Welsh Onions and Wales

   During this Royal Week there will be a lot of attention paid to Wales.  It is appropriate that this is the week Welsh Onions are ready to harvest.  Whatever year it is, the commencement of the new season’s first harvest is always a very special time. 

This wonderful allium is grown and enjoyed in Wales.  But its moniker actually comes from an archaic meaning “foreign onion”.  The foreign origin of this onion is South-East Asia where it known as loved as the true Scallion.  Whatever its heritage, it grows so well in southern Ontario as a perennial onion that it is ready for harvest even before fiddleheads. 

Their clean aromatic and slightly garlicy flavour with tender white flesh and soft green leaves makes it a wonderful side to any seasonal main course.  Make use of it as a substitute for Baby Leeks (which will not be ready for a few more weeks).

Freshly pulled Welsh Onions are ready for your kitchen.

An Election is coming

   The good news is that all the parties are at least mentioning a Food Policy [rather than merely farm policies].  The bad news is that none of them go far enough.  My personal take on each of the parties approach to food policy is:

Conservatives:  Stephen Harper summarized his party’s policy when I met him at Prince Charles’ farewell dinner at Rideau Hall.  After my telling him that I grew vegetables, he replied categorically, “I hate vegetables!”  [This statement was made no more than 5 meters from the always diplomatic Prince Charles.]  I then added that I grow such delicious vegetables they are served in the best hotels and restaurants plus Rideau Hall.  His reply was, “I have had vegetables at those fancy-schmancy places and they are not worth all the money they charge.”  The party supports more subsidized crop insurance so there will continue to be plenty of risky cheap food.

Liberals:  Wayne Easter, the former Minister of Agriculture and current Agriculture Critic spoke at a local farm conference I attended last January.  He strongly stated that, “It is time for Canada to cease being the good “Boy Scout” when it comes to food trade.  We can no longer allow other countries to dump their excess food into Canada.  This is killing our Farms!  There is no reason in the world that Canada should have the cheapest food in the world.”  After his presentation, I went up to him to congratulate him on his bravery for telling the truth.  Unfortunately I do not see anything like this statement in the Party Platform.

New Democratic Party:  I worked with Jack Layton on projects when he was a councillor in Toronto.   I always admired his eagerness to try to adopt the “right solution”.  There is not much NDP presence in rural Ontario so there is not much value in my voting for his policies here.  But if you vote in an urban riding, you would do well to support his useful understanding of the issues.  After all, it will be majority urbanites who eventually bring about the good changes.

Bloc Quebecois:  We of course cannot vote for this party.  But Quebec does have many very useful supports for their own farmers.  Our food would change considerably if we could adopt some of their policies.

Green Party:  Elizabeth May, as President of the Sierra Club, was always generous in providing me with useful information when I wrote about alternative agriculture for The Globe and Mail and various magazines [prior to my starting Cookstown greens].  She always returned my calls when I wanted to know about coming changes to agriculture policy.  She understands what farmers are up against.

Unbiased Food Policy comparisons from the experts

   The Munk Centers’ Harriet Friedman commented on the parties’ food policies on CTV News.  This party-by-party breakdown of food policy comes from The Globe and Mail.

Please start thinking about Spring Menus

   Sales this past winter remained brisker than we were prepared for.  (It seems as though the recession is really over.)  As a result, availability from our root cellar is becoming limited.  We apologize for running out of so many items prior to the start of new Spring Crops.  This week marks the end of Candy Cane Beets and Titan Leeks.  This is also Last Call for Crosnes.

Spring always comes quickly and rather unpredictably.  So you will need to be prepared for making creative use of these celebratory delicacies on very short notice.  Also remember that the season for many of these ephemeral delights ends just as quickly.  To provide a heads-up, here are photos of how they looked on our farm just before the latest snowfall.  Please note that NONE of these are ready in sufficient quantity this week.  We will let you know when (and if) they do become available.  These are listed in more or less the order we expect they may become available.

Always reliable, but not yet made their appearance, are Asparagus, Fiddleheads and Ramps.  Harvest for these typically begins about the time dandelions begin to flower in downtown Toronto – the first or second week of May.

A heads-up about our new salad innovation

   23 years ago Cookstown Greens introduced Baby Salad Greens to Ontario Chefs.  The idea for this salad began in the  Ontario Pavilion Restaurant at Vancouver’s Expo ’86 managed by Toronto restaurateur Franco Prevedello.  He set out create an Italian Saladisi with the good market gardeners at Vancouver’s Glorious Salad Green and Garnish Company.  The restaurant [with its salad] was a big hit.  Even Alice Waters sent San Francisco Bay area chefs, farmers and media to first experience what would become the California Cuisine.  Lest we forget its Ontario provenance.

