Should you volunteer in Africa? (the answer may surprise you)

Rice trials with the regional minister of Ag

I spent last year in rural Ghana working on women's economic development projects with a Canadian NGO. In the beginning I was a little naive in thinking that I had found an organisation apart from the rest, above the issues typical in development orgs and that it would allow me to fulfil a lifelong dream of building a career in Africa. But what I learned was that there are some serious issues with traditional development, something I thought I knew but failed to acknowledge. There are also amazing people doing really meaningful and effective work. It is up to us to dig through the noise and find the gems doing the good, honest work that will affect change.

The question remains, should you volunteer in Africa or the developing world in similar roles/ agencies. No, I would not recommend it. But do I have any regrets and would I do it all over again if I could? Probably, because I didn't know any better until I had experienced it for myself. It comes down to, do you want to support a system of ineffective projects based on colonial models of development?

These big agencies peddling volunteer positions do have a great sales pitch to pray on those of us wanting to share out skills and time for good. They also lead us into thinking we are somehow capable of achieving feats the previous volunteers were unable to. They get their funding from governments and large corporate grant programs that enable them to continue the cycle of raising funds to perpetuate their ability to raise more funds. Unfortunately, a very limited amount of this money actually reaches the beneficiaries of the projects and the bulk of work is lost in over inflated reports amplifying little success and sweeping major issues under the rug.  There are smaller grassroots groups that I interacted with that created projects by locals that supported locals, if I could do it all over again I would align myself with them.

Women's group showing their first harvest

My role was as a women's empowerment adviser but I found that the organisations we were partnered with were furthering the problems of gender inequality with widely tolerated and accepted patriarchal structures and little in the way of training or understanding to counter this. They heavily relied on funding from our positions to pay salaries and apart from this it didn't seem like they were interested in the projects success. This was a big issue for me. Since leaving Ghana the women I worked with have had little to no contact with the organisations, and no more support. We were doing development for developments sake and not apart of a sustainable structure to promote actual change.

So if you too are interested in going abroad and spending your time volunteering, please do it. Thank you for your dedication to others and for sharing your time with the world. Here are some helpful tips to get you heading in the direction of a truly meaningful experience for you and those you endeavour to support.

• Shop around, find out if other organisations are doing similar work in the area, is that good or bad? 
• Learn about sustainable development research and projects happening around the world. Does your organising follow those practises? Do you share similar values? 
• Ask hard questions, like how many volunteers have left early, issues with the locals or organisation? Have past projects been effective, is there any proof of this? DO THEY NEED YOU?
• If you need to pay to volunteer it is potentially a voluntourism scheme in disguise, however grassroots groups with limited funding expect you to pay your way. Be critical in your research, where does the money go, where do they obtain funding? 



Peace and Love Women's Group

• Can a local do this job better than you? In the village next to me there were four 18 year old German's teaching English at a school. They receive a modest 100 Euro allowance a month and have no experience and basic English themselves.  Couldn't sponsoring a qualified local teacher be more appropriate? Are you needed? 

• The difference between a volunteer and an employee are often blurred. As a volunteer I was paid a monthly stipend of up to 10 times my local colleagues. Yet, I was still considered a volunteer and by Canadian standards I made less than minimum wage. This difference however has the effect of de-legitimising work that a paid professional might have and furthering the pay inequity of locals and expats. 
• Is your organisation present. Are they accessible to you, are their other staff/ volunteers on the ground? My NGO had other volunteers in Accra and a support staff but unfortunately I was the only one in a remote location. 
• Talk to previous volunteers. I read blog posts from previous volunteers but didn't reach out until after I was in the country. Some of the issues they described helped me legitimise my own personal struggles with local conditions and staff and was not something you could easily pick out from social media pictures of smiling folks. 
• Does your organisation share information, is it transparent? I had little to no idea about other projects they were involved with nor about previous projects in my area. I felt like they were hiding the amount of failures in order to maintain positive image and recruit new funders and volunteers. Ask, ask ask! 
• Research your org! Use sites like Charity Navigator to find out how much money is going into projects and how much is paying for over inflated salaries. Be proud of the organisation you give your time to.  

Saying goodbye

Bottom line is this: I have come across some amazing volunteer opportunities at home and abroad. There is real potential to help drive impact and with the right skills and the right organisation you can probably help in some measured capacity. So be realistic with what you can achieve in a 2 week, summer or 1 year contract in the developing world and do the research to find the right organisation for you. Volunteering really does change your life for the better, get out there and be the change you want to see in the world.

