A couple of weeks ago my post about Canada’s farming community painted a somewhat bleak picture about how they are currently doing. The past 70 or so years of industrial farming, cheap imports, and government policy has been hard on farmers (see Part 1).

But the future for the farming community doesn’t look all bad. I think we are currently in the cusp of a farming revival spurred on by celebrity chefs, visible impacts of a changing climate, peak oil (and really peak

everything), a global economic crisis, etc. We’re getting the message that it might be a good idea to maintain the capability of growing food locally from a lot of different places and that having a flourishing farming community is an important part of that equation.

A lot of us don’t know where start when it comes to navigating the world of local food. It is easy to be out of touch with what is local and in season when grocery stores have transcended the limitations of our local climates with year round availability of strawberries and tomaties. And the prospect of helping to fix problems that seem as insurmountable as the ones faced by our current farming community seem beyond what an individual can do much about. Plus, I have yet to meet anyone willing to have a diet of only beets, potatoes, onions and apples through Canadian winters.

I’ve taken the approach that getting to know and support your farmers is a journey – one where I’ve learned a lot, eaten a lot and met a lot of great people along the way.

One of the first resources that you should be armed with is a Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Availability Guide. I have one pinned to my cubicle wall from Foodland Ontario. Odds are a quick internet search will help your find a guide for your local availability.

Supermarket: Supermarkets are getting better at labelling where their

 produce has come from. So as you wonder through wondering what to make tonight, see if there is anything locally grown and use that to inspire your meal. This is least disruptive thing to your everyday routine that you can take to support local farmers. And if you have a grocery store that isn’t offering that much locally, even when there is a bounty of things available in late summer and early fall, let the produce manager know that you’d like to see more. If enough people ask, more effort will be made to make local food available and make sure it is clearly labelled.

Produce Stores: One of the first things I did in my transition to eating more local food was to start picking up my fruit and veggies at a produce store in my neighbourhood. Yes, it involves a bit more time to make an extra stop to get your food but from my experience the produce is usually much better quality than the grocery store and cheaper. And a lot of them understand that people are starting to care about where their food comes from so their labelling is getting better. We’re lucky enough to now have one that makes an extra effort to offer local and in season produce.

Farmers’ Markets: I started out going to farmers’ markets when I had a special meal to make. I’d want a good story of where the food came from to accompany the meal. I’m now lucky enough to have one in my neighbourhood that I visit weekly. This is where you actually have a chance to get to know your farmer and the food they are selling. Farmers’ markets are increasingly set up to encourage conversations and community building between farmers and their customers. And often there are other community building things going on at community markets like local musicians, free yoga, or community fundraisers.

U-picks: For a weekend adventure, a u-pick is a great place to visit. Actually being out on a u-pick farm is a reminder of where our food actually comes from and some of the work that is actually involved in getting it to us. A lot of u-picks have websites that estimate when their produce will be ready (annual reminders in your online calendar is a great tool to make sure you don’t miss your favourites). The easiest thing to pick is berries – they are much cheaper than you’ll ever find them ready picked and really easy to store. Either freeze them (lay them out flat on a cookie try in a freezer overnight and then bag them the next day) or make freezer jam (mash the berries, add the pectin/sugar, stir, let sit for ½ an hour, add more sugar, stir again, put in the jar, and freeze).

Community Supported Agriculture/ Community Shared Agriculture (CSA): This model takes the relationship with your farmers to the next level. The idea is that you invest in the farmer at the beginning of the season with a lump payment that buys you a “share” of the produce they will grow. For us, we get a box of food every week during the summer growing season and every other week during the winter. The Kawartha Ecological Growers, our CSA also riased Wilbur for Jim. The relationship is more than a simple commercial exchange; it involves friendship, tr

ust and sharing the risks of a growing season with our farmers.

So who’s your farmer? And how will you be getting to know them better?