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When Lilia Smelkova approached the microphone she exuded a quiet confidence that could have easily been mistaken for intimidation. She was standing in front of 450 passionate Chefs, Food Writers, Advocates and other Peers at Terroir 6. I had no idea what to expect and wasn’t bracing for much.
Within seconds of speaking, I knew I had better be taking notes. Originally from Belarus, she had worked in Italy for 10 years with Slow Food before launching it into Canada, Eastern and Central Europe. Her resume (you can see more of her bio here) reads like that of a modern day food warrior – and she is. Read more
The urban harvest is in full swing. Our city has already seen cherries (though a much smaller yield this year than previously), plums are coming through the urban orchard, mulberries are around, serviceberries have been spotted and sidewalks are getting stained everywhere. Urban fruit is being enjoyed across the city – and is wasting on lawns, trees and sidewalks around this city.
Please help us by raising awareness for the amazing work the Not Far From the Tree does by watching and sharing this video, sharing it and considering to volunteer or donate to the cause.
Click on the “YouTube” button to be brought to the homepage of the video on YouTube or click here for CanUrbOrg’s homepage on YouTube where you can see other similar videos of amazing urban projects.
Not Far From the Tree are great friends of WellPreserved and have a simple mission:
Harvest as much of Toronto’s 1,000,000+ pounds of fruit that often goes to waste by rotting, covering lawns and sidewalk.
Provide a third of the fruit to volunteers (who are powered by bicycle), a third to the owners of the trees and a third to community organizations across the city.
You can register to join a pick, register your tree, buy cool swag to support or donate to help the cause. The work they do is simply amazing and it happens because of people like you!
Our friends at Not Far From the Tree are heping champion an awesome project which is being led by FoodShare (another wicked program in our city) called The Great Big Crunch (you can read all of the details on the project here).
What’s the deal? Imagine 65,000+ students across Canada biting into an apple at the exact same time!
The program is an initiative to help raise awareness of healthy eating, local diets and food awareness through our schools (though I plan to have a big ‘ol bite and join along at 2:30EST this afternoon).
The hashtag on twitter is #gbc2011 (you can click on that for live updates from participants – even if you don’t have Twitter). Foodshare can be found on Twitter here.
Regardless of where you’re from, why don’t you join along? Would love to know who’s crunching with us (and check out the great resources linked above).
Hey! Did you know that there is approximately 1.5 MILLION POUNDS of fruit growing in TORONTO? There’s a way to keep it from falling on the ground, making a mess and going to waste…before I tell you how you can help out…let’s start with some background….
I’m a people person, and I like to work collaboratively…. Working on your own from home can be a challenge when the only one sharing your studio is the dog. That’s why I have a tendency to pick projects based on who I’d like to spend time with, and who like to work as collaboratively as I do…and people who are passionate about the story they want to tell.
If you are unfamiliar with this awesome Toronto non-profit, here’s the Coles Notes version of what they do:
They find home owners who have fruit trees on private properties (who are often a little frustrated with their tree – too much food for one person and a lawn full of apples has to be cleared before one can cut the grass).
The find volunteers to harvest the tree.
One-third of the fruit goes to charity (food banks and shelters who are often short of food and almost always short of fresh fruit), one-third to the owner and the remaining to the volunteers.
Most of the fruit is now distributed by bicycle power.
They picked more than 8,000 pounds last year. That’s an abundance of free fruit and while it’s Toronto-based those of you who are in other places could find a similar arrangement by talking with your neighbors. I don’t know a single person who uses all of their fruit from a single tree (it can actually be overwhelming).
Speaking of Not Far From the Tree is organizing an annual fundraiser to get the year off to a running start. While they are always looking for volunteers, they are also looking for funding to help secure the time and materials for these harvests as well as their educational campaigns, public events and workshops.
The fundraiser takes shape in the form of a film screening and party. Tickets are a very reasonable $15 and those who purchase them in advance will benefit from a free drink ticket. Knowing that Chef Sharon Bergey (Jamie Kennedy Kitchens) has come up with a theme-inspired cocktail means that these tickets will be well worth having!