If you are looking for volunteer projects in Ghana here are some cool ones to get you started:

• Dunk-Providing after school and athletic programming to kids and youths 
• Global Mama's - Fair trade, women powered goods that take volunteers and interns
• Hipsters of Nature- "Greening Ghana in style"
• Humanist Association of Ghana- Secular support to protect human rights and promote critical thinking. 
• Farm Radio- Supporting broadcasters in developing countries to strengthen small-scale farming and rural communities. 

More about my recent volunteer project in Greece with refugees soon!

Love,


Melanie XX

"Volunteers are paid in six figures...S.M.I.L.E.S" - Gayla LeMaire 

Murder and Meat Mondays

Over the past couple of years I have been on a journey of self discovery and learning about a how to make the food system more sustainable and just for everyone. One of the pieces that I have struggled with is to eat meat or not to. I have been a vegetarian for the better part of 14 years (as described in this post), and have always toted "if I can kill it, I can eat it" as my reasoning behind abstaining. Living in my little corner of heaven on Vancouver Island I am on an organic farm, next door to an organic farm, free range- grass-fed beef farm and an artisan cheese making dairy with SPCA certification. What a place to be for a local food lover.

The Neighbours have been raising 150 unsexed chicks which meant a bunch of unintentional roosters were produced. Working there I saw them butcher a couple a week to eat, they had to be disposed of because too many roosters is a very violent place for chickens. I understood that this was humane, the meat was organic, the animals free run and happily clucked about their days. So why shouldn't I eat this meat?

Because I was given the opportunity and was able to watch a few being processed I worked my way up to be the actual executioner. The knife was placed in my hands and I sawed off its head after a few minutes of squirming. It wasn't pretty, but I got through it. I helped pluck the feathers and the farm roasted and spiced it up. Later I was presented with a piece of chicken,  it could have been any old piece of meat but this time I was responsible for its life. It tasted, a little tough to be honest. I had never tried rooster before but kept seeing the head while I chewed him up. As a recovering vegetarian it was a very odd experience for me and I didn't 100% enjoy it. In the next few days I would work on the leg piece I was given but my body rejected those foreign enzymes I wasn't used to and I was a little sick. 

I tried again soon after, I went for back-bacon from the neighbours freshly butchered hogs, the ones I had personally delivered from the butchers. This time it tasted rather delicious but again my body unaccustomed to any meat was being over loaded and let's just say, that week was a bit icky. Having access to good, local food has definitely been a game changer for my diet and stomach.

Now, I am not about to hit a drive-through and order an unidentifiable cheeseburger any time soon, far from it. But instead, I am incorporating meat into my diet that is local and sustainable from trusted and known sources. I was recently given a meat bonus from work (I know right) that is ground beef from one of the older dairy cows. Other than being the coolest job ever it also means I am using an animal who's meat is not highly valued in the market and using it to its full extent.

I would rather support the industry of small, organic farmers, treating animals fairly and butchering good, sustainable meat sources than revolt an entire system that is other wise a natural part of the human diet. Being a vegetarian ignored so many parts of life that involve animals. Most shoes have leather pieces, cheese has rennet from cows, agriculture is responsible for eco-system destruction and deforestation. At the end of the day all the food we eat negatively impacts the lives of animals and the world around us and none of us from vegan to carnivore are innocent of this. So a balance must be struck. I have a problem with the industrial food system and not small farmers and it is important to remember that.

In the end, support what kind of food you hope everyone can eat one day. For me that is farm fresh and local that includes organic produce, meats & grains. And everything in moderation, Meat Mondays!

In good food,

Melanie

Life after Locavore

It is interesting to think it has been two months since my local living challenge was completed. What has changed for me since then...not a whole lot. I still do my weekly shopping at the farmers market, still thrifted my Halloween costume and still support local business. The only difference is now I choose to do so out of my own free will instead of needing to for a project.

Cabbage Catch-of-the-Day

The first time I went to order a drink I was struck with the notion I could now order anything I wanted, the power of choice was entirely my own for the first time in a year. I looked at the myriad of drinks on display, read the drink menu and even consulted the bartender for ideas. In the end I ordered the same thing I had been ordering all along, the local beer on tap. For all the choices and freedom I was now experiencing I had something else nagging me at the back of my head...a conscious. I had rather un-deliberately set myself up for a life of conscious decision making.

So what does this mean for my future and the choices I will undoubtedly need to make?

Wild Mushrooms from the Market

When I was entirely local I heard about local ice cream being sold at the 7-11. Locally sourced Ice Cream from a corporate chain was one of those little annoyances I used to abhor, now I weigh the pro's and con's carefully before making my choices. I shop expiring items at the grocery store, yet still have only ventured there twice this year. I browse the local section at Save -On and still buy from producers directly. I make choices based on my values and then feel comfortable with my decisions. and that's what i hope if anything others can learn from this experience. You don't have to bee 100% local to understand why local is important but you do need to act on the values that you preach to others.

