’re looking for organic produce, just some BC fruit, or a just smaller box, Good Food Box has options.

Keep in mind the contents change month to month depending on what’s in season. If you picked up the all-organic box, you could expect some beets, basil, red cabbage, red onions, red potatoes, carrots, squash, and Gala apples—all for $15 (and that’s all organic)! The $12 fruit box would be loaded with crunchy Asian pears, (not so local, but I’m sure delicious) Navel Oranges, local kiwi, Red Anjou Pears, and Fuji Apples. And if the size of our $15 Good Food Box seemed a little daunting, you can order a slightly smaller $10 box or even a $5 bag.

Tip: If you’re getting the $15 box make sure you have the upper body strength to lug that sucker to your place or bring your bike (or hybrid car).

Potluck or… Pot“shucks”

We’ll admit it; we were a little worried about Katie’s cooking skills and these local veggies. Would their fresh flavour hold out against the “ooopsies!” and “was that baking soda… or powder I just put in’s” that mark her presence in a kitchen?

Kim, Stacey, Sarah, and Lisa tested their taste buds’ mettle and dug their forks in. Luckily, whatever the outcome of these dishes, Sarah and Kim had brought fondue, bread, and sausage, while Stacey and Lisa covered dessert with some delicious peanut-butter, chocolate chip cookies and raspberry-chocolate strudels. Plus, there’s nothing quite like good company to salvage a meal.

But amazingly enough, the meal didn’t require any salvaging! Hooray for fresh produce!

The great thing about buying incredibly fresh vegetables is versatility. Your recipes can range from Iron Chef to, well—Katie, because at the end of the meal, it’s all about the produce. It’s about the sweetness of the carrots, the tartness of the apples, the texture of the squash. And when you’re cooking for a potluck, it’s also always about the people who are sitting around the table with you.

On the Menu from the Good Food Box:
Carrots, roasted in butter and rosemary
Klondike Rose Potatoes, boiled then pan fried in garlic
Carrots and Peas (peas not from the Box)
Spaghetti squash, roasted, spaghetti-ed, and sautéed in a bit of brown sugar
Home made applesauce

By the way, the carrots are so sweet, with such a bright flavour, you might just consider eating them all raw.

If you’re looking for some quality produce at a reasonable price, or if you’re looking for a way to reduce the cost of your 100-mile diet check out the Good Food Box Program at www.fernwoodneighbourhood.ca/goodfoodbox.html. Find out the nearest distribution center to you before the next round of payments are due on March 4th.

The Good Food Box is also looking for volunteers. If you’re stoked about this program call (250)381-1552 ext. 33 or e-mail goodfoodbox@fernwoodneighbourhood.ca.

Thanks for reading! And don’t forget to check back for our post on eating local and the slow food movement coming up later in the week.

Happy Greening!

A little taste of next week

So this post was supposed to be on the Slow Food Movement, but after some thought it seems like Slow Food would be better placed with a bit about growing, buying, going locals-- part of next week's segment.   Plus, we had to figure out how we were going to prepare all these vegetables from the Good Food Box for a mini potluck with guest reviewers (and a reappearance by Lisa)!

Let’s be straight up—Katie is not the best cook.  So if these veggies turn out, it’s probably because of the natural taste of this fresh-from-the farm produce (and the recipes suggested by her father).  If they don’t turn out… we’ll talk about the veggies and fruits before their roasted fates (as well as give Katie a hard time about her cooking).

Hold your breath and let’s hope for the best.  The veggies started out beautiful!  Let’s just hope they stay that way.

Happy greening!

Red Fife: Eat Your Heart Out

Part of our goal is to keep the blog posts fairly manageable in size.  But what this might mean is an occasional “cliff-hanger” (we know you were all constantly refreshing the blog page in hopes of finding out what Red Fife was).  So instead of making a super long post and cramming everything in at once, we’ll occasionally have these follow-up posts to explain key terms and movements.  We will also try to identify what terms we will follow up on in the first post of the week.  Also, if there is anything you’d like us to follow up on, post your comments or send an e-mail!  We’d love to hear from you. 

What’s In a Grain? 

Now for the good stuff.  What exactly is this Red Fife that’s got artesian bakeries across Canada all in a tizzy?  

Well, for starters it’s one of Canada’s oldest heritage wheat, coming to these soils in 1842.  Don Genova in the Georgia Straight describes the mythical origins of this tiny grain, from an accidental trip on a hatband from a Ukrainian ship to a whacked out sample from Scotland.  In the end, however, it all ends up with a farmer in central Ontario named David Fife.  Because of Red Fife’s resistance to disease, early harvests, and heartiness in the harsh Ontario and later Prairie winters, it quickly became a staple of the Canadian landscape.

What are the benefits of Red Fife?  Well for one, because it is suited to Canada’s climate and soil, it requires minimal chemical inputs.  Red Fife is also the parent of most of Canada’s wheat. The fact that it was not manufactured in a lab is also a plus, creating a relationship between farmer and plant, human and nature—a relationship we are finding more and more important especially as we read Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement In the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming.

