POWELL RIVER GREENS OPENED OUR EYES

We’re Being Left in the dust, when it comes to dirt, by our progressive coastal neighbours. A mid-August day trip to Powell River to attend the 3^rd Annual Edible Garden Contest really opened our eyes to the possibilities of food gardening. Whether one’s property is at 750 feet or down at sea level, whether the land is carved out of a clearing in the deep forest or a perfectly groomed display in a posh residential area, it is possible to produce remarkable amounts of nourishing food for the family table.

I have been following Powell River’s progress online since 2006 when this gutsy little community of 18,000 announced it’s intention to begin a 50-Mile Eat-Local challenge. My daughter, Kathie Klassen, and I were eager to see what they had achieved since that radical idea of eating local was first launched. Checking the map, the only other shopping area inside the boundaries of that circle is the Comox Valley. But at almost $30 roundtrip for a foot passenger on the ferry, shopping for food outside of Powell River doesn’t make economic sense.

The garden contest covered as far out of town as Lund so we were fortunate to have Kevin Wilson, an avid member of the town’s garden community, to act as driver/tour guide. What interested us particularly was the fact that three out of the four properties we toured were literally carved out of clearings surrounded by deep forest. One stop was at Pete Tebbutt’s site. He was one of the shareholders in a six family acreage known as the Craig Road Co-op. The veggies were thriving despite a healthy supply of rocks that were being removed one by one. What really amazed us was that he was growing greens and tomatoes on property that was sited 750 feet above sea-level.

In a future column I will share more details about specific gardening techniques used by Powell River residents that will be inspiring to readers. Meanwhile, I want to list the number of organizations that have renewed themselves or sprung to life since this amazing community embraced the “radical” idea of growing and eating local food; The Edible Garden Tour, The Community Resource Centre which organizes the Winter Farmer’s Market, A Good Food Box which has set up a bulk produce buying program, Kale Force which meets every second Wednesday of the month in the Community Centre to share a potluck and conversation about food and gardening, P.R. Food Security Project, Skookum Food Co-op, the Skookum Gleaners which was formerly known as the Fruit Tree Project and lastly, the P.R. Food Literary Council.

What inspired me about Powell River was the enthusiasm and pride we experienced at every one of the ten gardens we visited. It is a community sharing a common vision and a belief that they are making a difference in the quality of their lives and the security of their food sources…enviable goals for sure.

A MIRACLE, CHICKEN DUNG TEA

The Ultimate Gift for a food gardener… a gunny-sack of chicken manure. No one but a couple of elderly farm kids could understand the thrill. My friend Walter and I were thinking back on childhoods in the 1930s raised by families that maintained large food gardens. There was no such thing as running to the store and returning with bags of purchased food. We vaguely remember lugging home a small sack containing salt, pepper or tea, sugar and flour which would cover the essentials but very little else.

However, we both vividly remember the dripping sack of chicken manure that hung in a huge barrel of water, outside the woodshed. Our families used the liquid inside the barrel, which we referred to as “Chicken Dung Tea”, on veggies, flowers, young treelings and in fact any growing thing that looked like it needed a shot in the arm. As a recent surprise gift for me Walter spotted a 60 gal. blue drum at the local auction and was the successful bidder for a modest $10 bill. He dragged the drum home, drilled a hole near the bottom for a spigot and filled it to the top with water. Next he found a metal bar that fitted nicely across the top of the barrel and from that he hung a gunny sack filled with about 10 pounds of chicken manure.

I viewed the operation with childlike enthusiasm and every morning I pulled aside the lid to peer into the depths and check if the manure was gradually dissolving into the water. Walter said “wait at least two weeks” but that didn’t suit my impatient nature so on the seventh day I twisted open the spigot and filled my watering can with this delicious offering. Flowers, veggies, blueberry bushes, fruit trees and roses all got a generous dose of the chicken dung tea and I quickly used up the contents of the 60 gal. drum. Since then we have made and used two more barrels.

Now I want to tell you without exaggeration my 10 tomato plants literally shot out of the ground. They are now averaging between four and five feet high in fact getting so rangy that I clipped most of the tops off as the fruits are beginning to shape up and too much foliage will weaken the plants ability to grow tomatoes to full size. The three rose bushes are remarkable as well with dense green shiny leaves and exquisitely formed rosebuds. That humble sack of chicken manure in a dirty old gunny-sack turned out to be the “bestest” present I ever had!

