The Kingsolver and Hopp presentation last night (as part of Pages' This is Not a Reading Series, promoting Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) was brilliant. The audience got to laugh, feel doomed, watch turkey sex videos*, and learn a lot about how to eat locally.
The most amazing part, in a night of amazing things, is that the "spine" of the delivery was customised for the Toronto growing season. At the end we were presented with a list of web sites about where to get locally-grown food in and around Toronto. I have to say: this is the very first time, in any context, that I have seen non-Canadians customise a presentation for Canada and do such a good job at it. That includes some events I paid a lot more than ten dollars to attend.
Here's the list (I don't think this information is meant to be hoarded):
Thanks to Jean-Anne for helping me copy down all the addresses.
Always on top of things, culture queen Carla did her own scouting and found this public Google calendar: Toronto Farmers Markets
I haven't started Animal, Vegetable, Miracle yet, but I'm interested in reading it. As I blogged last, I grew up eating grow-your-own and pick-your-own, so a lot of the fascination for me is learning how to apply what I took to be common sense when I was eight to the urban environment I live in now.
It seems to me a lot of it is peer pressure. The first time I grew tomato plants on my balcony, a lot of my non-gardening friends expressed surprise that one even could grow tomato plants on a balcony. This was closely followed by musing about the propriety of such an act, for want of a better word. Most of my friends are gardeners, though, and so just said, "Cool! What variety?". I don't have a balcony right now, so tomatoes are on the local-buy list. Mmmmmm, tomatoes.... I wonder when the local heirloom ones will be ripe?
* Please note both parties participating in the sex were turkeys.
The most amazing part, in a night of amazing things, is that the "spine" of the delivery was customised for the Toronto growing season. At the end we were presented with a list of web sites about where to get locally-grown food in and around Toronto. I have to say: this is the very first time, in any context, that I have seen non-Canadians customise a presentation for Canada and do such a good job at it. That includes some events I paid a lot more than ten dollars to attend.
Here's the list (I don't think this information is meant to be hoarded):
- Local Food Plus
- The Stop Community Food Centre
- Food Share
- Edible Toronto
- City of Toronto Food Policy Council
- GTA Local Food
- Project for Public Spaces (multi-city)
Thanks to Jean-Anne for helping me copy down all the addresses.
Always on top of things, culture queen Carla did her own scouting and found this public Google calendar: Toronto Farmers Markets
I haven't started Animal, Vegetable, Miracle yet, but I'm interested in reading it. As I blogged last, I grew up eating grow-your-own and pick-your-own, so a lot of the fascination for me is learning how to apply what I took to be common sense when I was eight to the urban environment I live in now.
It seems to me a lot of it is peer pressure. The first time I grew tomato plants on my balcony, a lot of my non-gardening friends expressed surprise that one even could grow tomato plants on a balcony. This was closely followed by musing about the propriety of such an act, for want of a better word. Most of my friends are gardeners, though, and so just said, "Cool! What variety?". I don't have a balcony right now, so tomatoes are on the local-buy list. Mmmmmm, tomatoes.... I wonder when the local heirloom ones will be ripe?
* Please note both parties participating in the sex were turkeys.