Despite the environmental benefits of a low chemical dependency and natural adaptation to the Canadian landscape, Red Fife’s popularity on the farm diminished over the years.  This is in part due to a hybrid wheat called Marquis Wheat.  This cross between Red Fife and Hard Red Calcutta wheat seemed to be even more resistant to disease and the Canadian climate.  Promoted by the Canadian Wheat Board, it quickly took over the tilled land once set aside for Red Fife.  Today only a handful of farmers grow and harvest this heritage wheat.  Despite it’s heartiness and rich flavor (I highly recommend the Three Seed Loaf from Wild Fire), Red Fife teetered on the brink of extinction as of 2004.  But with the encouragement of bakeries like Wild Fire and efforts by environmentalists like Sharon Rempel of The Garden Institute of B.C., Red Fife is making a come back on the farms and on Canadian palates. 

Old Grain, New Buzz

In light of Red Fife’s deep history in the Canadian landscape, it almost seems glib to say that Wild Fire Bakery introduced Red Fife to Vancouver Islander’s palates in 2003.  But if you checked out the EAT Magazine article on the connection between Red Fife’s revival and Wild Fire’s success, you’ve seen how promoting sustainable agricultural practices can also be a boon to the economy.  

Red Fife is not all fluff; it’s substance.  Seriously, try one of Wild Fire’s Red Fife loafs (most loaves except for Rye and other specific-grain breads).  You’ll notice the difference right away.  The texture contains just the right balance of substance and give. The taste—a little  Emril Lagasi “Bam!” or what EAT Magazine describes more eloquently as a “unique herby and spicy flavour with a subtle touch of anise and fennel.”    

More than just taste and preservation of an important heritage wheat, the burgeoning market for Red Fife encourages farmers to move away from wheat with patent and ownership baggage.  How strange is it, by the way, that one can patent a seed?

Once people rediscovered the unique taste of Red Fife, the market picked up.  More and more farmers are opening up their acres to this heritage wheat.  While Wild Fire gets its Red Fife from Saskatoon, farmers in Vancouver Island are climbing on board with the Red Fife movement. It won’t be long before Wild Fire is able to be entirely 100-mile-diet-friendly.  

More questions about Red Fife and its ecological benefits? Ask away!  We look forward to your comments and appreciate the insightful, helpful, and encouraging comments we’ve received from our readers so far. Thank you! And thank you all for reading!

Happy Geening!

Katie’s favorite homemade sandwich: 

Two slices of Wild Fire Bakery’s Three Seed bread

Avocado 

Red Leaf lettuce

Alfalfa sprouts

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

and a little bit of mayo

(she would’ve taken a picture, but… she ate it)

Growing like a Wild Fire-- Bakery, that is

For our first actual post, we thought we’d take one for the team, do some hard-core research, get our hands a little sticky, and… eat? 

Let's face it, one of the best parts about being environmentally conscious is that your new mind-frame can open up new culinary doors. For example, located on the corner of Quadra and Pandora (right by the #6 bus stop for all you bikers and mass transit takers) is a beacon of Victoria’s slow food* movement: Wild Fire Bakery.  Though a little out of the city center, it’s hard to miss the colourful mural on the Pandora side of the building. But it’s not the mural or the juxtaposing cozy, rustic interior that keep a steady stream of customers coming from 7:30 a.m. till closing, (usually leaving with a couple of bags, a few boxes, or scattered crumbs on their sleeves).  Wild Fire is famous for their artesian breads, their use of Red Fife wheat*, their cakes, and pastries—all organic, predominantly made from products grown on Vancouver Island or along the lower mainland, and some products that are vegan friendly, as well as wheat, gluten, sugar, diary, and/or egg free. 

“Local Kine Grindz”

Organic in itself is not necessarily enough to make it on this list. What makes Wild Fire stand apart is its commitment to supporting local and organic farmers.  Why can buying local be such a great thing?  First, it supports local and often times smaller farms.  Wild Fire Bakery keeps development local and helps sustain the important business of agriculture on Vancouver Island and the lower mainland.  By buying local, Wild Fire also reduces the amount of carbon emissions it could produce by importing food from say the US, Europe, or Asia.  Keeping the business local creates a community of ecological economics, a term coined by Paul Hawken. (Refer to side bar for reading recommendation).

(We’ll have more on the benefits of eating local coming up in the following weeks—most probably with next week’s post on Victoria’s Good Food Box).  

Biting In

Now, before you admire the building art, let us suggest that you step inside and grab a few snacks (or a Raspberry Mousse Cake or a loaf of Sprout Bread). Today we played it a little light and picked up a croissant, a blueberry Danish, a delicious chocolate tart, and a piece of carrot cake (unfortunately sans cream cheese icing).  We even had a guest taster—the fabulous Lisa—to help us with the taste test and see if this organic, local bakery really measured up. 

“Delicious” was probably the dead giveaway about the tart.  Emily liked the way the tart was neither too rich, nor too sweet.  The filling, a light but creamy chocolate, complimented the flaky pastry.  The best part about the tart, though, was the thin shavings of milk and white chocolate on top.  They literally melt in your mouth.  