There’s an Edible Garden Tour on Aug. 7 held at Powell River which sounds fascinating. Gardeners over there are kicking off the sixth annual 50-Mile Eat Local Challenge and the third year for the edible garden tour. What a great way to see how other people in the region are producing some of their own food and I hope to see you there. The tour includes Lund, Wildwood, Westview, Cranberry and Townsite. Here’s an opportunity to view what other small communities are doing to promote the locally-grown food movement which is sweeping across the islands. For more info check Google for Powell River’s third annual Edible Garden Tour.

THIS INTRUDER, SORREL, CAUGHT MY EYE

Sorrel Is An Amazing perennial and its versatility continues to surprise me. It arrived in my patio garden last summer, uninvited. The seed was likely dropped there by a passing bird. The first inclination is to yank out any identified weedy plant but there was something about its leafy greenness that caused me to relent. It survived the harsh waterfront winter and this spring when I was scratching around in the raised bed looking for a herb to punch up my store-bought lettuce the intruder caught my eye. In the early stage Sorrel looks rather like Romaine in appearance but with a distinct lemony bite. It turned out to be just the right addition to add taste and interest to a limp leafed head lettuce purchased in a local market. As well it is brilliant in a pot of potato soup combined with early chives and lightly grilled onions. My sorrel is now beginning to bolt but it is producing stems full of tiny seeds. If you are curious about this ancient plant send me an email at msostler@telus.net and I will search out a source for seeds or mail you a few seeds from my garden.

Speaking of “Bolting” have you gardeners noticed that so many of your plants are going to seed, practically as soon as they are ready for picking? My information was passed on by a local garden club authority who explained that the long very cold spell in May shortly after plants had begun to mature gave the wrong message to the affected plants. Poor things thought winter was arriving and as their mission while on earth is to reproduce they immediately went in to seed production. Fortunately, I now practice succession planting and had a wide array of young seedlings sprouting in containers on my sunny window sills so I was able to replace bolting plants with young starters.

“But How Do You Really Know It’s Organic?” is a question posed by so many cynical acquaintances as I confidently laud the benefits of organic vegetables. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, after a two year phase-in period for Canadian farmers and operators, has announced that effective 1 July 2011 products labeled “organic” in Canada must carry the label “Biologique Canada Organic” logo. Now in full effect, the regulations have leveled the playing field and given domestic and foreign consumers confidence in the organic label. In addition to providing consumers with confidence at home, the Canadian organic system is trusted by our two major trading partners, the United States and Europe. Recognition of Canada’s organic standards by both the European Union and the U.S. shows that our standards are amongst the best in the world and opens up a huge new market overseas for our organic products.

On July 25 The Local Agriculture Steering Committee, of which I am a member, will bring forward to City Council the plan for developing a strong agriculture sector in Campbell River. Many of readers will be surprised to know that one third of the land within the city borders is designated Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) . The committee has spent the past year, with the assistance of staff and land specialists, identifying areas of Campbell River with strong soil values and the potential for agricultural use. Vancouver Island once produced more than half of the region’s food requirements. In the past 50 years this number has dropped to an average of less than 10 percent. Agriculture is now re-establishing itself on the Island and the Committee’s vision is that Campbell River become more sustainable with the production of local food grown on its’ own land. This is an exciting time to be setting new directions and looking at new ways to develop our community and become part of the exciting locally grown food movement on Vancouver Island.

EARLY SPRING CAN ENHANCE A MEAL

That Long Rainy Month of May is thankfully over. It did create a deepening sense of despair that the growing season would never begin. I had a great yearning to begin eating something produced in my own garden and the only three plants in the patch that were bursting with enthusiasm were the perennial parsleys, chives and sorrel. The huge Portuguese kale had taken a battering over the winter and despite the lure of consuming those big crunchy leaves I left the plant to recover. Making do with what was available I chopped up one cup of chives and parsley, two cups of left over cooked potatoes, two free- run eggs, and mashed them all together with herbed seasonings. Shaping them into large patties they were grilled in a hot cast-iron pan. Served with a slice or two of locally raised bacon makes an irresistibly good quick meal. I am just discovering the wonders of growing sorrel. It is a big deep green leafy perennial, rather like Romaine lettuce in appearance with a distinct lemony edge. It certainly punches up the flavour of a store-bought lettuce when there is nothing else in the garden with which to create an interesting salad.

