Nature Challenge Newsletter

Dear Nature Challenge Champion, 

Do you realize how far your food travels from where it’s produced to your table? It can be thousands of kilometres! This has hidden impacts on the environment and on your health and community.

Contents (links may not work on older browsers - please scroll instead)

1. Think globally, buy locally
2. Facts about buying local
3. What's growin' on?
4. Recipe: Fresh vegetable in cream sauce
5. Go local!
6. Keep it fresh
7. Organic or local?
8. Fair trade coffee & tea
9. Coffee table book winner!

The food we eat travels further than ever before. One study estimated that a basic North American meal travels 2,400 km from field to table-roughly the driving distance from Regina to Toronto! Transporting foods increases the level of greenhouse gas emissions and pollutes our air.

Since shipping food long distances requires packaging and chemical treatments to prevent rotting and over-ripening, buying locally grown helps reduce the waste, energy and materials needed in this process.

Buying locally grown fruits and veggies also helps conserve precious farmlands and wildlife habitats. In Canada, the best agricultural land is located near our largest cities. Keeping these areas in production conserves fertile land and preserves biological diversity for the future.

• Buying locally contributes to the financial viability of nearby farmers and other producers. In the long-run this may ensure access to fresh, seasonal food and greater food awareness among city dwellers.
  
  
• Fresh food tastes much better than food that’s been stored and shipped across the country--or around the world.
  
  
• Locally grown produce tends to be fresher and contain higher levels of vitamins than the imported variety. Food that has to be transported long distances is often preserved with waxes, irradiation, gases and synthetic chemicals, such as fungicides and sprout inhibitors. Yuck!

To learn more about the value of buying local, visit:
- 10 reasons to buy local food
- World Watch Institute's tips on what people can do

Buying locally grown produce will help you get the best in taste and nutrition.

Visit these sites to see what's available in your province and to find out more about seasonal produce:
- Produce availability guide for Canada
- Find out what's growing in your province
- Southern Ontario: what's in season?
- British Columbia: fruit availability

Recipe: Fresh vegetables in cream sauce

Enjoy those summer veggies!

Steam a selection of the following in any combination: new potatoes, baby carrots, sugar peas, green and yellow beans, broad beans, pearl onions, cauliflower, turnips or anything you fancy. Begin steaming the vegetables that take the longest then add the others so they will finish cooking at the same time. Save the nutrient-rich vegetable liquid from your steamer.

Pour 1/2 cup of this liquid in a saucepan.

In a cup, make a paste of 2 - 3 Tbls. flour and small amount of light cream (or soy milk). Mix with vegetable liquid and stir until well blended.

Add 1/2 c. light cream or soy milk and 2 Tbls. butter or vegan margarine and stir over medium heat until thickened.

Add vegetized sea salt to taste.

Pour over steamed vegetables and top with finely chopped parsley.

(Recipe courtesy of Geanine Robey, Registered Nutrition Consultant)

To find seasonal produce shop at farmers’ markets or ask your grocer to bring in local fruits and vegetables. Growing your own food in a home or community garden can save money and is a great way to relax!

For more info:
- Tips for growing your own organic foods
- Tips on urban gardening

Keep it fresh

Obtaining fresh local produce can be a challenge during the year. But there are ways to preserve food so you can enjoy tasty fruits and veggies all year long:

Overwinter produce storage: When stored properly, fresh vegetables keep most of their nutritional value and flavour for extended periods of time. Good winter keepers include potatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage, sweet potatoes, turnips and winter squash. Learn more:
- Storing vegetables at home (PDF)
- HGTV - storing vegetables
- Tips on storing home garden vegetables

Dehydrating: Removing water from produce preserves its nutritional value. Learn more:
- Dehydrating produce
- Drying food at home
- A comparison of nutrient values among frozen, canned and dehydrated produce

Freezing and Canning: You can freeze or can practically all types of produce if you know how to do it. Learn more:
- Freezing fruits & vegetables

Organic or local? 

What's more environmentally friendly-buying organic or local?

Ultimately, the most important criteria for buying food in Canada is to minimize the distance between field and table.

It's best to buy locally grown organic food. But given the choice between imported organic and local produce, buying local is better.

Some products like coffee and tea can’t be grown locally. But you can be sure the people who grew and harvested the crop also benefitted from it. 

Look for the ‘fair trade’ label, which ensures that the producers were paid a decent wage and the crop was produced with minimal environmental impact. Learn more:
- A just coffee 
- Global exchange coffee campaign

Coffee table book winner!

By taking the Nature Challenge your name was automatically entered in a monthly draw for an autographed Sacred Balance coffee table book! This month's winner is Anne Boyd of London, Ontario. Congratulations, Anne!

Read about the science behind the Nature Challenge. (PDF)
Read the Green Guide, a comprehensive look at the 10 challenges. (PDF)