The carrot cake—we weren’t so sold on.  However, this might be due to the buyer’s faux pas.  Way to not ask for the cream cheese icing, Katie.  But let Katie’s mistake be a warning to you all—ask for the icing.  The slice was also a bit small, but for about $1.25, not too bad.   The cake itself was moist but did contain raisins (note to readers of authors’ bias: raisins in baked goods just don’t fly). 

The naturally leavened croissant proved Katie’s favorite—crisp on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside, with just enough flaking to make every bite mouth watering.

And last but not least, Lisa’s favorite and all around crowd pleaser, the Blueberry Danish.  While the Danish you usually get is thin with more custard than fruit, this Danish was leavened and lined in the middle of its curve with just enough blueberries to make a mouth happy (if you like blueberries of course).  The bread had just the right amount of give when your teeth first bit in and seemed to melt in your mouth by the center.  And while Danishes tend to be overly sweet, this one’s likeness to an unsweetened, un-cinammon-ed bun impressed the three judges.

Verdict: Check it out.  Whether you’re vegan and looking for some delicious pastries, or you're just looking for delicious pastries—it’s a yummy, local, artesian bakery to a grab breakfast, snack, or dessert at. They even have sandwiches (which look delicious). 

If you try the sandwiches or any of the other products, leave a comment and tell us what you think. Also, let us know what you’d like to hear about, how you think this blog can improve, etc. We’d love to hear from you. 

*Also, stay tuned for Wednesday’s follow-up post on Red Fife wheat and Friday’s post on the slow food movement, as well as next week’s post on Victoria’s Good Food Box.

Oh yeah, and remember to ask for the cream cheese frosting. 

Thanks for reading! Happy greening!

Wild Fire Bakery:

1517 Quadra St.

Victoria, BV V8W 2L3

(250)381-3474

wildfirebreads@shaw.ca

Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Here's a great article on Wild Fire Bakery and Red Fife to tide you over till Wednesday from EAT Magazine.

The Marmot Murmurs, "Welcome."

Thanks for stopping in to the marmot murmurs site!  Ever want some concrete suggestions?   Committed to reducing your environmental impact, but don’t know where to go to get a jump-start? This is just a little blog to keep us all updated and in the loop about the services, activities, workshops, and lectures on Vancouver Island to help all of us in our efforts to live a happy, healthy, eco-friendly life.  Each week we will highlight a particular eco-friendly service in this neck of woods.  The weeks will also be sprinkled here and there with posts about upcoming lectures and eco-friendly, sustainability related events (as well as the occasional lecture review and critique).   

In recent years, sustainability and environmentally friendly have become near meaningless catch phrases used by countries, businesses, and individuals alike to garner blind support from a world population that just wants to do some good.   In light of this, we should clarify what we mean by environmentally friendly and sustainable.  Also, in each of our posts, we’ll tell you why these places, events, and/or services earn this title—or don’t!  

By sustainability, we’re talking about sustainable development.  While some people might consider sustainability (literally a maintenance of a certain state) and development (literally the changing of a certain state) as an inherent contradiction, we’d like to think otherwise—as long as you assume the joint terms both refer to different things. 

Sustainable will refer to a low impact (admittedly not necessarily sustaining, but—close) on the environment, or an impact that is countered by acts of environmental restoration by the individuals, organizations, or services.  In the end, an environmentally sustainable service will be one that cultivates a mutually nurturing relationship between people and the environment. Development will refer in part to the economic portion, but also to the non-monetary progress created (e.g. through the enhancement of the environment and the fostering of critical discussion and new ideas).

For organizations whose practices do more than just sustain the environment and offset their impacts through other environmental contributions, we’ll reserve the label “restorative development,” as coined by Storm Cunningham in The Restoration Economy. 

Why this insistence over the co-habitability of economics and our ecosystem?  Exactly because of their names, economics and our ecosystem.  Connected by their root words, economics literally means “the laws of the house” while ecosystem refers to the very “house” economics seeks to order.  For all you bibliophiles and fellow word-lovers out there, isn’t it about time we start looking at these words as interconnected as their related meanings suggest?  Luckily, there are people and businesses already on top of it.  

Some of the “sustainable” and “environmentally friendly” criteria we are looking for in services and businesses are: local production, low carbon emissions, organic, and also fairly traded items (though not necessarily Fair Trade items).  We’re also looking for people, places, and services that contribute to the local environment in a volunteer capacity. In terms of lectures and workshops, we’re looking for speakers, facilitators, and discussions that provide a critical and complex look at the many interactions between humans and the environment.

And expect us to be honest in our posts. None of this tip-toeing, afraid to step on a few un-recycled cans bit (we will of course promptly pick up those cans and toss them in a recycling bin). That said, we welcome your comments and expect you to be honest—even brutally so if you think we’ve missed the mark.  We also welcome suggestions as to places, events, etc. to take a look at and review. J

Thanks for reading! Happy greening!