Watch Me Grow! Growing food in the city

Being a new parent I am witnessing the incredible experience of raising children with an understanding of where their food comes from. Turns out that many people are looking for a similar experience for their children -- and there's a lot of help to do this.

A new book, Watch Me Grow: A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City, is a resource to help introduce children to urban agriculture. Written by Vancouver children's writer Deborah Hodge, the book is engaging. It introduces children to food in the city, asking questions about how the readers experience the growing of food, and suggests activities to help develop a closer relationship to food and growing.

Exploring everything from where food can be grown in the city to how the food can be shared, the book is an inspiring tour of the ways city dwellers can get a bit closer to the sources of their food.

Illustrated with photos by Brian Harris, the book is visually stunning. Brian captures the colour, diversity and beauty of food communities. Anyone who attended the Museum of Vancouver's Home Grown exhibit or who has purchased a FarmFolkCityFolk calender in recent years knows Brian's work.

In his work, Brian attempts to capture the essence of human relationships to each other and the natural world. He is not interested in fetishizing food, but rather celebrates the richness of community built around growing and nurturing our selves and our environment.

This new release is a companion to last year's Up We Grow: A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm.

Just in time for this blog post, today it was announced that Up We Grow! is a finalist for the Christie Harris Award (children's illustrated book category) in the BC Book Prizes. Also, The American Library Association has just listed Up We Grow! as one of the Top 10 Books on the Environment for Youth.

Of course, some of my excitement about these books comes from the fact that our farm is featured in some of the photographs and the text of Up We Grow! was largely researched at our farm. We're thrilled to be part of such an exciting, educational celebration of local food.

I have copies of both books available for sale. Just let me know and I can get them to you.

Watermelons and the Price of Local Food

My two farm hands pose with their melon harvest . . . their new favorite crop.

Melon season arrived on the farm today and melons make me think of money. Prices, more specifically. And I've been thinking about prices and money a lot this week, after a CBC radio host commented on the cost of local, organic food . . . but more on that in a moment. I'm also thinking about watermelons.

The truth is, the melons surprised me. I've been ignoring the melon patch. Nothing else is planted around it, so it's been easy to walk by and not look too closely.

Today, however, we ran out of fruit in the house. And both children were screaming. And Paige (now 8 months pregnant) needed some quiet. It was time for a walk. A trip yielding fruit would be even better.

We ended up in the melon patch. Watermelons were the only conceivable fruit I could think of that might be ready on the farm (apart from apples, of course). In the back of my mind I recalled Jeremy commenting on the fact that melons might be ready for the market this weekend. I didn't think much of it at the time; last year we had melons in mid-August. Beginning of October melons? They couldn't be any good.

Watermelons are a difficult crop, but well worth the effort when they grow well. They need heat, lots of water, weeding and more heat. We started growing melons two years ago as an experiment. When we sent a bunch to market for the first time we had to figure out a price -- we had no precedent.

Once our costs were considered, we figured that we would have to charge the same price we have for our squash -- $1.25/lb. This came as quite a shock to customers who normally pay $0.29/lb for conventional melons in the stores through the summer. After various comments about the price that first week, we discussed whether we needed to lower the price.

So, consider this: each melon requires about 190 liters of irrigation water. It makes sense when you think of the primary ingredient of a watermelon: water. In fact, a number of customers noted that our price seemed rather high when most of the fruit is water (of course, they still line up to pay $3.00/lb for tomatoes that are 94% water and $2.50/bunch for spinach that is 92% water).

Nonetheless, a large portion of the population doesn't blink an eye at paying $2.00 for half a liter of bottled water -- that's four times what they pay for a liter of gasoline for their car. So what value do you place on 190 liters of water, especially when fortified with fiber and a great range of nutrients?

Then I heard about watermelons in Japan. It turns out they are a delicacy. Many people in Japan have never tasted watermelons. They regularly sell for $200. Moreover, the first Hokkaido watermelons of the season are auctioned at an astounding price ($6,000 two years ago). Unbelievable? Read about it at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24997464/

All things considered, we figured that $1.25/lb was a heck of a deal for melons. In fact, Lulu Lemon should be designing yoga bags with melon carriers, not water bottle carriers -- think of the Vancouver fashion statement that would make. The next Saturday morning I explained this to our customers waiting in line at the market. We sold out of melons in an hour.

