Sustainability
We received our Crop Share Certificate from the Creston Grain CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) today. As you can see from the image above, we hold share number 79 (which was out of a possible 200 for the 2008 season). read more »
This is not to be confused with a previous post about the four hour work week, rather, it seems that Utah has run the numbers on the environmental cost of having government employees at work five days a week, and opted for a four day week instead… read more »
Last year I ran a post on the locally grown brochure that Safeway Canada had inserted into their weekly flyer right across the country. In their mind Local means Canadian, however, the reality is that food produced in Washington State is closer to us here in the Kootenays than food produced in Manitoba.
This week, I've asked a question of Safeway, to see what their delivery protocol is for food such as apples from Creston to the store in Castlegar.
Can you tell me what the process of delivery to a store in Castlegar is for say apples from Creston? Are the apples picked up at the farm by a truck and delivered straight to Castlegar, or does it get shipped to a warehouse first, say in Calgary or Vancouver?
The premise in my mind is that food labelling in store leads you to believe that it is from Creston (just 150km away), but the reality may be that it has travelled many thousand kilometres to get to the store where it is bought.
A couple of days later I received this answer...
To answer your question, goods are delivered to our warehouses in Calgary and Vancouver and then distributed to the individual stores. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can assist you with.
Although I'm disappointed, it's about what I expected with a company of this size - the efficiencies of scale are greater than concerns for minimizing vehicle miles travelled. I don't blame the drivers or the corporation, it's not their fault we demand a large selection of perfect produce all year round. The cost benefit analysis has been done by their accountant, and maybe there's a price of gas where the whole mode of delivery switches, but any solution to one problem throws up many more - so it's likely that things won't change in a hurry.
Simply put - the consumer lifestyle we currently enjoy is totally unsustainable when you consider how far away everyday products travel from for us to enjoy and discard the packaging in an instant. The challenge is in finding natural, local alternatives to the essentials we purchase, and weaning ourselves off the unsustainables we consume.
I've finally finished writing a letter to Castlegar City Council, requesting an amendment to the Animal Control Bylaw and Zoning Bylaw to allow Goats and Chickens in Urban Areas.
To sum up the recommendations in the letter, I wrote...
It is my suggestion that council amend the Zoning and Animal Control Bylaws to permit the following:
Hens to be permitted in residential zoned lands as pets and for local food production
Miniature goats to be permitted as pets and local food production in residential areas, and subject to similar rules and regulations as dogs in reference to licensing and the use of fences and leashes as appropriate.
Agriculture to be further defined to permit hens and miniature goats in residential zones as pets and for local food production.
This should come up at the next regular meeting of council and if it is deemed to have some merit would likely go to a planning and development committee meeting.
You can download the pdf of the letter at the bottom of this post.
I'd also like to thank Mammacomic for the inspiration and template of a letter that she's written to the City of Calgary.
Last week I wrote an article about Castlegar Airport, Gas Prices and the Potential for Airline cuts. Here's another article about the same problem that could be faced by many rural communities in BC, the last one was from ABC News America, this one's from the New York Times...
Airlines’ Cuts Making Cities No-Fly Zones - New York Times
Financially strapped airlines are cutting service, and nearly 30 cities across the United States have seen their scheduled service disappear in the last year, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Others include New Haven, Conn.; Wilmington, Del.; Lake Havasu City, Ariz.; and Boulder City, Nev.
Over the same period, more than 400 airports, in cities large and small, have seen flight cuts. Over all, the number of scheduled flights in the United States dropped 3 percent in May, or 22,900 fewer flights than in May 2007, according to the Official Airline Guide.
Is anyone keeping note of the problem here? If people can't get here, they won't be spending dollars here, and the tourism economy (along with other industries) will see a decline. The Kootenay region has always been relitively remote, could things become more remote once again?
A busy weekend in the garden planting crops means less time for blogging. I've got some great stories lined up for this week though, so please check back, or even better subscribe to the feed.
On a different note, I just found out that I am a winner of the ProBlogger book in a giveaway from Scribefire - the best in browser blog publisher, and my weapon of choice when live blogging conferences and when I'm on the run using portable firefox.
The Garden
Sometimes you just need to get your hands dirty. To date (mostly today) we've planted 2 varieties of potatoes, 2 varieties of carrots, 3 varieties of beans, peas, mountain spinach, amaranth, corn, sunflowers, dill, thyme, raspberries, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, cucumbers, and tomatoes.
We've still got hot peppers, bell peppers, more tomatoes, more squash, eggplant, and strawberry spinach to go.
On the perennials side of things, we're harvesting rhubarb and asparagus at the moment, and we've got stacks of horseradish, shallots, and garlic. Our fruit trees are getting going, with the peach tree just past blooming. We're holding out for apples, plums, raspberries, red currents and blackberries, but we'll also do some foraging for fruit through the summer.
Watershed Network
This week I'm attending a watershed network symposium being held at Selkirk College in Castlegar by the Columbia Basin Trust. I won't be live-blogging it, but I'll certainly take some time to publish my thoughts and commentary of the proceedings.
If you didn't have a long weekend, I hope you had a good Monday!
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