Don't let it all unravel

This beautiful film filled me with melancholy and amazement at the same time.

Return of the root cellar

The NYTimes has an interesting article about the renewed interest in food storage at home:
Food Storage as Grandma Knew It. The article features Hariet Fasenfast, who blogs at culinate.com

Pics from the harvest

Here are some pics from warmer, greener times. The carrots were unreal, they tasted like candy. So sweet, nothing like the ones in a bag from who knows where. Hera figured out that they were sweet too, and we had to watch her like a hawk the last two weeks of the season. Every once in awhile she'd come in to the house with dirt on her face and a carrot-eating grin.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Not feeling too bloggy these days. More knitty and read-y, I guess it's the cool weather. I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last week, it is a wonderful book. I've always enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver, and this book describes the practical considerations and lofty ideals of eating food that comes from near one's home. I had the pleasure of hearing the author read from her work at Knox United Church last spring. As she said, it was probably the first time the subtleties of turkey sex had been explained from the pulpit. After reading it, I am inspired to try my hand at cheese making. Now that canning season is over I need a new pastime. I'm going to start by making yogurt with this tutorial.

Organic standards coming to Canada

I was surprised and pleased to find out that Canada will have a standard organic designation that will be regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), starting on December 14th. I hope this will help counter some of the superstitions out there regarding organic food just being a cash cow for dishonest farmers.

See Doug DiPasquale's post about this here.