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Farms, food and being

October 13, 2005 By Uncategorized

“Nature has no responsibility to be economic, this is a flawed ideology. A food producing farm is still a farm whether or not it is ‘economically’ viable, in that the food still provides a ‘living’ for people. Somehow we must allow farms to ‘be’ irrespective of whether or not they are economically viable, -after all society seems to be able to accept that parks don’t need to be profitable.”

— from the comments on the 100 Mile Thanksgiving

It was Thanksgiving here in Canada last weekend. Being a huge fan of local food, our family contributed a roasted squash soup to the occasion, made entirely from local ingredients, sourced within 100 miles of home.

My inspiration for this is, among other things, The 100 Mile Diet, at The Tyee, British Columbia’s online newspaper and perhaps the finest example of online major media I have ever read. The series, which has been running since the spring has charted the lives of James MacKinnon and Alicia Smith as they try to eat exclusively foods grown within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver. As they have tried (and succeeded) to do this they have discovered some interesting realities about the way food is produced in this country and what it means for our diet, our economy and our society.