Program Updates

Good Food for All Our annual festival at 1884 Davenport was as lovely as ever this year. With absolutely no contingency plan if it rained, we were profoundly grateful to the weather gods for keeping the showers at bay until the evening. The weather certainly didn’t deter the roughly 400 people who attended (nor the children who participated in the rickety water-balloon-popping-on-your-head activity (without a towel in sight)). Our greenhouse coordinator, Lord, proved that—as in soccer—Ghanaians are serious competitors, when he and Kristen’s greenhouse team burst into the community cook-off winners circle with their savoury garden tart. 150 homemade cookies were given away as prizes to kids who completed the worm bingo and composting colouring activities. The much-loved Food Jammers pressed four bushels of apples into juice with the contraption that they built, and then frying them into fritters. Our After-School kids did a great job demonstrating their kitchen skills, assisted by Andrea and Mandy. Nine Mile and Samba Squad provided upbeat, sunny music that fit the mood perfectly. Scott didn’t even make it out of the kitchen where he was churning out vast quantities of tostadas and pear cake (made from fruit gleaned by Not Far from the Tree volunteers). Jane Farrow presided over the rather challenging hosting gig with complete comfort and grace. Overall, it was a joyful mix of foods and people from many different cultures and neighbourhoods.

New Farm Bounty Our wonderful partnership with The New Farm in Creemore—via the Grow for The Stop program —has become increasingly visible and productive. Grow for The Stop raises money used to purchase top-quality organic produce from the up-and-coming New Farm for distribution to low-income people through our food bank and drop-in. Money raised by cool New Farm events like dinners and concerts, as well as a percentage of specially-marked vegetables sold at locations like Fiesta Farms, The Big Carrot and Rowe Farms, go into the fund and come out the other end as rainbow carrots, chard and salad greens. The farmer gets paid full price and our community gets the best food available. A group of New Farm interns recently came to see where the food they had grown (and loaded into a truck a few days previous) was being used. When they visited, they helped turn this same food into a beautiful meal in our kitchen—perhaps the first time a meal had been both grown and cooked by the same people). We now have a standing order for 400 pounds per week of New Farm produce, and have officially become their largest customer.

Replication Nick and Kathryn have been putting a great deal of work into the replication of The Stop’s community food centre model. Thanks to the help of former Stopper, Charles Levkoe, and new project coordinator, Elizabeth Fraser, we've produced a solutions paper (part of a series on how to fix the food system, sponsored by the Metcalf Foundation), and received two significant pieces of funding—from Vital Ideas and the Ministry of Health Promotion. We have some other irons in the fire as well and, if all goes as planned, in a year we will be ready to launch two new pilot sites in Ontario based on our model. The new sites will implement a selection of programs from The Stop roster, adapted to a local context. Stay tuned.

Farmers' Market News: October

Everybody’s asking two things. First, when do we move indoors? The answer to that: November 6. Winter hours are 8 am to noon. The second question on everyone’s lips is “Where are the fisher folk?” That answer’s a bit more complicated. Bringing us the fresh Georgian Bay that fish we love requires them to be out on the lake, of course, and, if it’s too choppy, they can’t risk their lives by going out. We’re having an unusually windy fall, so they’re having an unusually tough time of it. As soon as the weather turns, they’ll be back; Andrew gets his boat out every day that the weather permits and the harbour isn’t frozen. Please remember to support the Akiwenzies when they get back.

Recipe of the Month: Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

This soup has become a favourite at our Good Food for All Festival. Squash and apple are a classic combination, but you can easily use sweet potatoes, pumpkin or even carrots instead. An immersion blender is easiest, but a blender or a food processor will work if that's what you've got.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lg onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 lg butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

4 cups (or more) vegetable broth

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 14-oz (398 mL) can coconut milk

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and nutmeg; saute until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes.

2. Add squash, broth, apples and coconut milk. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until squash and apple are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Using an immersion blender, puree soup really well, making sure there are no lumps. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a simmer, thinning with more broth if desired.

Serves 4 to 6

For more recipes like this, pick up our cookbook Good Food for All, available everywhere.

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