Do apples that never brown freak you out? How about antibiotics in meat that could contribute to deadly superbugs? Or, how about $31 billion of food across Canada being tossed away? With increasing scrutiny about industrial farming methods, questions
Do apples that never brown freak you out? How about antibiotics in meat that could contribute to deadly superbugs? Or, how about $31 billion of food across Canada being tossed away?
With increasing scrutiny about industrial farming methods, questions raised about genetically modified 'frankenfoods' and a greater interest in locally grown food, producing your daily meals might seem increasingly attractive.
Elisha FitzGerald, with her children Zoe, three, and Nate, one, would seem to agree. The paramedic and mother of two grows a range of vegetables - from potatoes, onions, peas, beans, cabbage and kale - and raises six chickens at their acreage in Waiparous.
"Yesterday we were working in the garden and Zoe loves digging and waiting for the (veggies) to come up; she wants to check and see if they're growing," FitzGerald said.
And she said producing your own sustenance isn't as tricky as you might think - even if you live within an urban centre.
"It's totally feasible. Everyone can do it. It just might mean taking out some of your lawn, which is a huge financial and environmental drain because people want to water it, fertilize it and make it look pretty, when instead we could rip out the lawn, put in raised vegetable beds and grow some of our own food."
FitzGerald said her three seven-by-four-foot raised garden beds and chicken coop "...could easily fit into a Cochrane-sized backyard," in theory. Container gardens - soil contained in barrels or large pots - are well suited for smaller areas, she suggested. The Town of Cochrane does not currently permit chicken coops within town boundaries.
FitzGerald said her interest in growing began when she started a family, out of the desire to teach her kids about things like food production, hard work and the value of a dollar. "It's not about money savings; I do it primarily to teach my children about where food comes from and how food looks.
"There's a cost behind that food, so buying the cheapest food isn't always best because it comes at the expense of the farmer or at the expense of our food.
"It's realizing that just because Wal-Mart sells (something) for a $1.99 doesn't mean that it's a good deal."
FitzGerald began with the chickens, a more interactive experience for her daughter, she said.
"She really likes taking care of the chickens. She will tell people all the time, 'We have chickens! Eggs come from chickens, and when they're done we eat them and turn them into meat!'"
Now up to six hens, FitzGerald and her family have a fresh supply of eggs and poultry when the chickens reach the end of their natural lives. FitzGerald said she's not sure of the exact quantity of vegetables - it fluctuates year to year - but it's enough to supplement food throughout the summer and fall.
She acknowledged that when cost of soil, construction materials, water and time are factored in, there's not a lot of money to be saved.
FitzGerald bemoans what she sees as the mass industrialization of food. "We're under this false assumption that we don't grow enough food to feed the world. I think we definitely do grow enough food to feed the world." She contends that large-scale intensive agriculture or factory farming is fraught with many issues that degrade food quality.
Growing provides immeasurable benefit to her and her kids, according to FitzGerald.
"It brings us closer together; it's time that we get to spend working the land and being together, being outside and it's something that we enjoy. When we have an abundance of healthy food around, we make better choices."
