http://farmchefblog.com Seasonal anecdotes, musings, rants & recipes from a farmhouse kitchen Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:41:26 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en    Jasper returns to Fairburn Farm, 5 years after he disappeared! One day last month, what started out to be a very ordinary day ended with an incredible twist. I spent most of the day working in my office, on a Cowichan Bay Cittaslow brochure, until I go a call from the Animal control ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=184 [caption id="attachment_159" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Stinging Nettle Tarts photo S.Philip"][/caption]  At this time of year I am usually finishing up the last of the winter vegetables and am ready for something fresh and green. One of the very first things to appear in the spring is stinging nettles. Nettles are a strong spring ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=160 [caption id="attachment_137" align="alignleft" width="450" caption="Satish Kumar and Vandana Shiva"][/caption]    This winter, I traveled to Northern India with my 18 year old son to participate in a course called "Gandhi and Globalisation"  at Bija Vidyapeeth, the biodiversity conservation farm managed by Navdanya, www.navdanya.org/ the organization founded by Indian scientist and activist Dr. Vandana Shiva.  I ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=138 [caption id="attachment_128" align="alignleft" width="443" caption="Curing our 2009 garlic crop"][/caption] This summer, we had the biggest and best harvest of garlic I have ever had in over 10 years of growing garlic! After planting 2 boxes of seed garlic purchased for $200. , we now have around a thousand heads of beautiful, organic ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=125 This is a speech I delivered at the 2009 Canadian National Slow Food Meeting in Toronto at a Gala Dinner at Hart HouseReal Canadian Food-What is it?  Is it in danger of disappearing? Many of us here for this National gathering traveled though a Canadian airport.  Airport food is often a ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=111                   Last year, our Provincial government introduced a new carbon tax. Whether a carbon tax is an effective way to curb climate change is a discussion I will leave to the likes of climate change expert and my favorite critical thinker, British author George Monbiot www.monbiot.com . Instead, I want to ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=32 Sometimes the dark days of winter spook me. Unpredicatable weather and power outages. Cash flow challenges.  A lack of sunlight and fresh local produce means I depend more on the grocery store, and personally, I just feel more vulnerable. I lost both of my parents in the winter and my ram, hungry and cranky on a ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=33                 I love the story of the farm mouse and the city mouse. Anyone who lives on a farm knows the feeling of guilty neglect when you miss harvesting something at it's prime, or suffer a setback because you have been off having fun or had your mind on other things. ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=15   Navajo Churro lamb born Dec. 12, 08        December 12 was a full moon and the first really cold day we've had this year, and that was the day one of my Navajo Churro ewes decided to have her lamb. I admit, my farming style is somewhat hands off, which is exactly ... http://farmchefblog.com/?p=3