Baby Salad Greens have remained Cookstown Green’s best selling item ever since.  The percentage dropped during the Spring Mix price-war that began in 1994 and continued for over a decade.  [In 1994 the going price was a fair $30 per pound; now it is unsustainably dumped into Canada at under $6 per pound.]  Nevertheless, sales of our superior [and definitely less mundane] blend once again continue to rise.

Growing year-round salad greens has challenges.  The low-light of winter leads to dull and flabby leaves.  To overcome this we had to let the leaves freeze a bit every night.  But new varieties bred for winter greenhouse production meant we could raise our night-time temperatures for more production yet maintain excellent quality.  Salad greens do not like the heat of summer.  For our first decade this was not a problem.  But we were hearing horror stories from fellow growers in Pennsylvania, then New York State, and finally in Southern Ontario.  We experimented with expensive shade houses to stave off the problem.  But then we began to realize that our investment in exceptionally healthy soil with lots of soil-life, meant the typical summer heat problems failed to materialize.

Now that we have gained enough expertise to reliably grow in a warming climate, we believe we can provide each of our customers with their own customized salad.  This might be as simple as straight arugula or an assortment of lettuces.  Or it may be your own combination of several more leafy greens.  We are currently determining exactly how to best harvest, package and price these special blends.  We will not start sales until the first week of June.  But to help in your summer menu planning, we will provide you with the final details in a week or two!

Last week the soil was finally dry enough for our first Salad Green seeding!

It is now covered with re-purposed greenhouse plastic

to keep it warm and ready to harvest before the end of May.

Slow Food International comes to Toronto

   The General Secretary will be speaking about a global vision for food at George Brown College on April 12.  Promoting local foods throughout the world is good for us and it is good for everyone else.  After the event you can walk over to Gilead Cafe where Jamie Kennedy will be serving a set local menu.

Green Living Show

   Recent Governor General Award Winner, Jamie Kennedy, will be honoured on April 15 at the Green Living Show.  Following this will be the 2011 Green Toronto Awards.  This year’s finalists in the Local Food category are Everdale Environmental Learning Centre, The Healthy Butcher, and Toronto Beekeepers Co-operative.  Cookstown Greens was one of last year’s finalists so please take a look at me with the 2010 finalists.  Throughout the show there will be a wide assortment of food at the Farm Fresh Fare section.  This year we are paired with Food Share, last year’s Local Food winner.

Is it Local Food?

   This You Tube chuckle is worth 2 minutes of your time.

Working with; not against nature

   After the snow melted last month, I walked through last year’s gardens to survey what had survived.  Since there was good snow cover through most of the winter, there was plenty of spinach, lettuce, kale, chicory, treviso, and chard nosing their way toward the sun.  From experience, I knew winter is not usually the challenge in survival.  It is early spring.  As you may recall, soon after the melt came another bitter blast of winter.  Now nearly all the promising signs of an extra early harvest leafy are gone.  Hopefully more growth tips will make another attempt to grow.  Then you can enjoy some of the most deliciously sweet and creamy greens of the year.

Those who visited the farm in the late fall noticed the many culls left behind to fertilize the fields.  There were crooked carrots, beets with a mouse bite, salsify too small for a busy kitchen, and turnips nibbled by some resident rabbits.  Through the winter, our neighbourhood deer and turkeys obviously enjoyed these treats and were thoughtful enough to leave their pellets behind.  The fields are now clean – a sign there are now too many deer.  Another sign of too many deer is we are now hearing more coyote pups howling through the nights.  As a result, gun toting hunters are coming to the door wanting to help farmers by hunting these coyote.  I reply, “No thank you.  The coyotes are our friends because they control the mice, rabbits and deer.” 

Now that most of the frost is gone from the soil, we have been able to start our early spring harvest.  You will note that we once again have freshly harvested Crosnes and Parsley Roots back on the Availability List.

With the sun getting higher in the sky, it is getting to be like summer in the greenhouses.  So we are getting ready to plant the Heirloom Tomatoes.  For the past couple years we have been getting more pressure from tomato diseases.  The conventional method for dealing with this is to fumigate the soil to kill every living thing.  Testing last summer indicated that we have hundreds of beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, amoebas, nematodes, earthworms and ground beetles -- and three deleterious organisms.  It is folly to kill everything.  So we have set out to multiply the beneficials by providing plenty of rabbit food (alfalfa pellets), seaweed powder, and molasses in very warm and moist conditions.  Then they will be in sufficient numbers to control any harmful organisms.  At 50°C the harmful organisms die; and the beneficial survive.

Solarizing the greenhouse to raise the soil temperature to 50°C.

