Just like that we’re into the holiday season, and the various preparations and scrambling and spending that goes along with it.  In the uncertain world we live in, holiday food is at least something we don’t have to “figure out”.   Gingerbread, sugar cookies, pies and clementines on the coffee table and buffet; roasts, squash, goose, and gravy on the table.
Traditional meals call for traditional ingredients and the classic Canadian Christmas meal hearkens to a simpler and smaller world – and one with far fewer food options on the table.   It’s a very odd thing that in the current year, while we have more food options, gym equipment and nutritional information than ever in human history, we also seem to be becoming less and less healthy. 

Life expectancy is actually declining, obesity is considered more or less normal, and degenerative diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders continue to plague us.  So what’s going on?  It’s anyone’s guess:  is it the food?  is it the plastics and various chemicals that saturate our day to day life?  is it an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and too much time in front of screens?

There’s no way to know exactly of course, because it is such a complicated situation with so much “noise” and so many variables, but I tend to think that there is an intangible energetic or spiritual component to this equation. (Or maybe we were just “smoking ourselves thin”!)

Prisons are a great place to study human beings.  It is the definition of a “controlled environment”. Penitentiary food is not particularly “healthy” though it ticks all of the boxes on the conventional food pyramid.  It is high in starches and vegetable oils, and short on things like healthy fats and animal proteins.    Inmates can supplement their diet somewhat with their meagre “wages” at the commissary, but you basically have a baseline diet that reveals our shape and health is determined by more than what we put in our mouths.

The cliche “inmate physique” – absolutely shredded from thousands of chin-ups in the prison yard – is far from what you generally see in institutional settings.  On the contrary, most prisoners resign themselves to their situation, and their health and physique reflect the static and hopeless nature of their lot.  Most inmates are rather pudgy, pale and passive.   What is remarkable is that there are those who, despite the grim nature of incarceration, transcend this, and do indeed look like Greek statues and maintain some measure of mental strength and control over their own lives.
Same food, same conditions, completely different outcomes.  This is based largely (as far as I can tell) on how we let that little spark of vital energy we all have guide our attitude and actions.  Much easier said than done!   Reinhold Niebuhr’s (founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) Serenity Prayer cuts to the quick of this discernment, or where and how we can control our own lives:
God, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,The courage to change the things I can,And the wisdom to know the difference.

Which reminds us of the most unpleasant truth about health: it often just comes down to genetics and luck.   The medieval “Wheel of Fortune” (when everyone ate a purely local, organic, seasonal diet and got tons of physical activity btw!) defined a worldview where no matter what we do or who we are, the outcomes of our lives are subject to change and beyond our reign.  A bit fatalistic, but fundamentally true.

So all this being said, I hope you enjoy our food because it tastes good, because it makes you happy, and you appreciate the efforts of our farm.  Unfortunately, it will not instantly transform your health, or make you live forever.  

I recall a CSA farm that went crazy one year and grew the “purple” variety of everything (carrots, kale, potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes etc.) because of the magical health giving anti-oxidants these varietals are supposed to contain.  I can only imagine the deathbed scenario, as the angels’ wings flutter over one’s head, “But… I ate all of the purple vegetables…!?”
It is very contrary to our contemporary scientific worldview, but I am of the mind that a grateful attitude and hopeful, humble spirit is better for our over all well being than any dietary choices we can make. So as the world turns, and just gets stranger and stranger, I encourage all of us to be of good cheer.  Life is short, let’s make the most of it!   Thank you for working with us on this trip around the sun.

Well, yesterday I went into a little office in downtown Kingston and they sliced the corneas off my eyes temporarily and burnt what was left down with a laser beam for about 5 seconds per eye and sent me off with some sunglasses and eye drops.

