Have been whistlin‘ through Alberta, helped along with the westerly wind that is blowing all the nice warm air over the mountains and into the prairies.

Last night it turned mean and whapped high speed salt and gravel in our faces when we stepped out into Jasper Ave

after the otherwise warm and cosy reading at Audrey’s Books, still an excellent independent bookstore in a shrinking universe of independent bookstores.

Thursday’s food day at Augustana was great: it began with one of my favourite speakers, Nettie Wiebe, who gave a splendid overview of the subject of food sovereignty, using to good advantage her multiple aspects as philosopher/ethicist, feminist, farmer, political candidate and ex-farmers’ union head. Starting with the theme of dis-integration, she gave a good overview of the unhealthy influence exerted by corporations, the loss of farmers’ cooperatives, failures in policy that removed the humanity from farming, the removal of accountability from wasteful and destructive means of food production, and much more.

And I was also very taken by the producers’ panel, presided over by the dean, Roger Epp

Representing grain and beef were Harold Warkentin and Wyatt Swanson

and dairy by Jan Slomp

They gave their sobering views on the state of business for Alberta farmers today; they were all grim on the scale of today’s farming, which puts huge swaths of land in the hands of too few farmers. Swanson talked about the upheavals in the beef industry which have been radical over the past thirty years: from an epic high of production and sales in the seventies and eighties, to the advent of feed lots in the eighties and nineties and the transition to a beef export business to the US, the collapse of Alberta beef processing, to the death blows dealt by the first BSE case in 2003 and the credit crisis last year. His family is entering the fifth generation of farming and he’s not sure how long it will be able to continue on the land.

Slomp gave a more optimistic talk, about his evolution from conventional high-yield dairy producer to enlightened producer. He spoke of the damage the green revolution had done to the Netherlands, causing insane fertilizer use and insupportable requirements for feed and medication where once farms were self-sufficient and self-sustaining. He feels his milk yields are impressive despite his decision to top using agrichemicals on his fields and cattle; he’s worked wonders on the water system on his land by pasture management; and he’s thwarted veterinary wisdom by refusing to use prophylactic antibiotics (normally used to prevent the mastitis that is chronic among overtaxed dairy herds). The result he says, is that he lives on a pristine piece of land with healthy animals and a profitable business.

Warkentin spoke about the complexities of seed breeding and the joys of developing new varieties to meet the challenges of growing. He produces high quality seed for other seed breeders (he gave a helpful explanation of seed qualities, which are diffferent according to whether you are developing seed or sowing it for crops) and has enjoyed experimenting with different varieties along the way. He took a firm stand on the question of GM crops; said he’d tested some Roundup-ready canola once, and decided to stay away from it after that. The risk to human health, he says, is too unknown, and he could breed seed with better yields through traditional methods. He gave an interesting bit of information about Alberta’s rat-free status. I’d heard long ago about the rat patrol that kept the numbers down along the border; what I hadn’t realised is that government policy on weasel trapping had also played a part: weasels take care of the rest of the rat population.

..weather’s good there in the… er.. early.. spring??? Please make it so.

I’m looking forward to seeing my Albertapals, and my whirlwind tour this week, including my class visit at the U of C, Wednesday’s reading at Red Deer College Library, what sounds like a fabulous food day on Thursday at the U of A’s Augustana Campus, and Friday’s reading with Bert Almon in Edmonton.

Here’s a movie I want to watch when I get home (thanks for mentioning it Tom!)

Yesterday’s Sustainability Fair in the town of View Royal was small but perfectly formed, with displays about waste & recycling, composting, water conservation, land conservancy and other plans, achievements and services. The town has also created a fabulous document called Steps to Sustainability. You can choose from a sprawling list of things to do to live more ethically and sustainably, with helpful links to sources of more information. There are, as in all such lists, a few items I’d disagree with, but a lot more things I hadn’t thought about which would be easy to do.

For example, even apartment dwellers can vermicompost their kitchen scraps in a worm bin, which comes in small enough sizes (like this Worm Factory) to can sit on a balcony or porch. I don’t know how well red wigglers would endure northern winters but you could even bring them inside, as one advantage they have over other compost bins is that they keep smells down.

(If the View Royal list isn’t long enough for you, another way to inspire yourself with new resolutions can be found in this book, Change the World for Ten Bucks. Or you could celebrate Buy Nothing Day on a weekly or monthly basis instead of confining it to an annual event; if you’re really tough you could do as others have done and try it for a year.)

One of the items I wasn’t sure about on the View Royal list was the suggestion to save power occasionally by using candles. I’d heard there was some kind of environmental issue around candles, but I was surprised when I looked it up to discover it’s largely to do with the wick, which may contain lead, which means you’re creating lead vapour when you burn candles. There’s no ban on using lead in candle wicks in Canada, so we’re advised to be wary when buying candles; most of those made in North America (or sold at Ikea, surprisingly) are considered safe. BC Hydro’s fact sheet can tell you more, including how to test the wick for lead.

Bruce has just reminded me to mention the other half of the candles issue: there are health concerns over the hydrocarbons (burned and unburned) in candles, which are not designed to burn clean like a modern car engine or EPA wood stove, so the pollutants go straight into the air in your home.

Just bought me a new cd by this young feller. How I wish I could catch his gig at the Borderline tomorrow, where once I saw young up-and-comer Sheryl Crow, and another time our own James Keelaghan.

No sooner do I post the entry on meat than it’s all around me, practically slapping me (as it were) in the face.

Merna had kindly sent me this interesting review of Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, which is being billed as the natural extension of Pollan’s In Defense of Food – only with recipes. So I rushed out and bought it and the first page says:

Two years ago, a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) landed on my desk. Called Livestock’s Long Shadow, it revealed a stunning statistic: global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases – more than transportation.

So that caught my attention, as did the review’s praise of his simplified approach to cooking (he does after all write a column for the NYT called The Minimalist: he wants to teach you How to Cook Everything!). Then it turns out there’s an interview with Bittman in the Globe and Mail today as well.

Maybe you’d like to practice your French listening skills by watching this video which Jo-Anne kindly sent me, of people who risk man-eating tigers to harvest wild honey each year. Like all good eaters, they thank the forest gods for their bounty at the end.

In other more local news… I noticed a poster for a Sustainability Fair in the town of View Royal this weekend, on Saturday January 24 from 11-4; or you can catch Don Genova’s perky short course on coffee from 10-4; Lorna Crozier reads at the Planet Earth reading series, 7.30pm this Friday 23rd. It seems we’re also in a time of warming beverages: this weekend we have the Victoria Whisky Festival, complete with tastings and masterclasses. The more abstemious can hold off until February 14-15 for the Victoria Tea Festival. From February 19th to March 8th there’s an opportunity for serial dining with the Dine Around & Stay In Town Victoria event.