New Sustainable Food Production program comes to Guelph

   It has been a long time coming, but the new Loblaw Companies Chair in Sustainable Food Production has been announced.  As a long-time advocate of sustainable practices, it is refreshing to finally see some University recognition that there may be a better way to feed ourselves, our children and our guests.

New Farmers are needed to “fix the mess”

   Former US Secretary of Agriculture was famous for his philosophy of “Get big or get out”.  A result of the cheap food his policies created is that the average age of farmers is reaching 60.  This New York Times article describes part of the solution.  New farmers are getting some basic training; but they still lack access to land and equipment.

Is the Food Movement eclipsing the Green Movement?

   This Article in Time Magazine is just one more sign that there are changes coming to the way we eat.

Sent: April 25, 2010

Thank You for the Green recognition

   Winning Ontario Supplier of the Year in 2002 and Canada Supplier of the Year in 2007 were of course extraordinary honours.  Being selected as a Local Foods Finalist for the 2010 Green Toronto Awards was another great honour.  We always do our best to research, carry-out, and share the most beneficial ecological agriculture practices.  We are primarily looking for the best ways to:

·         incorporate organic matter into our soil,

·         reduce working the soil with tractors,

·         minimize the need for irrigation yet maximize the best flavours,

·         obtain fertility from natural biological activity.

Hearing all the innovative ways the finalists are enhancing Toronto and adding to a greener world, made it clear that the judges had no easy choices.  Debbie Field of FoodShare Toronto was the well deserved Local Foods winner.  To learn more about other winners, look at this City of Toronto News Release.

Since 1988, Cookstown Greens has been demonstrating to farmers, top chefs and consumers that providing high-quality local food year-round can be profitable. Founder David Cohlmeyer, a leader on the food scene since 1983, shares his knowledge widely through magazines, e-newsletters, seminars and farm tours. Constantly improving practices, he helps other farmers, gardeners and would-be producers tap into Toronto’s growing interest in ecological local foods.

Many of our chefs receive Recognition

   For the past 7 years, everyone’s favourite cheese shop selects 10 acclaimed chefs to present cooking demonstrations.  They are also given a White Toque Trophy (and this year they also received a camel hair jacket courtesy of the Toronto Zoo.)   Learn more about Cheese Boutique's 2010 Festival of Chefs.

Sent: April 18, 2010

A Perfect Storm?

   The summer of ’08 was the wettest on record.  Fortunately we were able to pull in a full harvest of storage root vegetables, but the sudden recession meant that for the first time we failed to sell the entire crop.  So cash for the summer of ‘09 started a little low.  Then Cookstown Greens suffered from yet another wettest summer on record.  This time our summer harvest was down 20% and the fall root vegetable harvest was down a whopping 30% from expected.  Though demand last winter rose to a record high level, we did not have sufficient inventory to improve cash flow.  So available cash for the summer of ‘10 is starting uncomfortably low.  To make matters worse, our refrigerated delivery van recently died.

But the most frustrating turn of events is that both the federal and provincial government supports have been nearly eliminated.  No one likes talking about this, but in the early 90’s, the Mulroney government saw to it that Canadian farmers would receive annual supports amounting to about 10% of gross sales.  This was to help even the NAFTA playing field with the generous U.S. support programs.  This program continued until 2004.  By 2008 only 1.5% total support remained, (and this has not yet even been paid!)  Most farmers welcome elimination of supports; but it is totally unfair for us to be expected to compete with overly generous supports which remain unchanged in the countries we import from.

To help us weather this storm, we ask that you do what you can to choose to use what we do have available at this rather sparse time of year.  Seedlings would be great!  (For pictures please look at our Seedling Webpage.)  How about Purple Basil with a special chocolate dessert?  Burgundy Radish looks great on appetisers, soups, salads and entrees.  For a great garnishing salad, ask for a sample of Mixed Seedlings.  Another way you can help is by working our signature Baby Salad Greens into your menus – either as a garnishing salad or as an impressive small salad.  We are now taking advantage of the mild spring weather by getting early starts of Baby Fennel Bulbs, Sugar Snap Peas, Shelling Peas, and Baby Leeks.  Fiddleheads, Wild Leeks and Asparagus should be ready any day now.

Sarah Elton’s new book discusses the issues our farmers face.

Locavore is a good read

   Sarah’s new book is a little Toronto-centric, but that is a good thing for this audience.  She asks (and answers) the questions I keep hearing from chefs, farmers’ market customers, and the media.  There is even a page about Cookstown Greens’ greenhouses.  Please read

Sasha Chapman's review in The Globe and Mail.  Or read Malcom Jolley's review in Good Food Revolution.

Thank you for writing this, Sarah.