Old 99 farm, week of July 3 2016

There will be U-pick raspberries and currants this week. These berry crops are bountiful this year. We’ll also have some pre-picked if you are in a rush. Currants make a wonderful jam or cordial, high in nutrition.

Regular crops: kale, beet tops, chard, green onions, green garlic, arugula, parsley and tomatoes. Should have yellow zuchini next week.

I went to Bob Bratina’s townhall meeting on climatechange today. A bigger than expected turnout made it clear that if you are informed about climate change, you have every reason to be alarmed. Bob is the Liberal MP for Stoney Creek, former mayor and a sports broadcaster before that. He gets it. But he like most every other politician has NO IDEA how to lead the country through a crisis the likes of which no one has ever experienced, even world war. We heard several pleas that the feds take this climate thing as seriously as we would another world war. Bob was at loss of how to proceed, and yet he gets it that building more oil infrastructure is foolish if to keep below 2degC we have to leave 80% of the carbon fuels in the ground. He gets it that building car-centric cities and burbs is foolish when transportation in the Hammer contributes more than a quarter of all GHG pollution. He gets that the people have to wake up and take responsibility for personal decisions that consume oil and produce carbon. I can hardly blame him for now knowing how to navigate into a future we can only dread if we stay the ‘business as usual’ course.
You and I and our friends and relations have to get with the program: get informed, take to heart we live in the age of limits, care enough for younger generations to forgo consumption pleasures etc now.

Healthy eating
Ian and Cami