So let's live more honestly, make better choices for ourselves and the environment and be authentically ourselves.

Love,

Melanie XX

"You are free to make whatever choice you want, but you are not free from the consequences of the choice." Ezra Taft Benson

A Day in the Life of a Market Manager

Market Twinsies!

One of my jobs, the one I could even say I love the most, is my position as the Market Manager at the University Farmers Market. When I was looking at schools for my undergraduate degree, one of the pulls to the University of Northern British Columbia was access to a farmers market on campus that I had a goal to be involved with in one way or another. In my first year I volunteered every week setting up tables and helping vendors load their goods and became the volunteer coordinator. In year two I was voted in as the chair of the committee and helped with everything from events to wearing a carrot suit when needed. Now in my 3rd and final year I have taken over as the manager and am putting my experience and passion to use every week.

Though the UFM runs Tuesdays from 11-3pm during the school year there are still lots of things happening before market day from organizing special events, to coordinating layouts and finding new vendors. The main event for me is market day. Here is a look at a day in the life of a market manager on a typical market day:

Harvesting in the PGPIRG Garden

7:00- The mad dash begins as I catch the first bus up to the University to begin my day. My first order of business is to get to Campus in time for a quick shot of coffee from Degrees Coffee Co to get me through the busy day ahead.

8:00- As I was also the gardener for the summer, harvest time is still in progress. I arrive at the PGPIRG Garden as early as possible to pick and wash the weeks ripe vegetables to bring to sell at the UFM.

9:00- Set up begins in the NUSC event space that houses our weekly market. I arrive before volunteers and prepare the space for vendors to arrive. Set up may seem similar every week but behind the scenes a complicated game of Tetris is happening with vendors preferred spaces, last minute cancellations and purposeful placement of each type of goods fighting it out with weekly special events for the ideal space.

The Market Before Vendors Arrive

10:00- As volunteers arrives to help we meet vendors at the loading docks and load their goods onto carts. Volunteers then head to the market and I assign them their table for the day.
As I learnt from our first market we need to carefully map out who is using which outlet to make sure we don't lose power, which happens more often then you'd think.

11:00- The Market opens to the public! As eager customers begin to trickle in last minute set up is still going on. There are always a few late arriver's that need a bit of help getting going and I rush around the room to ensure vendors have every thing they need to get through their day, be it small change, an extra chair or even a coffee.

Market Time 

12:00- The rush hour is on and we see a few hundred people through the market during the busy lunch hour. I make sure there is enough change for jams and kale and answer questions to people coming through. As it is my third year at the market there are a lot of familiar faces and I always try to say hello to everyone.

13:00- As the peak traffic time ends a slower paced market atmosphere emerges and more people lounge in the chairs and chat with vendors. I take this opportunity to visit each vendor to collect weekly table fees and do my personal shopping at the same time.

14:00- If it is quiet enough and everything seems to be running smoothly I indulge in a 10 minute back rub from Kathy at Relax-in-chair. A guilty pleasure, which I have never regretted.

15:00- The second the clock strikes three the mad dash for carts to leave begins. Unlike the morning as vendors trickle in over an hour the exit is much more instantaneous. Volunteers struggle to get carts fast enough to meet vendor itching to get back to the farm or pick up their kids.

Crunchette the UFM Mascot

Oh no! We find a cooler with sausages left behind by a vendor and call them straight away to let them know we have them and arranging pick up for the next morning. Sometimes if we are lucky someone leaves a sweet treat for volunteers to thank them for their much needed hard work that day. Other times I buy cookies to show them how much we love having them around!

16:00- Accounting is finished and we deposit revenues for the day at finance before they close at 16:30. Clean up finishes and we make it so it looks like the market had never happened.

17:00- At the end of a busy day I am always thankful the Thirsty Moose Pub is our neighbour (and another job of mine). Once everything is tidied and the last of the tables are taken down I grab a chair at the bar and sip a local brew to finish out the day.


As you can see it is a busy day full of challenges and there is never a dull moment. It is a happy place to work, a place full of good food, homemade crafts and lovely people. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

See you on Tuesday,

Melanie

"What makes the farmers market such a special place is that you're actually creating community around food." -Bryant Terry

The 5 More Times I Failed at Being a Locavore

I originally wrote 5 Times I Failed at Being a Locavore but have since needed to add to that list.
Here are 5 more times I slipped up and purchased outside of my BC region:

1. Sim Card
• I bought a used iPhone 5 and thought I could just cut down my sim card to fit into the new smaller model... but it turns out it is a different card all together, so I had to buy a new sim card from Telus to go with the new phone. #fail
2. Drinks



I don't think that bucket of
alcohol is local....

