It’s an exciting week here in Guelph. There are two saving graces for me from the winter duldrums, the Guelph Organics Conference and the Resilience Festival. I had a great time at the organic conference this year, picked up most of my seed stock and learned more then I hoped for. The resilience festival started last weekend, I was volunteering eco market/community connections fair with the Guelph Wellington Community Co-op and had a marvelous day. Since then there’s been so much going on I haven’t been sleeping nearly as much as I should, often waking up after 4 hours with my mind in overdrive thinking of all the connections to be made, emails to send and events to attend. On the 25th it was the Elevator Projects “big event”, to announce the top 15 ideas which would receive funding and give all 52 ideas a chance to promote their projects. Even though our co-op didn’t make the cut, we made some very positive connections with like minded groups that were interested in working together, there was lots of opportunities for reciprocal benefits which is more thrilling to me then an one time infusion of money. Somewhere in it all I’ve had to find time to run some germination tests on old seeds, clean/sterilize all my growing trays/cell packs/humidity domes and visit my sick cat. Suffice to say it’s been a busy week, mostly though it’s been highly energizing.
As this weekend will be even busier, I figured I’d take a minute to update my blog now and share a couple thoughts from the week. First off on practical matters most of the seeds have popped their pretty little heads up. It’s always the most exciting time of the year, filled with hope of new things to come, before we get bogged down in the work or maintaining the garden. Pretty much all the tomatoes are up, except the Stupice that is which seem to be a bit stubborn. The cardoon made their grand entrance the other day, little raised mounds of soil announcing their presence before bursting into the light with their fat little leaves. The celeriac are just starting to show themselves, another couple days and the tray should be filled with seedlings. Today I’ll be starting red and yellow cippolini’s, blue de solaize leeks and ground cherry seeds saved from last year. The ground cherries will be started in cell packs, the rest in flats as I find small seeds are easier/quicker to plant by broadcasting. As they grow, I’ll transplant to larger pots as needed, using the graduated potting techinique. Although it’s more work I agree with John Jeavons that babying young plants results in healthier transplants, which translates into bigger yields come harvest. If I have time I’d like to build some of his seedling flats of varying depths to try instead of plastic trays/cell packs. Not only at they more eco-friendly, it’d save time with cleaning flats are wood tends to naturally be antibacterial. Plus it’s much nicer to use wooden tools over plastic, my kitchen is filled with wooden implements for the sheer joy of the tactile sensations.
Since gardening (especially on a large scale) involves lots of work, why not make it as pleasant as possible by considering the tactile and aesthetic qualities of your tools and environment?
Now onto the slightly less practical but equally relevant thought for market gardeners to consider; the value of co-ops a tool for increasing profits. Don’t worry though, even if you don’t intend to sell any of your veges (ever in a million years, that’d be like selling your kids to someone who may not appreciate their beauty, letting them go to waste instead of savouring them. You’d never consider such a cruel fate for them, not your beloved little buddies…. Ok, so maybe I’m the only one that experiences that crisis of conscience…) this still applies to you as a consumer and someone interested in food. By engaging in a peer to peer market scheme you increase your direct profits by cutting out the distributors. If you go the traditional route of farmer’s markets that increase is mitigated by increased labour hours. That’s where I see a lot of value in co-ops, whether they’re worker/consumer/producer driven, by all working together we amplify our savings through reducing our direct input. The Guelph Wellington Community Co-op which I mentioned earlier (and am shamelessly plugging again, probably not for the last time) excites me because it’s a multi-shareholder co-op giving equal voice to all three participants. Integrating them all means a more resilient system that’s also more equitable through equal representation, especially in a global situation where co-ops can work together internationally so that the system supports those doing the work. Not a separate series of systems fighting for their own interests but an integrated one balancing everyone’s needs equally. Their initial business model will be based on an online market where each producer has their own page promoting themselves and listing their products. Consumers will be able to order what they like, from who they like based on their values, whether that’s; certified organic, uncertified, biodynamic or simply locally produced (plus infinite variations of hooks as I mentioned last time). The workers will go around collecting the orders from each producer, bring them to a central location to divide into individual orders which can then either be picked up or delivered for an additional cost. As volunteers the workers will be compensated with food shares, creating an opportunity for low income families to access high quality, local foods. Eventually the goal is to create paid positions to actively employ people, as well as creating a work force to help producers with seasonal short term needs like planting, weeding and harvesting without depending on migrant workers (which can easily lead to human rights abuse through greed, like the accident that killed 11 people last summer).
As a new entrant into the food system, the value I see in participating in such a system is that it allows me to focus on growing better food with higher yields. By tapping into an established distribution network, my efforts can be more focused, while still maintaining a high profit margin instead of the paltry 20-25 cents on the dollar from they conventional supermarket stream. It also allows me to establish a direct relationship with my consumers, who can voice what they’re looking for from the market (like say organic locally grown ethnic crops or heritage/ancient grains). On a personal level a big concern for me is making my food available to lower income brackets like retirees on fixed budgets or immigrants trying to establish themselves in a new country. I strongly believe in a democratized food system that charges equitable rates for all, instead of concentrating the wealth in the hands of a minority at the expense of the majority. I’ve heard some complaints about how local foods from small scale producers cost too much, which is a valid point as most people struggle to get by. Between the rising cost of fuel increasing transportation costs, droughts in California leading to massive crop failure and harsh winters in the north causing spikes in greenhouse heating bills, we’ll be seeing a spike in food cost regardless. We’re coming to the end of the “green” revolution’s era of cheap food, based on a huge government subsidies to a few massive agri-corps. Which really wasn’t so “green” as it’s led to massive habitat loss, driven farmers off their land, destroyed the soil that nurtures us all and consumes incredible amounts of energy to keep it a float. It costs up to 10 calories of fuel to produce 1 calorie of food in our industrialized system. Cuba on the other hand, which was forced to change because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and embargo’s, produces 3 calories of food from 1 calorie of energy. So it is possible to change to a decentralized small scale, highly productive, profitable system that equally provides dignity for the workers and equitable distribution of the profits.
Sadly I’ve run out of time, the seeds are calling to be freed from their seed packs, I have bread dough to prepare for the oven and a meeting to squeeze in with a local food bank. So I’ll have to post again about some of the other exciting things to come from this week of social engagement. In the meanwhile, why not see if there’s any co-ops in your area to join? If not consider starting one to be part of the change we all need to survive in turbulent times of climate change.
Petit Paysan of Guelph 