Checking Out Other people’s gardens is a constant source of inspiration and this time I took my friend and mentor, Georgene Price along for the ride. Georgene is well over 90 years and yet has an abiding delight in the wonders of the garden patch. Last year she sold her Candy Lane home and moved into a waterfront condo at Willow Point. Leaving her beloved vegetable garden behind was a painful wrench but it didn’t take long to find a niche. She immediately volunteered to oversee the Sybil Morgan Andrews cottage garden where she had spent so many happy hours years ago learning to paint under Sybil’s tutelage. It was obvious that tending that small garden wasn’t enough for Georgene’s boundless energy. The next task was to take on the development of her son Gordon’s back yard. He’s working out of town now and she has a generous space planned out and already partly planted. It is most likely that she will plant far more than she could ever consume but her son and her neighbours will be the beneficiary of her generous spirit.

Spin Gardening is an off–shoot of Spin Farming. That is essentially what Georgene is doing. The gardening part of the spin is where a person, who does not have land, offers to cultivate a vegetable garden in someone else’s back yard in exchange for keeping the owner supplied with fresh grown food. This concept, on a larger scale, was pioneered in Canada by Sasktoon farmer, Wally Satzewich and his partner Gail Vandersteen have become an urban phenomena throughout the country. Satzewich is now renting around 25 backyards in the city totaling about a half-acre of growing space. He and his partner make a good living on their market sales. In Victoria Spin Gardening is wildly popular and not only are these gardeners providing food for the property owners but are marketing the surplus at either a market garden co-op or a direct-to-the door system. It is exciting to see these new developments on Vancouver Island that reduce our dependency on shipments from the mainland and also provide us with fresh high quality foods.

THE MYSTERY FARM REVEALED

The Mystery Of The Farm Property under development at the corner of Peterson and Evergreen Road is solved. The answer is Campbell River’s first organic blueberry farm! Former financial advisor, Michelle White, was more at home in a well organized office until intermittent visions of a career as a farmer finally took precedent over life at a keyboard. She realized she had to respond to the calling of her heart. “ I observed the great shift that is taking place in our society,” explained Michelle. “People are becoming more aware of food production and its’ quality. They are awakening to the demand for organic food, raised locally. I saw clearly that being involved in food production was the answer to my search for a meaningful direction.” Michelle and her husband, Steve Ross, were fortunate in that they already owned the acerage on Peterson. A soil analysis showed quality earth with a high acidic content suitable for crops such as blueberries. They checked the property laws with staff at city hall and found that Bylaw 3205 was surprisingly flexible and allowed for nursery or large crops in specific residential areas.

The couple could have chosen to develop multi residential housing or patio homes on the three and a half acres but chose farming instead. The blueberry site takes up an acre and Michelle is mulling over the possibilities for specialty crops on the remaining land. She told me that vast numbers of people have been stopping by when she is working outside and ask what is going on. She knows that in many cases the sight of their small farm activity is inspiring many other passerby’s to reevaluate their own properties and the possibilities of planting small commercial or personal crops in the Quinsam Heights area. Watch that corner for new developments.

As An Ever Increasing Number of cities and rural areas have adopted poultry bylaws and the latest to take the leap is Saanich Municipality. They join Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria and New Westminster, and many smaller towns around B.C. in welcoming hens into residential areas. Generally the bylaws limit the number of cluckers to four and the backyard enclosure must be roofed and cannot exceed eight or nine square meters in area. Other than the production of warm, fresh eggs every morning the other great benefits of chickens are the deposits of manure rich in nutrients and the efficient way those cluckers hoover up all the garden pests without your needing to use pesticides. In terms of a poultry bylaw Campbell River is so far behind the movement in food self sufficiency… l would suggest that our city is a “little chicken” when it comes to change.

TIMBERLINE'S EDIBLE COURTYARD

The Edible Courtyard, a creative garden plan by a dynamic former student at Timber Secondary School, is now underway in the school’s spacious interior court. Kira DeSorcy, who recently graduated from Camosun College’s Agricultural Division, is heading a group of past and present students, including Louis Patterson. They are in the process of building the garden to include raised planting beds, First Nations edible plants, dwarf fruit trees, berry and culinary herbs border, garden shed and classroom shelter. The project has so far received funds from NIC and Renewable Resources Co. and Core Systems which manufacture green alternatives to wheelchair accessible pathways. Students are also planning an Environmental Stewardship Day at Timberline Secondary School which will involve workshops, presentations and a marketplace. In particular the market is open to display for companies that offer eco-friendly products and information to their customers. The event will be held on Apr. 21^st at Timberline and for those interested in participating in the market please email kira.desorcy@hotmail.com .