The cost of local, organic food: Here's the dirt

Having said all of this, it still doesn't answer the question of why local, organic food costs what it does . . . $1.25/lb or otherwise. So here is a summary of some of the factors:

1. Wages: In BC, many farm workers are paid the agricultural minimum wage of $8/hour. Pretty lousy. At the same time, BC growers are competing against imports from places where people are paid between $4 and $8/day. Keep in mind that in the US, most farm workers are illegal migrants working under the table for far less than minimum wage. Even in BC, in 2008 a judge noted the exploitation in BC's fruit and vegetable industry. For any operation, labour is generally the greatest expense. Try competing against someone who doesn't pay their employees. Add to that, on our farm we reject the minimum wage. Our apprentices earn $10/hour plus accommodations and food; our long-time, permanent workers are paid $13/hour plus a profit-share bonus at the end of the season. Still not great, but this factors into the prices we set.
2. Labour: In addition to the cost of wages, organic growing requires a significant amount of labour compared to conventional growing. All of our planting, weeding and harvesting is done by hand. Weeding alone is a full-time job for many of us throughout the summer. This is an even greater factor for our farm because we use very little plastic mulch for weed control.
   
3. Land: Anyone trying to pay a mortgage in BC knows about the cost of land. Trying to earn a living from farming while paying a mortgage is borderline insane. This is one area where our farm has an advantage; the land is co-operatively owned and leased to us at affordable rates.
4. Scale: Most of the farms you find at the farmers markets are there because it's one of the few places they can get the price they need to cover their costs. They are small-scale farms. Because of their small scale, they are able to employ more sustainable practices (e.g. hand weeding instead of disposable plastic mulch). By comparison, many large farms depend on volume to make money. If they sell at low prices to wholesalers, earning one or two dollars for each case, they'll make their money by selling a lot. Small producers can't do this, but they can compete on the basis of quality: many people will pay to have fresh and excellent-tasting produce.
   
5. Industry pressure . . . or lack thereof: There is huge pressure on farms to sell to distributors for prices that are sometimes less than the cost of production. In the summer when Americans are on holidays and crops are plentiful, Californian farms dump product at low prices. Local farms are then forced to sell cheap or let the food rot. Keep in mind that supermarkets generally lose money on fresh produce -- it's a loss leader -- instead earning their profit from the less-healthy packaged food. The appearance of abundance in the produce aisle has many costs -- wasted food, labour exploitation and dangerous agricultural practices that feed a system with cheap food. One alternative is the farmers market, where a farm can set a price that reflects the cost of production and justify the price to the end consumer.
6. Opportunity and Capacity: I would be naive to state that some farms don't take advantage of the ability to set their own prices at the farmers markets. I have been shocked to see the prices on some produce. In some instances there has been little challenge because there haven't been other farmers. Having said that, this season has been a good example of what farmers markets are cultivating: competition. There are few places where the primary producers line up, lay out their products and set their own prices, all in direct line of the end consumer's questions and queries. It's somewhat of an ideal form of capitalism. This year, there were many new farms at the markets. Some are existing farms who have figured out that the markets provide a better return on their products. Many, however, are new farmers -- the result of capacity building within the sector over the past few years to get more young farmers into the fields. The end result: Vancouver markets featured local, organic, non-greenhouse (i.e. tasty) tomatoes (normally a high-value crop) for well under $2/lb, and even lower when buying in bulk.
   

With all of this in mind, it is fair to note that there are many people who can't afford to buy fresh produce at all. There are more people who can't afford to buy organic produce. And there are many more people who choose not to buy organic produce as a personal choice. None of this makes anyone better than anyone else. Rather, it's a distraction from larger issues.

As a farmer, I want everyone to be able to access the food I grow. At the same time, I refuse to allow myself or my employees to live in poverty so that someone else can have cheap food. We live in a society with such abundance that there is little reason for people to go hungry. The inequality that results in hunger is a societal problem -- it's not the farmer's fault. Rather, it's all of our fault and all of our responsibility. There's more to say on this point, along with some stories of how this is being addressed . . . but it'll have to wait for a future post.

Anyway, we think a lot about the price of food on our farm and what makes for fair compensation to the people who grow the food, the cost of environmental stewardship and value for those purchasing the food. There aren't easy answers, but these are important discussions to have.


As for the watermelons, we had a great harvest this evening. The screaming stopped and my daughters feasted on a late-September treat after dinner. Actually, it was their dinner. Knowing what came next, the refused to eat anything else.

We'll have melons at our markets this week. They might cost a bit more and it might seem late in the season, but at a time when peaches are finished and cherries are but a distant memory these melons will blow you away.

Scenes from the farm

The farm is in all its splendor at the moment, so here are some images to show what's going on.

The onions are bulbing up. They respond to the shortening daylight. Our crop this year looks much better than the sad harvest of 2009.

We don't enjoy much tree fruit on the farm (apart from the abundance of apples in the fall). Although our peach trees produced no fruit this summer, our plum trees are full. Here is a typical branch of abundance.

It doesn't look like much now, but these beds contain many of our fall and winter crops: cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli and brussels sprouts. You can see the irrigation line and a few small transplants.