Today I woke up with full 20/20 panoramic vision (they actually measured this) and essentially no discomfort.  I feel like I’ve experienced the greatest miracle in my life.  Having worn glasses since I was ten, I have never seen the world like this in my memory and only wish I’d done this sooner.
You hear about Laser eye surgery and any number of things about it: it’s scary (it is!), it’s expensive (mine came to $2,400 total), it only works on some people (I don’t have astigmatism and have a stable prescription, but it worked for someone as blind as me), and that your eyes eventually revert (I don’t know anyone personally that’s happened to).  So, I feel like a real heel having not taken advantage of this technology twenty years ago.  What was stopping me?

What it really makes me wonder though, is what else am I missing???  What other magic is hiding under our noses, that could dramatically improve our lives, but for which some otherwise minor stumbling blocks hold us back. 

One thing that comes to mind in my own experience is deep tissue massage: it really is just like the movies… You get absolutely hammered: screaming and yelling, the whole nine yards… but it does amazing things that you can’t even achieve with drugs or surgery.  I went by accident the first time I got one, and came away from it pondering how many people suffer from chronic pain, opiate addiction, unnecessary surgeries etc. which could safely and readily be relieved by this?

These sorts of miracles probably fall into three categories: 1) novel use of cutting edge technology (laser eye surgery),  2) ancient esoteric wisdom (deep tissue massage), and 3) common sense traditions that we’ve let ourselves completely forget somehow over the past century.
The best example of that I can think of this third form from personal experience is preparing meals from scratch with whole foods.  Of course this is what everyone did pre-industrialization, but for many individuals and families it has become a foreign, almost impenetrable mystery.  I grew up this way to a large extent: while my mom was adept at roasting meat and boiling potatoes, we also ate a lot of fish sticks, frozen food and mac and cheese.  Cooking was considered a chore, and one to be dispensed with as little effort as possible.  Food was something to fill up on, not necessarily enjoy or appreciate.
So, when I moved out on my own at 18 and had to feed myself, I was astounded, with the help of a few good cookbooks and GARLIC, how much pleasure and interest one can take in the preparation of food.  Not only that, but that the routine can become a grounding place of relaxation, and a focal point for family; that the preparation of food is not only a complex, subtle artform and mastery of the physical realm, but also a way to show others that you love them.

If you’re bothering to go out of your way to shop with a local farm, you’re probably already well aware of this magic of the hearth, and I mention it as a reminder to myself as much as an encouragement for others.  So, as we embark on another year, I hope that we all can find, discover, remember and cultivate as many of these minor miracles as we can.

I had a dream a month or so ago… I dreamt that Morgan and I bought Quattrocchi’s.  (Such are the sorts of dreams produce farmers have).  For those of you who don’t know, Quattrochis is a long-standing institution in Kingston, as both a grocery store and wholesaler of fresh fruits and veggies. 

They’ve been in the produce business forever, even back in Sicily from which they fled – when the Mafia electrified their well and killed their great great grandfather for not paying for “protection”. They came to apply their knowledge and energy here in Kingston and before the current era of grocery titan duopoly (Sobeys/Loblaws), were a major supplier to the city of traditional staples like potatoes and apples and cabbages.

In order to store such staples, they built a warehouse on the corner of Montreal and Railway streets, which has grown and morphed over the years into what it is today.  We do a lot of business with Joe actually, and I can tell you that the insulated, climate controlled spaces – both above and below ground – are absolutely cavernous, as well as largely empty.  Because, like the rest of the retail food system, no one really sits on much inventory anymore.   In Joe’s case he heads with a box truck to the food terminal in Toronto every week, where he buys directly from huge growers and international brokers.

Walmart, Costco, Loblaws, Sobeys et al. have even more integrated and streamlined supply chains, often of course with their own store brands and multiyear contracts with suppliers.  Without a doubt this has created a very convenient and very affordable supply of food.   The economy of scale lets grocers operate on very thin margins, and they offer many products as loss leaders – pulling you into the store for ridiculously cheap food in the hope that you will buy some high markup items on the same trip.    As Joe Quattrochi has told me, “Anything you see on the outside of the grocery flyer – they’re losing money on that.”
It’s something we take for granted, but the modern grocery store is actually one of the greatest wonders of our civilization.  Imagine plucking a peasant of 200 years ago – from anywhere in the world – and dropping them into a high end grocery store.   They would probably cry.   On a less fantastic note, during the Cold War the first view of the North American grocery store was also a miraculous experience for Eastern European immigrants and defectors.