If Your Fingers Are Itching to begin the planting season early here’s a suggestion for a satisfying crop that can be direct-seeded into your pots and garden strips. Salad greens are the answer. Try arugula, corn salad, raddicchio, lettuces, oriental greens, peas, spinach and swiss chard. These suggestions were taken from a West Coast Seeds planting chart and within weeks you will find yourself picking fresh, crunchy leaves for wonderful evening salads. Using these seeds last season my deck pots were bursting with greens by mid May.

Basil Is My Favourite herb which I use generously for flavouring tomato dishes and sprinkling on salads. Start seeds indoors and wait until mid June to move the generally finicky plants outside. They thrive when placed under the sheltering leaves of your tomato plants. Pick a hot spot on the deck, preferably against a wall and those deliciously pungent smelling plants will continue to produce faithfully, all summer long.

The First Community Garden to be constructed on municipal land is due to open officially on May 15. Meanwhile the founder, Chelsey Holley and her happy band of 14 excited gardeners are charting out the plot lines at the Laughing Willow Community Gardens. It’s located at the corner of Simms Road and Lawson Grove. The plots will measure 4 by 20 feet and are well suited to the square foot gardening concept which focuses on intensive small space growing areas. As well there are raised beds planned for wheelchair accessibility. Actual construction of the site will begin in early April and an open house is planned for 15 May. Funding for startup has come from Greenways Land Trust, the Lions Club, Rotary Club and several small businesses. Sundance Café has set up an ongoing fundraiser by donating the cost of a paper cup for each customer who brings in their own coffee mug. The nearby Presbyterian Church is donating indoor meeting space and Chelsey says this is only part of an amazing community effort to establish the much welcomed garden. There are still spaces available for both wheel chair access and ground level sites. Chelsey will welcome your interest at 926-0279.

HOME GROWN

With The Interest in home grown food sweeping Vancouver Island there is a corresponding desire for beginners to just jump in and join the parade. The gardening guide I rely on is the West Coast Seeds Catalogue. You can order it online or the one nursery here that carries it is Campbell River Garden Centre. The seed company makes it so easy for neophyte gardeners to be successful right from the start. The vegetable planning chart for coastal B.C. takes away all the anxiety of what to plant and when to start. For instance you could be starting your basil indoors now and keep it in potting soil on the kitchen windowsill then place it outdoors in June. The biggest mistake the newbie gardeners can make is charting out too much space. That’s why it is strongly recommended to start out with filling a few pots on the patio or small containers on the window sill.

Another hugely popular concept is Square Foot Gardening. The idea was originated by Mel Bartholomew. If you follow his plan it allows you to grow 100 percent of your harvest in only 20 percent of the space. The best part is there’s no digging. Just build a 4 foot by 4 foot bottomless box. Lay it down on the existing soil, remove grass and weeds and fill the boxes with a high quality soil mix. For a family of four he says you’ll need a total of four boxes. He claims that if you follow his directions you’ll have the most sensational gardening experience of your life. His book is available in the library or go online to his site, Square Foot Gardening.

For Readers Asking me to repeat recipes and ideas for small space gardening they can find them here, the Urban Gardener. All my columns for the past two years are archived in the column to the right of the screen on the opening page. So many readers have exclaimed over the recipe for cooking kale. In fact, you can use the same process on coarse outer leaves left over after preparing beet leaves, broccoli buds and cabbage heads.

Here’s Another Idea for turning the much maligned beet root into a delicious treat. This lonely veg is a powerhouse of nutritional value but it gets passed by when busy people are shopping and planning the evening meal. It just takes too long to cook…unless you try my way of producing a succulent steamed beet in 10 minutes. Take a half dozen medium size beets and cut them crosswise in circles about half an inch thick or less. Melt a good knob of butter and mix with olive oil in a thick bottomed frying pan on medium heat. Cover with a lid and and 10 minutes later you’ll be serving shiny red, juicy, mouth watering beets and with no loss of nutrition as they cook in their own juice.