I should also mention that each encounter we’ve had with NFFTT has been full of friendly people who have been a whole lot of fun. There will likely be some lively discussion after the film and a lot of friendly people to share the experience with.
Here’s the details:
THE GLEANING SCREENING
Thursday, May 20th
At The Toronto Underground Cinema
186 Spadina Ave, entrance off Cameron Street, just north of Queen St W
Doors open at 6:30
Screening at 7:30
Reception following the film.
Advance tickets are $15 and include a cocktail
Hope you enjoy – we’re going to try to make it out – send us a message here or on Twitter if you are going and we’d love to say hi.
We started this series of posts in response to many things – an undeniable motivator (as previously shared) was the focus on poverty and eating well and a particular scene in Food, Inc which spoke to the cost of good food vs. `filler`. The entire series of affordable approaches to good food is here.
We have written about our friends at Not Far from the Tree several times (some of those are here and here). We simply adore them and have met many great people and friends through them. Their website is here.
The group was formed by Toronto resident (and New Brunswick native), Laura Reinsborough is a passionate advocate of our city, the environment, local eating and the intersection of all 3. Laura, along with a small army of volunteers, are changing our city.
The non-profit program started by offering a service to home owners with fruit trees. Fruit trees are lovely but can be a source of pain through their abundance – once you’ve eaten, shared and preserved all you can, the remaining fruit often drops to the ground, makes a mess, smells, attract flies, gets in the way of the lawnmower, etc. Not Far From the Tree will come to your house and clear your tree of all it’s fruit. 1/3 of the fruit goes to the tree owner, 1/3 to the volunteers and 1/3 to charity.
They harvested 8,135 pounds of fruit downtown Toronto last year.
Now they’ve expanded their focus:
The program is largely one to make us think different about the urban forest, our city and food sources. The program is supported by the city (there had been initial reports of concerns that were completely overcome) and the group has tapped 12 urban Norway Maple trees to gather the syrup. There is a sugaring off party this Sunday, March 14. The event runs from 1-4pm (you can find the details here).
T-shirts are also available on their website.
I love the imagination of Laura and her team. I adore that there will be people gathered around a late winter harvest from within our city walls.
If you’re in the area and want to meet some great people, be sure to pop by. We haven’t planned our weekend yet but if we can make it, we’ll be there…
Jamie Oliver (British celebrity chef who is gaining ground in the US) spoke at TED this week. He passionately describes his mission to change how we eat and how our children do.
Set aside the 20 minutes to watch this video, it`s worth every moment. If you do, we`d love to get a discussion going in the comments section below.
There is a shortage of phenomenal presentations in the world.
A phenomenal presentation is a combination of parts which rarely even appear by themselves – a great speaker, presentation material, expertise, appropriate props and audience engagement. The importance of topic appears way down the list – great presentations transcend that.
Nancy Duarte helps people make great presentations. She works with some of the world’s best. Al Gore’s inconvenient Truth was prepared by her (and her team) as were a chunk of TED Presentations.
Nancy writes about including S.T.A.R. moments (Something They WIll Always Remember) in your presentations. She worked with food advocate Pollan to develop a recent speech for POP!TECH (similar to TED – their differentiator is that they try to push their impact beyond the presentation by fostering collaborations to create world change).
Doug Neff, from the Duarte team, wrote about the experience of working with Pollan here. There are some practical takeaways for presenters and presentation makers in that article.
To see the actual presentation (great food for thought), check it out below (less than 20 minutes and will likely pull you in during the first 60 seconds):
[vodpod id=Video.2510101&w=425&h=350&fv=]
ANy other favourite food presentations out there – or am I just that odd?
They are hosting an end of season party – Dana and I won’t be able to make it (she’s in pottery and I’ll be in Glasgow, Scotland) this Thursday evening.
