So the last time I posted we talked about progress, and a few things that were bothering me, but mainly progress.
A lot of things have taken place in the past week or so. Mr. Dirk Bekker had his chance to speak at a town hall meeting in Lantzville, kind of. A meeting he wasn’t actually invited to even though the main topic was the temporary permit to allow farming (and other things) in residential zoned areas. Thanks to a few good souls, however, he found out and spread the word.
The word reached a number of people. So many in fact, they had to cancel the main event and re-schedule.
I’m glad that there was a good turnout. I think this shows that some people are aware and want to see reasonable, sustainable change. The town hall meeting wasn’t about urban farming directly, it was about the council’s band-aid solution of a temporary use permit. Meaning that for a fee you can bend the rules of current zoning.
I may not be a science rocket, but if you shut down someone’s livelihood because what they are doing doesn’t conform with ‘regulations’, only to immediately provide a solution to their problem complete with price tag......seems a bit off?
This is a long drawn out topic so I’ll give you a couple of links so that you may form your own opinion.
Back to Progress.
Makaria.
Sounds nice doesn't it? This is the name of the farm just outside Duncan where I will be getting a large portion of my vegetables.. The Owners are Brock and Heather and they grow a substantial amount and have also offered to grow on demand.
Basically, Jack Pot!
This in combination with one or two other farms, plus growing a few oddities and herbs myself (more to see if I can) has pretty much sorted out my quest to find local produce.
The ease at which this rather daunting task was resolved is a bit concerning. I imagined weeks on end talking to farm after farm and having to use a vast array of growers to fit my ever expanding needs. I would spend my days running around trying to pick up product, wondering to myself why anyone would do this willingly.
Or I could just go with the first people I called and have it solved. Bizarre.
This got me to thinking. Why aren’t more people on to this? If it’s this easy, why aren’t more people doing it? Don’t get me wrong, there are still some kinks to work out, but still.
I think the answer is that it seems like it would be way more work. Not just to me, but to all the over-worked chefs and owners.
Currently Food Service Businesses pick up the phone and call one of their suppliers, order some gear and some guy carts it through the doors in the next day or two.
Easy.
But why would you want to buy something that’s been shipped half way across the world, that’s probably picked when it’s not quite ripe, packed in a warehouse (or treated with chemical) until it’s at least close to the right colour and then delivered either hard and tasteless or close to rotten.
The key to great food is the quality of your ingredients. So even if it took a little more work, you would think that people would want to make their business the best it could be, wouldn’t you?
So is it back to this whole lazy thing again?
Well we’re going to try and change that. Not the lazy part, that would be nearly impossible. We’re going to try and make it easier for the food service people to gain access to the local foods. (I’ll get to who “we” are momentarily). Essentially, the idea is to pair farms with chefs, making it easier for the chef to find local produce and the grower to have a guaranteed outlet for their produce.
Revolutionary.
I don’t like to throw that word around so I wanted to make sure that an organization like that didn’t already exist.
It didn’t take long to find out that they do. (yes, “they”)
There’s the I.C.C. (Island Chefs Collaborative) servicing the south Island, and to the North we have the North Island Chefs Association. There is however, nothing for the mid-island. Nothing.
In fact, there isn’t really much of anything for the mid-island in the way of good food. Or at least that was the case until a few years ago. To be fair, there are more and more people with keen minds and patient ways trying to educate and really just make some good food. It’s a slow process though.
As it turns out, the idea isn’t quite revolutionary – it’s just not in practice around here.
So then, who are “we”? Well, we came together at my shop for the first time this past Sunday. A group of like minded (albeit frustrated) individuals met to discuss the possibility of forming a mid-island collaborative. And here we go again. Progress.
It’s early days yet. A couple of us are taking on the assembly of a list of farmers and purveyors. This is proving not to be an overnight task, on my end anyway. Still, things are moving. Once all the info is gathered we’ll post it as I’ve promised before. An official name for the group is pending. Eventually we may even have a web-site!
In the mean time, check out Makaria http://www.makariafarm.com and for some good local meat check out http://www.islandtastesensations.com/islandideal.html and for pork http://www.stiltedhouse.com/id4.html
For any growers or purveyors who read this and like the idea of having an outlet for all of your product so that you can focus on the growing and not worrying about where you’re going to sell it all, send me an email. Please.
Stay tuned, more progress to come!
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