Respect Farmworker Rights, Chipotle!

…students from MEChA de Auraria… (via Student/Farmworker Alliance)

Send a message to Chipotle — Respect Farmworker Rights | Fair Food Fight: “Last week, leaders of the food justice movement — – including Eric Schlosser and Robert Kenner, producer and director of the hard-hitting new documentary ‘Food, Inc.’ — sent a strongly worded letter to Chipotle, the fastest growing company in fast-food, demanding that they live up to its claims of ‘Food with Integrity’ and ‘work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as a true partner in the protection of farmworkers’ rights.’”

(Via Fair Food Fights.)

Send an email message demanding real food with honesty and stop the abuse of farm workers.

Resources

The Campaign for Fair Food
Fair Food Fight
Student/Farmworker Alliance

Honey Bread with Cooked Grains

Honey bread with cooked grains (rice and millet) prepared for FoodCycles first farm work planting session. (Photo via Sunny Lam)

I prepared this bread for FoodCycles first early summer farm planting day (http://bit.ly/1a7xAo) – specifically for Saturday and Sunday. Might be preparing some quick breads instead for Sunday. The recipe is a variation of Molasses Bread with Cooked Grains from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (of which I will cite often since there are over 1500 recipes in it).

Read the rest of the post at FoodCycles.org.

Raising the Bed, Breaking the Bread

Sunny gives a quick halfway point video report on how the first farm planting work bee (more like construction preparation work stuff) is going so far. A lot of thistle cutting, rock picking, plant hardening and raised bed construction has been going on. There’ll be lots to do on Tuesday and Wednesday in terms of spreading compost, setting up beds and the actual get the ground going actions at that time. Feel free to drop in for some fresh air (seriously), good exercise and a dose of food inspired community.

See the video at FoodCycles.org.

FDA Admits It Did Only Half the Food Safety Checks

FDA Admits Failure to Conduct Required Audits : Food Poison Blog: “A frankly distubring article today by Mary Clare Jalonik at the Associated Press.  According to the article, FDA ’conducted only about half the state food safety audits it promised in the two years before the recent peanut salmonella outbreak.’   Remarkably, the FDA conducted none of its required audits in five states during the 2007 and 2008 budget years.  In addition, there were 11 more states where the FDA was ‘unable to say’ whether audits had been conducted in that time.  Included in those 11 were Georgia and Texas, site of the production of the peanut butter products recalled for salmonella contamination.  I am going to go out on a limb and guess that if FDA couldn’t say whether or not they had done the audits, they probably weren’t done.”

(Via Food Poison Blog.)

When Cookie Dough Can Kill

Photographer: Tauber (Photo Via Gateway Fundraising)

You know things are bad when your imported prepackaged cookie dough is dangerous to eat. Our huge factory farming agriculture system and the way people like their food (i.e. lots of meat) if coming back to haunt us.

FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Nestle Toll House Prepackaged, Refrigerated Cookie Dough: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7 (a bacterium that causes food borne illness).   ”

(Via FDA.)

Then again it was bad when bugs from animals accidently get onto salad mix. It happens because animal waste gets sprayed somewhere close by as fertilizer and then runs over to the salad through the soil.

Got a Shovel? Put it to Good Use!

A shovel – the more of these you lend or give, the faster you set up a farm in the city! Forge ahead! (Photo via Sunny Lam)

Friends,
 
FoodCycles is getting down to the first of its early summer planting in an outdoor field (half an acre of an acre; event info http://bit.ly/1a7xAo).  Can anyone generously spare any shovels, wheel barrows, rakes and trowels (or other equipment) to help with bed setup, weeding thistles, transplanting cucumber, eggplant, tomato, lettuce, basil, pepper seedlings and with direct seeding?  Or loan these tools to us for a short while?

Volunteer Louis Fliss donated his childhood family heirloom wheelbarrow (about 1.5 ft high) to FoodCycles and a mat for volunteers to comfortably kneel on.

 
As always feel free to drop in and break bread with us (I know I’m bringing honey bread with cooked grains and corn dill sandwich bread over the 4 days of potlucking).  We’d be happy to have you!

Honey bread with cooked grains (rice and millet) prepared for FoodCycles first farm work planting session. (Photo via Sunny Lam)

 
To the Arabian bond of salt,

Sunny Lam
 

Communications, Outreach and Social Enterprise Development, MES

FoodCycles

t: 416 845 0818

http://foodcycles.org

Twitter: @foodcycles

Email: foodcycles@gmail.com

Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/1Gjgd

”Growing vibrant soil, food and community.”
 
 

Water, Fire, Riots and Seedlings

A row of water filled buckets to help keep the greenhouse cool while the world goes skewed (Photo via Sunny Lam, FoodCycles)

It was a long day
a volunteer’s uncle
passed away
sadness, grief
condolences
…

Read the rest of the post at FoodCycles.org.