The beauty and wonder of having all of the food, all of the time, is predicated on the “just in time delivery” (JIT) model where global logistics operate with perfect coordination and redundancies in storage and handling are eliminated.   Until recently this was seen as one of our economy’s greatest strengths.   It’s been revealed recently though, to be a major weakness as well.   Once disruptions begin to appear in the system, JIT begins to break down as each interruption causes further interruptions down the line which must be made up for… causing further interruptions.
The good news is that there isn’t a food shortage, no one is going to go hungry.   There is lots of grain and beans and apples and potatoes out there.  There are lots of beeves and hogs and fowl.  What there is however, is worker shortages, reduced processing capacity and shutdowns over covid outbreaks.   There are border disruptions, a lack of parts and diesel fuel costs 50% more than it did a year ago.

Decades and decades of momentum have suddenly been lost, and we’re finding that once you shut something so complex down, it is very hard to get it running properly again.  And this was the impetus for my dream:  I want there to be mountains of food stored safely in the center of town – not contingent on an endless stream of transport trucks. 

Being a food retailer was never really my goal as a farmer.  I like creating a fruitful landscape and working with the seasons.  I like having a farm for my children to grow and learn on, and I appreciate the security I find in a pile of firewood and a spring that never stops running.  Fortunately, I married a very pleasant and friendly and organized woman who has transferred all of her experience and book learning into operating our farm business.

Believe it or not, there are now more than 500 of you who get this email every week.   We appreciate the social capital you’ve invested in the farm – we often hear from you something to the effect of “Thank goodness you guys are around – we’re really gonna need you in the future…”

Statements like that sort of startle me because if we ever got to the point where you were *relying* on our farm for your calories, the world would have more or less fallen apart.  However, with every day that passes, we do in fact move into the future, and the historical anomaly of “All of the food, all of the time” is indeed eroding.  There is a great opportunity here for local agriculture, food processors and the like.   Far from going hungry, we can use this as a way to make progress towards a vibrant and healthy landscape that feeds us.

So, while we’re not going to buy Quattrochi’s anytime soon, after eight years of work, we do find ourselves firmly entrenched in the business of selling food.   We want to continually enhance and improve the service we provide you and to diversify and expand the products we offer.
It’s been great to see your interest in the Davis’ farm products of lamb and duck meat and eggs.  They appreciate all of the positive feedback.  Last night, I went over for a barn beer during evening milking at our friends the Smith’s and we realized it was a no brainer that we should start offering their farmstead cheese as well.

Nigel and Claire are fifth generation dairy farmers with a lovely little family, and have been making cheese by hand on their certified organic farm since 2011.   They work 365 days a year and are a rarity in the landscape, not only for their farming practices, but also their highly skilled, value added production.

Nigel produces a very special product: organic, raw-milk, aged cheese produced on-farm in their own cheese house. We’ll be offering a Gouda (Pilgrimage, nutty and sweet) and a Cheddar (Nauvoo, aged, more sharp) for our deliveries from now on and at our farmstand this summer. The cheese wedges are ~250g in weight and cost $10 per wedge. 
You can also purchase quarter, half and whole wheels of both varieties of cheese for $35 per kg;  a wheel weighs approximately 6 kilos.  We hope you will consider investing in this premium product.

As we add more producers’ goods to our list, our own products are clearing out.  Hens are very shy of laying right now, and we will be very limited on eggs for the next couple months – so please forgive us if we’re short.   Squash are done for the season, and this will be the final week for onions.   We still have lots of potatoes, carrots, beets and sauerkraut.  Our cold storage has been working out great.  We should have these items for several more months.