There’s a lot of buzz around the salmon walk (Alexandra Morton’s Get Out Migration) which has involved a land-based migration of activists travelling by foot from Sointula, on Malcom Island, down Vancouver Island, raising awareness about the risks to wild fish of ocean-based fish farms (or, as they are described by some, Norwegian feedlots). It commenced on April 21 and is due to end in Victoria on May 9. Here’s the itinerary if you want to join in or just see what’s happening where.

Some good news around meat inspection regulations in BC; the protests were heard – to some extent – and the regulations have been changed. A little bit. It doesn’t solve the problem for a lot of farms, but it’s a start. When the regulations were changed initially, many small livestock producers on this island had simply packed in their business when the regulations made it impossible for them to carry on; it will be interesting to see how many are willing to get back into this. Meanwhile, I hear that the reduction in livestock has meant a reduction in the amount of manure available to farms and gardens, which is causing problems for farmers wanting to carry on building their soil without artificial fertilizers. (When oh when will we be able to remember that everything is connected?)

Sourdough seems to be everywhere I turn these days. Here’s a great website that explains how to make a reliable starter using wild yeasts (which are present on the grain, not floating in the air as many suppose… which is what Back Home baker Mark Sinclair told us at the sourdough workshop he gave in Victoria). There’s a good article about sourdough in the Wall Street Journal, and another in the Atlantic.

Lovely Lorri Neilsen Glenn read at Planet Earth Poetry‘s season closer on Friday. Before she was allowed to get on stage she had to eat some Cowichan Bay Chicken confit with very local purple sprouting broccoli and organic beets & cumin;

greet the herons in Cuthbert Holmes Park;

and help pack up Rhona’s Own Baking for the Haliburton farm stand.

We got to the venue to join a packed house

in time to hear the open mic which included series founder Wendy Morton

and Yvonne Blomer, seeing out her first season as host

and then, and only then, was Lorri allowed to read to us from her superb new collection, The Lost Gospels.

On Saturday she flew the coop, heading east, and I was forced to seek other entertainments, including the Haliburton Farm garage sale

which was meant to raise money for repairs to the farm stand and greenhouse. The day was also the opening of Haliburton’s farm gate sales, featuring vegetables, seeds, herbs, seedlings and even a bit of baking.

It’s been a busy busy week!

Seven days ago, I started off up a murky old Malahat

to spend the day taking tickets at lovely Fairburn Farm,

home of Vancouver Island’s famous herd of water buffalo,

where Mara Jernigan

and her team presided over a Stinging Nettle Festival.

Farmer John Ehrlich, of Alderlea Farm, talked about the biodynamic farming uses

while Katy Ehrlich talked about medicinal and nutritional aspects of stinging nettles.

Mara gave a demonstration on the making of nettle spanakopita.

Nettle tea was on offer

You could have nettle pesto (and extremely local buffalo mozzarella) on your pizza

or a flowery bowl of nettle soup

or a piece of nettle tart

and end, if you wished, on a piece of rhubarb tart.

Much of the rest of the week was taken up with food preparation and planning for a one-off catering event. On Thursday, Dayle and I celebrated Earth Day and the new municipal cosmetic pesticide ban by providing a pesticide-free lunch to 100 people at Saanich City Hall. We had musical accompaniment

and a good-ish crowd who milled and ate over the lunch hour, checking out the pesticide alternatives information and talking to stall-holders like Glendale Gardens. I was very happy to be able to give a resounding NO to the person who came by to ask if the food being served would be hamburgers?

With the help of Dayle’s versatile farmer Jordan, we served cauliflower-lime soup with cumin,

Michell’s farm hubbard squash soup with ginger and tamarind; accompanied by Wildfire croutons,

raw almond-carrot pâté wraps (wrapped in kale, collard or chard leaves)

and chocolate-beet cupcakes.