This is a view toward the north-west corner of the farm, from the centre-south end (the higher elevation point on the property). You can see the pastures and the crop fields just before the train (that's the CN mainline separating us from the Fraser River). Gorgeous mountains in the distance.

We plant flower belts in our fields to provide habitat to beneficial insects. The flowers include poppies, calendula, bachelor buttons, baby's breath and cosmos - plus more. This mix provides continuous flowering from late-June through the end of the season. Insects attracted include parasitic wasps and ladybugs.

An up-close shot of the flowers in the fields.

Books of Interest for Co-operative Farmers

In case you're interested in co-operative farming and looking for some summer reading, here are a couple of books I would recommend.

First is Everett Baker's Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era (2007, Fitzhenry and Whiteside). This is a collection of Everet Baker's photography that documented the birth and growth of Saskatchewan's Co-operative movement in the 1950s.


Part of the growth of the co-operative movement was the establishment of co-operative farms. The co-operative farms were established by the CCF government of the day in order to provide land to WWII veterans returning from war. The only remaining farm from the era is Matador Farm.

Baker's photography provides an insight into a period of the province's history during which rural life was vibrant and modernizing quickly. The photos show both the work life of the farms as well as the social events, many of which were part of other co-operative-related events and celebrations.

Of relevance to today's co-operative farms is the reasons for which the farms were established and for their eventual demise. The farms thrived because individuals were looking to farm. They declined when the young men married and were able to find land of their own. The primary function of the farms was to enable farming; when this function was no longer necessary, the farms began to close.

For anyone interested in further reading on the co-operative farm movement in Saskatchewan and Matador Farm, in particular, an article from the University of Saskatchewan's Co-op Studies program provides further insight.

The second book I am recommending is I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby (2007, Polkadot Press).
Kirkby's book is a compassionate account of her family's life at and eventual departure from the Fairholme Hutterite Colony in Manitoba. Her story provides a glimpse into a way of life that remains a mystery to most of us, despite the presence and proximity of many Hutterite colonies to prairie dwellers.

Of importance to those with an interest in co-operative farming, Kirkby demonstrates the challenges and benefits of community within the context of farm life. Despite the hierarchical and patriarchal structure of the colony and her family's difficulties within the community, Kirkby retains a strong connection with her Hutterite community. Compared against the co-operative farms of Saskatchewan, Kirkby's description of the Hutterite Colony shows a place where the community is as important as the farming itself.

If you have any summer reading suggestions, related to agriculture or not, feel free to suggest them in the comment section or e-mail me directly.

The Season Begins

"And that's the start of the season." I remember these words from John, our farmer mentor, three years ago as we planted the first seeds of the season.

It's a moment I remember each time we begin planting in early February. Jeremy and I have been farming together for three seasons, with the fourth now underway. As we mix up potting soil, fill trays and begin sowing seeds I feel excited. Much of this comes from the sense of new beginnings.

The fresh start we get every spring is a major benefit of farming. And sometimes it's also a point of frustration as farmers, particularly on the prairies, consider their land to be the domain of "next year country". That's as in "There's always next year," regardless of what didn't go well in a given season. I'm not sure if that's considered cautious optimism or not.

The 2010 season at Glen Valley Organic Farm is off to an upbeat start. With the warm winter and early spring we almost feel as though we're behind -- for the last two years we started seeding our transplants indoors with snow on the ground.

We just sent out a renewal notice to our Community Supported Agriculture Harvest Box Program and are in the process of hiring apprentices for the season. Jeremy has been doing machinery maintenance and I've been seeding our onion, shallot, leek and green onion crops. While doing a delivery of sunroots and collards into Vancouver today, Jeremy is also picking up our seed potatoes. The potatoes were dropped off at Discovery Organics by Across the Creek Organics from Pemberton.

Rhubarb is already growing and we'll get compost onto those beds later in the week. As the weather dries up later in the week we'll be getting close to being able to disk the beds. Fava beans and peas get seeded outdoors this week and I'll be planting out beets we saved from last season that will flower and produce a seed crop for us this year.

This post is beginning to feel like a bit of a shopping list, but that's actually what life feels like at the moment. Numerous lists of things to do begin piling up as the next few weeks get planned. My family is making good use of a day planner as we chart out the days remaining before the season gets busier. Weekly farm team meetings are increasingly important as we make sure everyone on the farm is in the loop with projects, activities and events.

Over the course of the season this blog will provide some weekly insight into the activities of the farm as we work to provide food to the many people who eat from our farm. Originating from a weekly e-mail to our CSA subscribers, this should provide a more organized forum for regular updates about our farm to a wider audience. In addition to farm updates, there will be recipes, thoughts and information about larger issues in agriculture and notes about agricultural-related events going on in the region.

The season has begun and we're looking forward to what 2010 might have to offer.