Back to the garden

EMC Lifestyle - It may well be the understatement of the century to claim that most of us are disconnected from our food - where it comes from, how it is produced. It's the kind of thing I go on about all the time in an effort to explain to people why I make the unconventional, seemingly high-maintenance dietary choices I do.

Yet I always feel like a bit of a hypocrite making such statements, as really I know very little about food and how it grows. Thus when the opportunity presented itself to spend a day working at Patchwork Gardens organic farm in Battersea, where my husband and I are CSA members, I felt I owed it to all those who have been subjected to my factory farm/food security rants to try my own hand at food production.

When planning my day at Patchwork Gardens, I was advised by farmers Ian Stutt and Eric Williams that staying for lunch was necessary in order to have the full experience. They explained that everyone who works there takes turns making lunch, and that the meal always includes freshly picked vegetables from the farm.

The whole thing seemed very romantic, and I arrived charged with idealistic notions of "getting back to the land" and, in the words of my father, an old farm boy himself, "putting in my first 'true' day's work."

Ian and Eric were there, and I also met Louise Cooper, Marie Bencze and Thor Hansgen, who were all very kind and patient about the fact that a reporter was tagging along, randomly bothering them for photos and sound bites.

Ian led me into the field, explaining that I would begin the day weeding tomatoes in the farm's one remaining greenhouse. Just over a month ago, there were four.

"We had three windstorms, and each demolished a greenhouse," he said, adding that the wetter than average spring was also a significant setback, as they were about 2-3 weeks later than usual getting onto the land.

"Then we lost our spinach...sugar snap peas and beets," said Ian, however, he was quick to add that he and the other farmers have many reasons to remain positive.

"What we've learned more than anything with farming is it's just so loaded with risk and there's not much you can do other than pick back up and keep going. I guess you've got to learn from it, and we're definitely going to build more structure into any future greenhouses."

He pointed out what looked to me like mini greenhouses, constructed using the materials from the ones that were destroyed.

"They're called low tunnels," he said. "They can kind of mimic what the greenhouse was doing...but don't replace the job it would have done. There are different tricks you can try and use."

Later, Thor also spoke about the rough spring, noting that working together has been key to overcoming the setbacks.

"There's a lot of experience here now, and we've got an incredible team in my opinion," he said. "Even today we're still catching up, but most of the stuff has caught up...it's just being able to overcome those circumstances as they come."

Indeed, as I proceeded with my tomato weeding, it struck me how much everyone at the farm seems to genuinely like each other. It was a pleasure to listen to and sometimes participate in friendly conversation while tiding the rows of plants, glancing back ever so often to view the rewarding difference between the weeded and non-weeded sections.

Later, I helped Marie tie trellises to the plants, which are intended to keep them from hanging onto the ground and allow for a better yield.

While I interviewed Ian, he was attaching the other end of the trellises to the ceiling of the greenhouse, allowing the tomato plants to stand upright. He moved carefully and methodically as he explained that organic farming means more than simply the absence of pesticides - it's also about promoting healthy soil, and being good stewards of the land. Healthy soil, he noted, means healthy food, and healthy food means healthy people.

Ian, who also co-ordinates the NFU's New Farm Project, explained that every year there is a huge increase in the number of organic farms in Canada.

"Probably most of the new farms in Canada are organic," he said. "But it's much more of a knowledge-based farming that requires a real skill base, which takes time to develop."

It was clear to me, however, he is more than up to the challenge:

"I love the hard work. I think it's endlessly creative. You're always needing to find new solutions to growing good crops, and in the end it's incredibly rewarding."

Later that day, Ian showed me one such creative method, pointing out a small potato crop that had been planted to act as a decoy for the beetles that routinely damage the plants. The idea, he said, was to invite the insects to dine on these 'bait' potatoes in hopes that they will not notice the main crop to be planted later.

Before that, however, we had the opportunity to taste some of the fruits of our labour: chilli, salad, bread and muffins all made from scratch by Marie with plenty of farm fresh vegetables like lettuce, rhubarb, beets and cilantro.

I felt privileged to partake in lunch, a beloved and long-held tradition at Patchwork Gardens.

"Lunch is fantastic," said Louise. "You just really look forward to what other people are making. We all really enjoy food and cooking, so it's nice to share the load and then experience the passion for food coming through in what they cook."

This is Louise's third summer working on the farm.

"I started out as a shareholder a few years ago," she said. "I had worked in community gardens in Vancouver and thought it would be a really good thing to learn about so I could garden more confidently."

She added that social and environmental issues are also key reasons she is passionate about farming.

"I'm pretty interested in...the other issues surrounding local food, energy consumption, that sort of thing. It just made sense to learn about this so I could grow as much of my own food as I possibly could."

I was continually inspired by this sort of passion, which was demonstrated by all my co-workers throughout the day. It may have been a bad spring - by far the worst these young farmers have ever experienced - but no one was wallowing in self-pity. Indeed, there wasn't time to, as there were still many thriving crops to attend to.

After lunch, I rounded out my day by planting some sweet corn, dill and cilantro. It was neat to think that those seeds will soon become food I and more than 50 other families receive in our CSA shares - not to mention ingredients in meals prepared by chefs at some of Kingston's top restaurants like Chien Noir, Olivea and Aqua Terra.

However, I'm not going to lie and say that working on the farm was easy. Days later, muscles I never realized I had continued to ache and wail in my legs from all the bending and kneeling involved in weeding, and my back is still spotted with dozens of itchy, swollen deerfly bites. Yet it helped to think there was a purpose to the pain - arguably the most important purpose of all: feeding people.

"I think on a larger scale (local, organic farming) creates communities that are more connected with one another - people that care not just about food, but about each other and other things that go on," said Louise.

Ian agreed, noting that "by being a farmer I'm doing all the things I want to do and that I think are needed to be done every day. In terms of soil, hard work outside, working with other people, and trying to live a life that feels right as far as being connected to the earth and really anchored in the local community."

As an admitted softy when it comes to physical labour, I was personally quite happy to return to writing the next day. Yet I wouldn't trade my experience at Patchwork Gardens for anything. I feel honoured that my five new friends let me share a day with them, teaching me so much about healthy, sustainable food production. Most of all, I was happy to see that the food I eat on a daily basis is grown in such a positive environment - in healthy soil, by people who are genuinely passionate about what they do.

hpratt-campbell@theemc.ca