100 Mile Diet Challenge Chez Nous AND UBC Farm Healing Hedgerows Workshop!!!!

Is it local? Maple sugar pie at The Flying Pig in Yaletown

Well folks, it seems our son has volunteered our family for his science project. We're taking on a 100 mile diet challenge with virtually no plan in sight. Strewth!!!! When I told him I'd better phone his grandma to make sure she had ordered a local turkey, the prospect of abstaining from the bird if it did not fall within the required radius was not on. "That's taking it too far!" he said. "Mom, failure will be an important part of this process." It's true--we will fail, but we will fail with style! Luckily we live within a stone's throw of a store called Organic Acres on Main Street which sells lots of local projects. I spoke to one of the owners and he is going to help us map out our food miles. My first seasonal purchase: a pumpkin from Surrey. I also bought BC wheat flour, spelt flour and quick oats which will come in handy tomorrow morning.

I've got to head to one of the Wednesday markets tomorrow to get in some provisions and luckily Saturday I'll be heading to the UBC  Farm to shop at the market and then do a workshop with the amazingly talented Lori Snyder! Please join us!

https://hedgerowsworkshopoct.eventbrite.ca/

Healing Hedgerows for Humans and Bees

Join the Madame Beespeaker and herbalist Lori Snyder for an autumn tour of the Agroforestry hedgerows of UBC Farm followed by hands-on experience making simple home remedies from hedgerow plants (which include weeds and herbaceous plants naturalized around the hedges). Madame Beespeaker will talk about the ways hedgerows can provide a solution to supporting the health of honeybees as well as providing habitat for our precious native bees. Lori Snyder will show you how to forage for seasonal wild edibles and make medicines from hedgerow plants.

We'll begin with a plant identification walk on the farm. Then we'll head indoors where we learn how to make seasonal medicines using natural local ingredients while enjoying herbal tea with infused honey. We will make a wild green salad served with infused wild herb vinaigrettes, and learn how to make rosehip syrup and blackberry shrub (drinking vinegar).

The presenters:

Born and raised in Squamish, BC of Metis descent, Lori Snyder started studying and playing with plant medicine 27 years ago. The interest began when she wanted to know what were the best skin care products to buy. This led into the world of Aromatherapy meeting various teachers and then into the study of herbalism. Lori has two young daughters who she practices on using many different medicines. Personal health is a passion for Lori who enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience of plants.

Madame Beespeaker aka Lori Weidenhammer is a an eco-artist with a passion for bees, birds and the plants that support them. She is also an art educator, a member of the Second Site Collective and she gives talks on how we can support bees. Lori has been volunteering on UBC Farm for over six years, most recently helping out at the honeybee tours at the market. She blogs at www.beespeakersaijiki.blogspot.ca.

Mayan Cooking Class and Feast at UBC Farm

 

 

I am a big fan of the Mayan gardeners at UBC Farm. The bright costumes and colourful produce and flowers add colour and flair to the Saturday market. I decided to sign up for a Mayan cooking class they held this weekend at the farm. When I enter the farm center the table is laid out with beautiful purple and red cloths woven with traditional designs. I ask permission to take photographs and promise not to give away their secrets. "You couldn't give away our secrets because no one else has these condiments, one woman says," meaning ingredients. She's absolutely right. Over the next two hours we had the privilege of sampling some unique ingredients and condiments.

 

These crops were grown from seeds they carried with them when they fled Guatemala in the 1980's. During Guatemala's 36 year long civil war (1960-1996) 200,000 Mayans and Indigenous people were killed by the Guatemalan army in what was called their "scorched earth policy". In the early 1980's approximately 200,000 ethnic Mayans fled Guatelmala to go to Mexico, Honduras and other countries. In 1985 the Canadian government opened up a refugee program and a few families moved to British Columbia. The Mayans in Vancouver were homesick for their land, their corn and beans and their traditions and they started a garden on Barnston Island from 1986 to 1999. It was difficult for the families to travel to the island and in 2000 the Mayan support group found out about the UBC Farm Roots and Shoots program which helped them start the garden they have at the farm today.

One of the gardeners explained why the garden on UBC Farm is so precious to them. Life in the city is stressful and this garden helps them to unwind, keep in touch with the land and keep their culture alive. They can practise their culture growing the three sisters: bean, corn, and squash. "That's really who we are," he says, " We are the children of the corn."

 

When I hear him say "We are the Children of the Corn"--a thrill goes up my spine. And not just because I'd watched a horror movie at a tender age with that title that made me fear people with black nail polish. Corn has been getting a bad wrap lately with Michael Pollen and Margaret Visser deconstructing the corn industry in North America. We need to be reminded that corn is a sacred food, in spite of what we've done to it.

Besides at least two varieties of corn, three varieties of squash, and three types of beans, the Mayans grow sunflowers, tomatilloes, amaranth, cilantro, and epazote. Beans, corn, herbs and squash are eaten in endless variations in their soups and tamales. Even pumpkin seeds are toasted and put inside the tamales.

 

The decorative dahlias (don't eat them, they're toxic) are grown near their homes because one year the tractor came too close to the garden and destroyed them (oops!) and because they need to be watered more than once a week in the summer.  Dahlia fanatics will dig the tubers up and store them in winter, but these ladies shrug and say "They just keep growing."

 My favourite dish of the class was the dessert made from three kinds of squash and brown sugar, but I'm not going to tell you how to make it-- you'll have to come to one of their fabulous workshops--and make sure you arrive with an empty stomach!