• Those drinks my friends bought me at the bar in return for me buying dinner was a total cheat of the system, I admit it, I failed, it was the alcohol talking. 
3. Greyhound
• If you can't find a ride you can't go...should be my new rule but on planned holidays sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay for a bus. It is better on emissions then a flight and at least I don't drive myself however I recognise that greyhound is an international company and therefor makes this list. 
4. VIA Rail
• Trains are the most sustainable way to travel cross country. I went to a conference in Toronto and then hopping over to Ottawa for a quick family visit before the school year. Travel in itself should be off my list if I was 100% local but sometimes all the sacrifices you make during the year will hopefully help you offset the annual pilgrimage to visit your parents. (You can hear about my trip in this post- VIA: The more (in)human way to travel?)
5. Medicine



Vancouver, BC- Natures Medicine

• In general I try not to take medications whenever possible. I stopped taking Tylenol for headaches or arthritis pain (yes, I have pretty bad arthritis for my age) instead trying to live through the aches and using natural remedies. However, once this year I was so sick that I broke down and bought cold and flu medicine from the drug store. In my defence I chose a small independent pharmacy in town and bought the no name product...but I still felt like a failure for needing drugs. Full disclosure over the year i bought, one back of Fisherman's Friends, cold medicine, and a prescription inhaler... 

Cheers to making mistakes and learning from them!

Melanie 

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."- Albert Einstein

What I Learned from A Year of Living Locally

Can you believe it has been an entire year since I switched to local? That is a year of supporting local businesses, eating delicious local food and discovering hidden gems close to home.

Ryerson University

In one year I...

• Lost 20 lbs 
• Paid off all my credit cards (How I Paid off my Credit Cards by Going Local)
• Learned how to make cheese
• Learned about the food system
• Discovered local business's
• Became a gardener
• Went on the local radio and news
• Learned about myself
• And spread the word of local

There were times when being a Locavore felt socially isolating but what I learned from this experience far exceeded any of the personal struggles I faced. I learned that eating local is just the tip of the iceberg of things we can do to live more sustainably. My eyes were opened to the flaws in the food system that became more obvious when I took the time to learn about my food and what I was consuming. And once you have been wisened to the ills of the world, it is difficult to ever go back.

"Live simply so others can simply live."- Mahatma Gandhi

Un-Local Night

I learned that I have changed, even if the world around me has not. I recently visited Toronto for the National Student Food Summit and was disillusioned with a city that used to feel like home, instead it felt like an urban sink hole where all the problems of society seemed to flourish. I know now that I can carve out the kind of life I want by making decisions every day that will benefit me as well as others.

My first week of un-local-ness culminated with a blow out un-local night at Earl's Prince George with friends. When the cloud in my head lifted the next morning I understood that though it felt good to be bad I still had a guilty feeling left over, a feeling I could be free from as an ethical consumer.

I am a Locavore, I am a Freegan, I am a Change Maker.

Cheers to the end of a great year, and the beginning of a lifetime of local living.

XX Melanie

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

How to Go Local in 1 Week

Thinking that making the switch to buying local is difficult? Think again! Here is how to go local in just one short week:

At the SGU Dome Greenhouse at UNBC

Day 1: Look at what you have at home.

Go through what you already have in your cupboards and evaluate where things are sourced from. Maybe you will notice those Hardbite chips you love are already locally produced or the that your organic butter is local too! Realizing what you have that is local will help you see how far (or not so far) you have to go!

Day 2: Shopping day

When going through your usual grocery store take stock of the local produce section, bulk or local sections that you may not have noticed before. Every item you pick up you can check where it comes from, a side effect of being a locavore is knowing what is in your food and where all of it comes from. There are apps that can help with this (10 food apps) and can help you identify where a product comes from and what company produced it. I would start by looking for products produced in your country and then narrow it down as much as you can to your region. 

Day 3: Find the local business's near you. 

You favourite spot could already be a local business and source local ingredients, if not you could explore what other options exist in your communities. Here in Prince George I am lucky because the cool bar in town, Nancy O's, also happens to be a local one and likes to source locally when possible. Say so long to the Walton's of Wal-Mart and the Billes at Canadian Tire and make the choice to visit small independently owned retailers. Switch to quality over convenience. Support families not corporations.  Put money into your neighbours pockets. 

Day 4: Find a Farmer

You can visit a Farmers Market, join a CSA or visit a farm stand to discover what produce is available right now in your community. Do a Google search or ask around at your farmers market to for more places you can go. 