Plant the Hot Stuff: FoodCycles Seeds the Field

FoodCycles outdoor crop field is a few hundred feet away from the corner of Keele and Sheppard (Photo Via Sunny Lam, FoodCycles)

Summary

What: FoodCycles First City Farm Work Bee
Why: Set up, stake out the beds; setup the trellis’ and shed; stick those lovely seedlings in the ground, seed fruits and vegetables and cover crops
When: Saturday – Monday, Jun 20-22, 2009 (11 am – 4:30 pm/1000-1630 hours each day)
Where: Corner of Keele and Sheppard, Downsview Park (Map http://bit.ly/ATb3G, Directions http://bit.ly/YDDfp)
How: Please let us know if you’re coming or just drop in otherwise! Bring a good pair of boots or shoes, work gloves, water, a hat and the passionate desire to do some work under the midday sun. Bring spoons, forks and plates as well as musical gear if that helps. And of course don’t forget to bake a dish of lovely food if possible.

Kindly pass word of the event to interested friends and relatives.

Read the rest of the post at FoodCycles.org.

2 Vital Meetings on Toronto City Farming!

Allotment gardens near Thorncliffe Park (Photo via Toronto Tower Renewal)

Joe Nasr, food security professor and an executive member of MetroAg gives us the heads up on 2 very important meetings on establishing urban agriculture in Toronto. Please forward to everyone you know who’s part of the movement (friends, family, allies, partners, interested parties)! (Original Post Via FoodCycles)

1. Urban Agricultural Opportunities in Toronto (Jun 16, 2009)

Summary
What: Urban Agricultural Opportunities Meeting with Parks & Rec & Environment Offices of Toronto
Why: This is a chance for people to tell the City why city gardening and farming is important to you. It’s a chance for you to spur the City towards action. It needs a whole lot of us to be there to really strengthen the case.
When: Jun 16, 2009 @ 9:30 AM (0930 hours)
Where: City Hall, Committee Rm 1

The Parks and Environment of the City of Toronto will be discussing a recent report on Urban Agricultural Opportunities in the City of Toronto on June 16th, in Committee Room 1 at City Hall, starting at 9:30 AM.

At this meeting there will be an opportunity for interested parties to make deputations. You can share your own experiences, comment on the things that you think the report has gotten right, what you think should be supported, what important things the report missed out on, and let the City know where you think that there needs to be more and different action.

The report is summarized below, and you can also find a link to the meeting announcement and to the report. This report will be on the agenda of the next Toronto Urban Growers meeting, on the morning of Thursday July 9th.

See the Report Summary and References below.

2. Toronto Urban Growers Mass Meeting

Summary
What: Toronto Urban Growers Mass Meeting
Why: To bring together everyone who wants to see urban farming take off in Toronto at break neck speed, to share knowledge and to network.
When: Thu, Jul 9 (9 am to 1 pm/0900 – 1300 hours)
Where: FoodShare (90 Croatia St; map http://bit.ly/ur1gA)

As previously announced, we would like to invite all of those who grow food in Toronto and nearby areas (urban farmers, balcony growers, backyard gardeners, guerrilla gardeners, and community gardeners), as well as those who support them and who dream of becoming urban growers to join us (researchers, advocates, students, funders, and others).

We will all be gathering on Thursday July 9th from 9 am-1pm at FoodShare to share our growing knowledge, comment on the city’s new urban agriculture policies, and report back on activities over the last few months, to hear from all of the TUG working groups, and to plan the next steps for TUG. We see this event as an opportunity to connect to others with similar interests, and to help move those interests forward.

REPORT SUMMARY for Jun 16, 2009

Recommendations

1. City Council support, in principle, the ongoing coordination by the General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation and the Director of the Toronto Environment Office of interdivisional strategies and initiatives that will achieve the overall goal of expanding opportunities for local food production and other urban agricultural activities in the City of Toronto.

Conclusion

The task of supporting the increase of lands for urban food production is the responsibility of a number of City divisions and staff agree with the expert panel that food production is a critical issue that provides a number of benefits including increased food security, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, building communities and supporting healthy lifestyles.

This report proposes how divisions that have a stake in urban agriculture can address existing and emerging issues related to regulatory and operational policies which will help the development of lands for urban food production. A combination of financial support, sufficient staff resources and policy development is required to move forward with an increase in lands designated for urban agriculture projects within the City and various divisional strategies will be submitted to City Council in the future.

REFERENCES for Jun 16, 2009 City Meeting

Link to Jun 16 Meeting Agenda
backgroundfile-21648.pdf”>http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pe/bgrd/
backgroundfile-21648.pdf)

Appendix A
( backgroundfile-21650.pdf”>http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2009/pe/bgrd/
backgroundfile-21650.pdf)

35 Million Americans Have No Food

Photograph of a Breadline in New York City During the Great Depression (Via About.com)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2009

New York, NY–In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, investigative journalist and Demos Senior Fellow Sasha Abramsky exposes the untold story of America’s hunger crisis in his new book, “BreadlineUSA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It” (PoliPoint, June 2009).

Read the rest of the release at FoodCycles.org.