Farmers Feed Cities
Photo credit: "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"“Farmers feed cities,” this blatant yellow sticker has been frequenting the bumpers of vehicles, local store windows and random telephone poles in cities across Canada. The message seemed fairly redundant because who other than farmers would be feeding cities?
Maybe they should be a little more specific.
“Canadian Farmers feed cities” would be better from a marketing point of view. After all, we all KNOW farmers feed us. Food does not harvest itself. I think what these ambiguous sticker makers are going for is that we should be eating locally grown food and supporting our Canadian farmers.
Finally, I agree- with myself, but still.
Why the hell am I buying tomatoes grown in Mexico? It is summer now, and Canada is finally warm enough to produce delicious fruit and vegetables. And yet, it is Mexican tomatoes and peppers from down south that line my local grocer’s shelves. It’s an illusion of choice, the multiple varieties of lettuce make you think you’re choosing but in reality, I do not want any of these. Maybe it is why I have been putting off grocery shopping for the past two weeks, in hopes that my own home grown vegetables will mature fast enough that I can avoid buying some that have had to travel kilometres upon kilometres, picked prematurely and sprayed with ethylene gas. Nom nom nom!
I guess I should pose a solution to this rather than just silently rock back and forth at my desk contemplating what the hell I am going to eat for dinner and cursing under my breath (sorry, Jon).
Local farmers, I know you exist in Ottawa because I was able to find you around Owen Sound, grow me some food and sell it to me for a somewhat affordable price. I hear you tend to hang out around Lansdowne Park on Sundays from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm. So, I will see you there and hopefully we can be friends until my own garden starts to produce me some food that is sustainable, organic and back porch local.
Oh, and if you live in Ottawa and you want some more ideas about where to get local foods, you should check Just Foods Buy Local guide.
-merissa
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