CSA box from Hope Farm

Day 5: Grow Food

Be apart of the movement of people learning to grow their own food and take back the ability to create %100 local meals. Save money, learn about your food, be healthy, get a tan, sounds pretty good to me. 

Day 6: Thrift it

I am in the process of downsizing again before I move but it is a good idea to go through the things you don't need and do a little bit of a life cleanse. Then you can take everything you don't want and sell it on Kijiji.ca or Facebook or donate it to a local thrift store. Find your new favourite shops in town and learn that you don't really need to buy new as often as you'd think. Buying used clothes is essential to the local lifestyle unless you happen to be a seamstress who makes everything themselves  (that would be pretty rad).

Day 7: Be a Locavore

Now that you have become aware of your buying power you can be more diligent in your consumerism (hopefully consuming less all around!) You will be conscious of the purchases you make and weigh the values of local and seasonality like a pro.

Have a lovely local day,

Melanie XX

"...small individual actions can insight larger patterns of change." - Patterns of Awareness, Patternity.org 

3 Typical Locavore Dinners

You only eat local? Wow you must be starving, how can you find enough to eat! Well here is a taste of what I eat for dinner and where it comes from. Being local is more delicious than you can imagine!

Dinner 1: When it's too hot to cook

Homemade Vanilla Maple Sun Tea (Check my Recipe page!)

• Green Tea, from the free shelf at UNBC
• Vanilla, from the free shelf
• Maple Syrup, I brought back from the ByWard Market in Ottawa last summer

Prince George version of Caprese salad with:

• Basil, from my garden
• Cherrie Tomatoes from HSH Grocery
• Avalon Sharp Cheddar from Ave Maria's
• Balsamic vinegar & Olive oil, found on the free shelf
• Bread from the Farmers Market with Avalon Butter from Ave Maria's

Dessert

• Northern Haskap Ice Cream! From Frozen Paddle Ice Creamery a new vendor at the Prince George Farmers Market
• Orange, left behind by Couchsurfers

Dinner 2: When friends are coming over

This meal was created by the ingredients from the Hope Farm CSA box.

• Balsamic roast vegetables (made with Kale stems, beats & leaves, kohlrabi leaves), 
• Pizza with carrot & radish top pesto (Recipe), Pizza crust from the farmers market. 
• Potato salad
• Radish & Kohlrabi carpaccio (Recipe) 
• Fresh salad rolls with an Avocado left behind from more Couchsurfers

We used everything from root to tip! Thank you Hope Farm!

Dinner 3: When you harvest from your garden

This year I have a plot up at the PGPIRG Sustainable Learning garden at UNBC.  So sometimes dinner is what I bring home from the garden and make delicious! 
Garden Salad:

• Lettuce
• Kale
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Basil
• Salted Sunflower seeds from Wilson Square Market 
• Balsamic vinegar from the free shelf for dressing

Cheers to great dinners and even greater company!
XX Melanie 

"Nobody trusts the industrial food system to give them good food." - Joel Salatin 

How I Paid Off my Credit Cards by Going Local

Today was a good day. Today I paid off the last dollar on my last credit card, a card that has carried a balance since I got it in 2008. I made a goal this year of paying off ½ of my credit card hoping the sacrifices I was making as a Locavore would pay off. And it did! In 10 months I have paid off my entire card!

I got my first credit card on my 18th Birthday to book plane tickets to Ireland. By the time I left on the trip I had maxed it out. The next year, I applied for a second credit card with another bank...and then a third, low interest card. These cards funded important causes like the Melanie goes to the Dominic Republic fund,  Melanie moves to Europe foundation and the all important Coach purse investments. That's when the eye opener hit me, I had accumulated over $10,000 in credit card debt. Any money I saved I used to travel thus the cycle of debt continued and my balance has remained quite high since. Until now.

Here are some of the ways going local has helped me reduce my debt and maybe how it can help you: 

• Buy less
• Reducing your overall consumption is the best possible way to go and that means keeping more $$$ for other things. Those impulse buys like Starbucks and Target are off the table when you only shop local. I still get treats from the market though ;) 
• Buy better
• Better quality purchases have cut down on my cost of replacing items over and over again. Spending a little more money on things that are hand made or from local business's pays off when it lasts 10x longer then the Wal-Mart equivalent. 
• Make your passion work for you
• I have been so lucky to find work doing the things I am interested and passionate about. Managing the University Farmers Markets means I get paid to be where I love which is also where I shop and get to know lovely people. 
• Freegan it up
• I have been pretty active in collecting food waste when I find it and over time this adds up to savings on my grocery bill. I would say nearly ½ of my diet has been food that would other wise have gone in the garbage. I have also foraged for wild foods ( Going Wild) and grown my own produce to help save. 
• Credit Union