We are donating some preserves and a preserving workshop (just like the one in the link above to see what it was like) as one of the door prizes.
It’s a mere $10 to attend (though I’m sure they would accept other donations to this amazing cause) and you can buy tickets here. If you go we’d love to hear your experience in the comments – wish we could be there with ya!
It has been an exceptionally busy fall so far – at work, at home and in the pursuit of our passions which compliment all of it.
A few weeks ago we had the privilege of guests in our home – the kind folks from Not Far From The Tree (Laura, Laurel and Marc) came by and joined Margaret (our friendly neighborhood photographer), Dana and I for a night of making preserves. It was to be a night of learning, sharing and tasting together. We’ll post more on tasting in a day or two – for now I want to focus on who these people are and the wonderful work they do!
Not Far from the tree is a wonderful food-based charity that focuses on harvesting from our urban orchard. The concept is simple – find volunteers who are willing to help pick fruit from a residential property and split the bounty 3 ways – one part to the volunteers, one to the owner of the tree and a final share to local charity. It’s a brilliantly simple concept that is executed with a tonne of hard work, passion and care.
The team picked over 3,000 pounds of fruit in the Toronto area in 2008. In the summer of 2009 they eclipsed more than 7,000 pounds! The team recounted a recent harvest of more than 500 pounds of pears from only two trees in a residential backyard.
The fruit is typically distributed via bicycles and carts (they have a trailer that can carry about 250 pounds of fruit on two wheels).
The team works with some talented preservers already – we saw a great opportunity to get together, share laughter, experience and knowledge. They also brought fruit! Apples from the Spadina Museum, Pears from the giant harvest and concord grapes from a friend who had offered them to the team. Laurel recounted a fascinating history of the Spadina Museum and their mission to create historically accurate gardens which replicate the way the gardens looked and functioned at the time of building the museum.
We made applesauce, grape jelly and canned pears. Margaret documented the evening (all of these photos are hers) and we shared stories of mutual passions that made the evening simply delightful! Laurels post on the same evening is here.
If you are looking to preserve next year and want fresh, local and inexpensive fruit and a great cause to contribute to, check out Not Far From the Tree and considering lending a hand next year!
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It has been an exceptionally busy fall so far – at work, at home and in the pursuit of our passions which compliment all of it.
A few weeks ago we had the privilege of guests in our home – the kind folks from Not Far From The Tree (Laura, Laurel and Marc) came by and joined Margaret (our friendly neighborhood photographer), Dana and I for a night of making preserves. It was to be a night of learning, sharing and tasting together. We’ll post more on tasting in a day or two – for now I want to focus on who these people are and the wonderful work they do!
Not Far from the tree is a wonderful food-based charity that focuses on harvesting from our urban orchard. The concept is simple – find volunteers who are willing to help pick fruit from a residential property and split the bounty 3 ways – one part to the volunteers, one to the owner of the tree and a final share to local charity. It’s a brilliantly simple concept.
He team picked over 3,000 pounds of fruit in the Toronto area in 2008. In the summer of 2009 they eclipsed more than 7,000 pounds! The team recounted a recent harvest of more than 500 pounds of pears from only two trees in a residential backyard.
The fruit is typically distributed via bicycles and carts (they have a trailer that can carry about 250 pounds of fruit on two wheels).
The team works with some talented preservers already – we saw a great opportunity to get together, share laughter, experience and knowledge. They also brought fruit! Apples from the Spadina Museum, Pears from the giant harvest and concord grapes from a friend who had offered them to the team. Laurel recounted a fascinating history of the Spadina Museum and their mission to create historically accurate gardens which replicate the way the gardens looked and functioned at the time of building the museum.
We made applesauce, grape jelly and canned pears. Margaret documented the evening (all of these photos are hers) and we shared stories of mutual passions that made the evening simply delightful!
If you are looking to preserve next year and want fresh, local and inexpensive fruit and a great cause to contribute to, check out Not Far From the Tree and considering lending a hand next year!
