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Ah, the mourning after… but Good Holding Ground, a very nice cake, and a launch this Friday
What can one say but congratulations to my new MP, Randall Garrison, who will shortly be joining lots of other new NDPs in Ottawa; and congratulations to Elizabeth May, who will be there too, waving a big green flag for that most undiscussed election issue.
Last Friday it were poetry, poetry, poetry as Cynthia Woodman Kerkham – who tonight reads the poem that won the Malahat Review’s Open Season competition – launched her first collection. Good Holding Ground, at Planet Earth Poetry. Place was packed to the rafters, and a jolly and generous crowd it was.
It never hurts a literary event to add a superb chocolate cake; like this one from Wildfire Bakery:
While I cannot promise such a cake this Friday, I am delighted to be launching a chapbook of food poems, The Earth’s Kitchen, also at Planet Earth Poetry, in the excellent company of Yvonne Blomer and Pamela Porter.
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Party statements about issues affecting writers, in advance of Monday’s Canadian election
Interesting to see the party that didn’t respond to pre-election questions posed by The Writers’ Union of Canada…
Party Responses to TWUC Election Questions-1
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High security meals & some curious uses for oregano
The Clink is an interesting restaurant in Britain which is run by inmates of HM Prison High Down (this article about it by an expert in prison food is worth reading too). Envisioned by its Michelin-starred chef-founder as a way to train chefs and restaurant staff, it took seven years to get off the ground, but now produces both good food and employable inmates. It’s not open to all diners – you have to have a good reason for going there and/or be employed by a government or prison office, or with a nonprofit (presumably one with compatible aims to the program which is also a registered charity). I suspect the project may have taken some inspiration from another such ristorante in Italia: the maximum security prison at Volterra in Tuscany.
Another odd and slightly Italian-flavoured item that has crossed my inbox is news of this study that’s found another use for oregano: when cows eat it, it keeps them from burping methane (apparently it is burps rather than farts which emit the greenhouse gas) and ups their milk yields. The study doesn’t say whether the milk picks up any flavour from the herb – but if it does, it might make for some interesting cheeses. And perhaps offer some other health benefits for humans. I have been plied with oregano oil at various points in recent years, by persons neither belching nor lactating, who swear by its curative powers, particularly for preventing colds. Definitely something to plant in my garden this year.
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In her latest collection, Rhona McAdam navigates the dark places of human movement through the earth and the exquisite intricacies lingering in backyard gardens and farmlands populated by insects and pollinators, all the while returning to the body, to the tune of staccato beats and the newly discovered symmetries within the human heart.
“…A beautiful, filling collection, Larder is a set of poems to read at the change of the seasons, to appreciate alongside a good meal, and to remind yourself of the beauty in everything, even the things you may not appreciate before opening McAdam’s collection….”
Rhona McAdam is a writer, poet, editor, and Registered Holistic Nutritionist with a Master’s in Food Culture from Italy and a deep-rooted passion for ecology and urban agriculture. Her work spans corporate and technical writing to poetry and creative nonfiction, often exploring the vital links between what we eat and how we live. Based in Victoria, BC, and available via Zoom, Rhona is always open to new writing commissions, readings, or workshops on nutrition and the culinary arts.