Notankers.ca

• Switching banks has helped me save even more money (Putting your money where your mouth is), I switched to a local credit union and don't pay fee's for storing my money now. Integris has been helpful in my personal life as well as housing business accounts for my work and helping me save money as a student. 
• Travel
• Instead of buying flights I spent money exploring beautiful British Columbia this year. I saved again when I used Couchsurfing and AirBnB for my accommodation instead of booking into a corporate hotel. 
• Biking
• If you drive or take the bus to get around, biking will help save you money on transportation. This is year I've biked my legs off and see the benefits on my wallet and my waist line. 
• Healthier
• Eating better food and being more active has also made me healthier. I don't use any medications anymore including my asthma inhaler and even shy away from Tylenol for headaches choosing natural remedies and keeping my money away from grubby pharmaceutical companies and in savings. 

I have become a better spender now, and learnt that I want to live within my means and ultimately be debt free. In 3 years of University I will have a whole new set of debt to worry about and I am just grateful that now I can focus on debt from my education and be free from my big scary credit card, forever! 

Happy spending,

Melanie XX

"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy local, and that's kind of the same." -Unknown 

Freeganism or Free-loading?

Muffins being put in the garbage

Sometimes there is a fine line between what I do when I salvage food waste... and being a bum. As anyone who has ever met me would know, food waste is a major pet peeve of mine. So if anything is going to be left behind more often then not I will take it home or try to find a mouth to eat it. But sometimes I can't help but feel that the things I am eating from the trash or taking from events, are not normally apart of a local diet. Last week I found a compost bin full of ripe bananas, they were still yellow with brown spots so had been discarded, naturally I took them home and threw them in the freezer to be future banana loaves. A locavore eating bananas? How can this be apart of a local diet?

Confession: I take the garnishes off of platters and bring them home! Kale Smoothie anyone?

Freeganism is a play on words with veganism and eating free food, it has been typically associated with dumpster divers and therefore people of lower income standing and not necessarily those looking to reduce waste. But by taking food for free you are also moving to an anti consumer ideology and alternative form of living. When I take food that is destined for the compost bin or worse, the landfill, I am ensuring food will be consumed and not wasted. I am not purchasing or selecting it in any way so do not become part of the demand for it. Or do I?

Confession: I take unused lemon wedges from drinks at the bar. Lemon Earl Grey tea!

The lineup from the Residence Reciprocity room.
Because they are open they should be thrown out.

By taking leftovers I can't shake the feeling that there are others that need it more then I do. The ethical dilemma doesn't stop me from taking things that were meant for the garbage though as I more often the not end up as a last line of defence for food from catered events and reciprocity shelves.  Sometimes I feel that these issues are more prevalent in Universities which is why I so often get lucky or maybe just because I am aware of these issues now I notice them more often. My diet has become heavily subsidised by free food either given to me by friends or that I find abandoned. In any case with the end of the semester and everyone moving out I was given so much food this year and found so much more left behind at the school I will be set for the rest of my days...well on olive oil vinegar at least.

So taking leftover food: freeganism or free-loading?


XX Melanie


"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."- Albert Camus

10 things only a Locavore can understand

Lot's of people struggle with fitting time to cook and shop into their busy schedules. Cut out the convenience of a grocery store and the ease of ready made foods and you are a little closer to some of the struggles that I and others who endeavour to live local face on a daily basis. Here are 10 things that living as a locavore I have come to understand:

Small bills are my fav!

1. $$ Cash $$
• I always carry lots of cash now as most places I shop are market stalls. I actually like eyeing my money and being able to budget better this way but I run out of cash all the time.
2. Local booze!!!!
• When I discovered Red Neck Rye, a BC whisky at the liquor store I thought I had died and gone to heaven! The first few months of this journey I drank a lot of BC beer as I had not yet discovered the beauty that is BC spirits. The difficulty I still have with this is finding the right mix, for instance the only locally made Soda I know of is from Cariboo and they only have Ginger-ale and Root beer, thus my go to as of late has been Rye and Ginger's a la local. 
3. Why isn't the farmers market open everyday? 