WHEN TO SALAD

Salad Before, Salad After, Salad in Between…what is the answer. Travelling back and forth to the U.K. and Ireland in order to care for an elderly sister has made me very aware of the many differences in the preparation of food and the times of day in which the meals are taken. When in Ireland it is quite likely that salad isn’t served at all or may be included on the same plate as the main meal. In the U.K., due to its proximity to Europe salad served after the main course is de riguer for the more sophisticated classes but not necessarily adhered to by the less privileged. In France the order in which food is served is highly ritualistic with salad unquestionably following the main meal.

Listening to a debate on BBC Radio I gained from the discussion the understanding of why the order in which food is served is really a matter of the tummy’s ability to digest whatever is sliding down the gullet. Vegetables are more easily absorbed by the body if eaten separately. Meats and chicken require a more acid environment so the most natural process would be to eat one’s salad first.

In Europe class differences still count, one only needs to read a Jane Austen novel to realize the past is still with us. Her rules described breakfast as being served around 1000 am, as befitted a leisure class. (This distinguished them from the lower orders, who ate very early before going off to work.) The next main meal was dinner served at 700pm preceded by afternoon tea at 400pm. As most of the population now adheres to working hours, lunch which is called dinner over here, is quite a substantial meal followed by a late afternoon tea and then supper/dinner, again generous portions, served around 700pm. In France the enormous midday meal, followed by a siesta, is what the country revolves around. The French come to a halt for a leisurely three to four hours before returning to the workplace at 400pm. As a leading member of the European Union this enviable lifestyle doesn’t fit well with the standard working hours of its fellow members. The French are reluctant to change but despite their reluctance the shift is taking place.

Ireland, is now digging out from under the collapse of the Celtic Tiger years. This small nation, once considered the fastest growing member in the European Economic Union, is now facing potential bankruptcy unless the EU is willing to bail them out. In the glory days of the boom with all that wealth available for the first time to the working classes the Irish took to Take-Out meals with a vengeance. Reluctant to give up their newfound leisure time the Irish began to pave over their front gardens. In fact many citizens loved their pavement so much that they ordered the back gardens to be paved over as well. Now that the good times are over the Irish are learning to cook, some for the first time. Book stores are flooded with material on meal preparation and food gardening. The next instruction books one can expect to see on the shelves are manuals on how to remove all that tarmac that surround their cottages so that they can experience the joy of growing one’s own food.

CONVERTING KALE TO A DINNER TREAT

Turning A Big Flat Green Kale leaf into a divine dinner ingredient is a bit of a stretch but it can be done. Take a few of those large outer leaves and slice out the tough stem. Fold the leaves over to create a loose roll and cut them across the grain. Try and slice the leaves into narrow ribbons, about ¼ inch wide. In a heavy frying pan melt a combo of olive oil and a knob of butter. Grill a tablespoon of chopped ginger and a similar amount of chopped garlic. Frying them for a minute should do it. Toss in the kale, sprinkle ½ teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoonful of water. Now, cover with a heavy lid and set on medium heat. Five minutes later pop the lid and you will discover a heap of intensely green, tender, delectable leaves. I do this recipe constantly and it never loses its appeal. Preparing veggies this way is going to make you feel good about what you are feeding the family because you haven’t lost any nutrients or had to pour excess cooking water down the kitchen sink. You have just captured all the intense colour and goodness of the food. You can transform any coarse outer leaves, including cabbage or beet leaves that show up in your garden or your shopping bag, into life sustaining edible food.

Having A Grown Grandson who has Celiac Disease (CD) has made me very aware of how difficult meal preparation can be when one is suffering from this disorder. CD is a medical condition in which the absorptive surface of the small intestine is damaged by a substance called gluten. This result in an inability of the body to absorb nutrients: protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals which are necessary for good health. Celiacs generally get relief from eating a gluten free diet. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, triticate and barley. It is the gluten in the flour of these grains that is the trouble maker according to info I checked on the Canadian Celiac Assoc. website. It is really time consuming to check out the ingredients on store bought products… and eating in a restaurant is like treading around hidden land mines. So when I discovered this week that Locals Market is featuring gluten-free meals prepared on site and gluten free baking supplied by Sylvie’s Market it sounded like a winning collaboration. Crackers made with grated cheese, oregano and potato flour served with their renowned clam chowder is an irresistible combo.