Lately, I’ve been feeling really lucky to live in an area where there is so much abundant, fresh and delicious food. Did you know that there are 49,631 farms in Alberta (according to the 2006 census). For a place with 4.1 million people that’s about one farm per 83 people.
That math means a lot of fresh food for the residents of my new home province (7 months and counting, woot woot).
Growing up around gardens and ranches, I knew that carrots came out of the ground and sprinklers are for food as much as they are for running through in the summer. I come from hard working cattle ranching stock and family-feeding mega gardeners.
Now, as a parent, I’m so excited that we can show our little dude what a garden is. We just moved into a house that has a garden that’s about 4 metres by 4 metres. The last few weeks of intermittent rain, sunshine, hot and cool weather means that our potatoes, chard, zucchini, strawberries, lettuce and beets are growing as fast as our 16 month old. My partner deserves 95% of the gardening credit as my thumb is only semi green and I use it to pull the odd weed (I’ve gardened by osmosis most of my life). Having a garden is a glorious thing and one of the most tangible projects your family can undertake.
So, while we may not be travelling much these days, there is a trip to the Old Strathcona Farmers Market we do every weekend. I am now fully addicted to bison, carrots and onions grown within 50 kilometres of Edmonton. Eating local has never been so easy. I’m hoping that we can take a farm tour this summer, maybe even attend one of RGE Rd’s Farm Dinners and share bags of vegetable bounty with friends and family as much as possible. I want to get to know our farming neighbours, glean some gardening tips, and most of all thank them for our food.
Grown on summer.
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