• Only buying local products by shopping from local business's gets tricky during the week when you have a busy schedule. The University Farmer's Market is every Tuesday and we are lucky enough to have the Prince George Farmers Market on Saturdays so it isn't too hard to stock up twice a week but if you miss one or the other sometimes you go a day eating just potatoes...
4. The thrill of finding a new local product
• When Home Sweet Home brings in a new type of cheese or a long forgotten favourite (like Tomatoes!!!!!) you have no idea how excited I get! 
5. Taking care of things...you might not be able to find its replacement
• I am very nice to my stuff, I have been mending a lot of cloths, I take shoes to the cobbler and treat things better. Making your stuff last longer saves so much money and the planet. 
6. Insatiable food cravings

• Sometimes I crave mayonnaise...It's weird because it's not like I used a lot of the stuff before this year but not being able to have a jar on stand by sometimes makes me crazy. I also crave foods that are out of season like broccoli and lettuce that are harder to find here. (Would die for an avocado!)
7. Learning to say no is really hard
• Want to grab midnight Denny's? Want to hit the Mall? Go to a movie? Saying no sometimes feels very limiting. 
8. Food prep times
• Every Sunday I cook a few meals so I will have food during the week. What I find is when you are buying a lot of raw foods you inevitable take on more food preparation time as a result. Taking the time to make food instead of having everything ready for you is both a challenge and a change but a great way to know exactly what it is you are eating.
9. Living in constant fear of cheating 
• Sometimes I have dreams about shopping at the mall and then needing to return everything because it wasn't local...When I was sick in February I bought a bag of Fishermen Friends by accident.
10. Rationing

• At the beginning of the year my cupboards were full of the usual necessities, flour, sugar baking soda. These things that I have committed to not purchase this year have become very dear to me....I just ran out of sugar... for the year!  Replacing it with local honey is fine, its just an adjustment. So I have become more careful about sharing things, I need to be able to get through the week, the month, and the year and may only have a limited amount of certain things like olive oil or sugar.  

I hope this doesn't sound like complaining as to be quite honest, I am loving every minute of this but am hoping that through the struggles the benefits will be so much sweeter. 

XX Melanie

"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want." -Anna Lappe

The Half Way Mark!

It is hard to believe I have made it a full six months already without shopping in a grocery store or buying new things. March 1st represented the halfway point to my year long challenge of eating and living locally. In 6 months I have learned a lot about the local food movement and have gained valuable information about how I want to live after this challenge is completed. Things to take away already:

• I will continue abstaining from grocery stores and sticking with local suppliers. 
• I will expand my garden and preserve more so that my garden can feed me into the winter. 
• I will buy used cloths and on consignment where I have found better quality cloths this year and saved heaps of money. 
• I will cook with friends, share food and pass on recipes, building community through food. 

Sure my strict regime may seem a little unreasonable at times but I feel that it is important to make the difficult decisions in order to understand how each choice we make is apart of a ledger system. But after such a time when I no longer feel the struggle but am comfortable in my lifestyle I constantly think am I doing enough? Can I possibly get more local? Is it possible in other parts of the country more so then Prince George? I feel like there is much more I could be doing, cutting out take out and only cooking what I can buy here will help control where my food is doing from but at what cost, to my social life, to the small business I eat at, to my sanity? I don't have all the answers but I do know that so far my life has been possible and delightfully local and the next 6 months have only delicious things in store!

Cheers to the rest of the year,

Melanie 

"Believe you can and you are halfway there." -Theodore Roosevelt

Waste not, want not

If eating local has taught me anything its that part of planning my meals each week is realizing what I can realistically get through until my next shopping trip. This has made me acutely aware of how much I consume and how much I waste. Eating locally means a lot of the fresh food I buy does not contain preservatives that make it last longer so keeping atop of when I need to eat things is even more important then it was before. Getting my food waste down to a next to nothing has been a goal of mine and being conscious of the issue is the first step.

 Food waste is a huge problem in our modern world and especially in North America where we wastes up to 40% of food produce.  I have been obsessed with this for years and still manage to waste in my own life. But there are steps each of us can take to waste less and thing we can do to try to change the cycle of food waste.   

• Watch Just Eat It, waste less. Simple.Waste occurs in every step of the food chain from production to consumption and little changes we can all make can help reduce it.
• Buy the ugly produce that doesn't meet societies standard or aesthetic perfection, so what if your apple is not perfectly round it still tastes the same but will often be thrown out if you don't buy it.
• Buy less more frequently, food going bad in your home is a huge problem too so buy what you need and plan meals to avoid waste at home. 
• Fresh before, best before dates are just a suggestion. Use your judgment when it comes to expiry dates and they are often very conservatives estimates of freshest and do not mean food is bad at all! 
• Preserve, freeze and package food to be able to grab ready made dish's when you need them. Angela and I cook batches once a week for lunches and I never have anything left over. 

