Picking
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As We Fish and Farm

I came to Newfoundland for the first time just over four years ago. I can still vividly recall taking the ferry across from Nova Scotia in the late winter, listening to the groaning sounds of the ice around the boat. Within two months of arriving I made my first trip to Bonne Bay, a remote fjord on the west coast of the island. I went to learn about the food system and fisheries in the region as part of a PhD program I was beginning at Memorial University that fall.

As We Fish and Farm
Picking, Preparing
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DIY Maple Syrup

Maple syrup conjures up images of towering arboretums in places like Quebec or Vermont, but it’s a little known secret that the rugged and hardy maple trees of Newfoundland make darn fine maple syrup. With nothing more than a half dozen maple trees, some old salt beef containers and a handful of 25 cent metal tree taps, you’re good to go and can expect to end up with over a dozen bottles of hand made maple syrup.

DIY Maple Syrup
Picking, Planting, Preparing
Andreae C
My front yard grocery store
My front yard grocery store
Events, Picking, Planting
Costa Kasimos
Bits and Pieces: Along the Shore

Spectacular vistas, whales breaching, ice bergs floating by, and a foragers paradise. We are blessed with many wilderness areas that offer abundant edible plants. I rarely go on a hike without stopping to have a little taste of this or that. In this post, I will touch upon some of the edibles currently available in our wonderful wilderness.

Bits and Pieces: Along the Shore
Planting
Matthew Middleton
Growing In A Potato Box

Thanks to the listing from Seeds of Diversity, I was able to locate a gentleman in Newfoundland who has a great deal of experience growing a wide variety of potatoes here. Last week, I recieved by my set of samples from George, and here's what my benefactor told me about the varieties:

Red Dutch: A very dry, yellow flesh red from Holland in the 1940’s. An excellent potato. Late maturing.

Northern White: A white flesh variety, from Quebec apparently, from the early 1900’s. Very high yield. Good taste.

Growing In A Potato Box

farms

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“Nourishing the Planet”: The International Year of Family Farming

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This year is an exciting one for family farms all around the world! 2014 has been declared the International Year of Family Farming by the United Nations. The campaign is being run by the World Rural Forum, an organization which unites 80 groups working for more sustainable rural and agricultural development worldwide. It aims to celebrate the work of family farmers and encourage their support.

Family farms have a big role to play in reducing poverty and world hunger, and in ensuring sustainable rural development and food security.

But they're often not supported as they should be! Many farmers lack access to the proper tools, knowledge, and resources to farm sustainably in ways that benefit them and their communities. Astonishingly, half of those who go to bed hungry every night are farmers.[1]

Food Tank and the Food and Agricultural Organization have put together a great video about the campaign. It highlights the diversity of family farms around the world, their crucial role in assuring food security, and the ways in which they can be better supported.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9hryUpy6_E]

What about family farms in Newfoundland and Labrador? In the province, there are over 500 farms – and while there are no numbers on how many of those are family farms, about seventy-five percent of those are small farms (earning under $100 000 a year).[2]

Some ways you can get to know and support the family farmers in your area – and enjoy their food! – are by:

Attending a local farmer's market: Fogo Island Farmers' Market (Saturdays, July-Fall, Central Fogo) Grand Falls-Windsor Farmer's Market Happy Valley Goose Bay's Community Outdoor Market Salmon Cove Community Farmer's Market Some Good Market (Makinson's) St. John's Farmer's Market Wonderful Fine Market (Corner Brook)

Visiting a farm or a farm-stand: the province's Farm Guide has listings for farms all across the province in the Avalon Region the BuyLocal!BuyFresh! map has listings for 28 farms around the Peninsula

For more information on the International Year of Family Farming and family farms around the world you can visit: www.familyfarmingcampaign.net.

[1]  “Making the Case for Family Farming #IYFF (A Video by Food Tank & the FAO),” (2013) YouTube video, 3:36, Posted by Danielle Nierenberg, Accessed May 26, 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9hryUpy6_E>. [2]   Statistics Canada, “2011 Farm and farm operator data,”  Statistics Canada, Accessed June 13, 2014, <http://www29.statcan.gc.ca/ceag-web/eng/data-type-selection-type-donnees?geoId=100000000>.