As part of the work I do on campus, one of the projects I work on is the ongoing issue of food waste and ways to minimize it. We organized with the campus food service provider and a local food bank to collect any unserved food from the cafeteria at the end of the day and and donate it to a daily meal program. This month we  hit our first mile stone of 1000 pounds of salvaged food donated! Read more about our food recovery work HERE.  I was also interviewed for our controversial twitter feed that shares information about free food on campus with the CBC. If you want to keep track of us you can follow us on Twitter of Facebook. The media has put its twist on the tale but the end goal is reducing food waste on campus and in our everyday lives which is what I feel is most important. 

In good food,

Melanie

"Whenever we engage in consumption or production patterns which take more than we need, we are engaging in violence" - Vandana Shiva

Take a walk in my Footprint

How much land does it take to support your lifestyle? Working on a class project this week I was asked to calculate my ecological footprint using the website Footprintnetwork.org. An ecological footprint measures the amount of resources required to support your lifestyle choices going through various parts of your life from how much you drive to what type of house you live in and how you eat.

I calculated my footprint last year and came out slightly higher then this year which is comforting considering I have tightened up some of my consumer behaviours during this challenge. A lot of that is made up of where and how I live. I live in a detached home, use electricity on the grid and shower... up to several times a week. Even though I do make choices about my consumer habits that help my footprint become smaller, certain things like how green my house is will be mostly out of my control during my student years until I can have an income that affords me the luxury of choosing my dwelling and amenities. It is reassuring to see at least that my smaller impact are in the areas I have been focusing of goods and food (whew). The diagnosis of 4.4 global hectares means that after all the work I put into living locally I still live relatively unsustainably. Finding new ways to decrease that number will be an ongoing challenge, hopefully for all of us.

The assessment included some tips to reduce my footprint including the recommendation that I eat more local produce, take public transit, turn down my thermostat and purchase more locally. Already doing all of these things begs me to question how thorough the results can be for those of us who already pay particular attention to these things and make concerted effort to reduce our impact. It also makes it harder to understand what more we can do to reduce our impact if we have already exhausted the recommendations of the "professionals".  At the end of the day it is a little discouraging to see that is would still require 2.5 planets to live the way I do. But I think the real question is; what realistically can we do when we live apart of a system that will only allow us to be as sustainable as the system itself?

Happy Monday,

Melanie

"Live simply that others might simply live." - Ghandi

Local for the Holidays

The Green Team

This is the Christmas I couldn't go home because I couldn't purchase a flight and when I didn't go shopping on boxing day. It is the Christmas I didn't put up a tree and the time I didn't send anything as I didn't want to use mail. This is also the Christmas I spent with the loveliest of people in the best of places. Instead of a flight home I found friends to share rides and open their doors to me. Instead of buying in to the holiday sales, I hit the thrift stores for my sweet deals. Instead of a tree I bought a hand made wreath from my friends and crafters at Natural Wreaths. And instead of buying gifts I made cards and purchased micro-loans for my family to be able to 're-gift' to someone who needed it more (through Kiva.org). Overall being local this holiday season did not make me feel as if I was missing out but allowed me to be more connected with the things and people that matter most to me.

Christmas with the Kehler's

 After two weeks away we came home to an empty house, and an empty fridge. We stopped shopping the week before we left in an attempt to not waste anything we had already bought. This meant when we got back we hadn't been shopping in over three weeks. What do you do when you come home to an empty fridge? Usually you go to the nearest grocery store, even stop at the corner store and maybe order take out from any number of popular brand names on your speed dial. But imagine they were all gone. That's what we did this time, instead of filling my fridge right back up the day we got back to Prince George we had to wait until our local grocer's would re-open and the next farmers market, a week away. In my fridge I had:
-1 purple cabbage, that upon peeling off the first few layers was still good inside despite being 2 months old
- an onion
- 4 sprouting potatoes
- 2 wrinkly apples
- eggs that I had to individually test in water to check they were still alright to consume.

Hope, BC

That and the various canned goods (mainly pickled) and condiments in my fridge were what I planned to get through the week with. Angela baked some homemade millet bread with flower she got as a Christmas present from very considerate friends and together we created a meal with what we had that turned out pretty good if I do say so my self. I can say that I have had quite a bit of cabbage this week but at this point I need to resign myself to the fact that I will most likely be eating cabbage all winter and should just get used to it. The home made chutney's, jams and pickles that I have really add to the basic ingredients and make them more edible (like the PG enchilada's I just made with, you guessed it, more cabbage!)
After hitting the farmers market and Home Sweet Home this week I have a few more things in my fridge like cheese and butter and carrots but those staples of potatoes and cabbage are still going to be around for months... and months so time to keep experimenting!

-24 in Prince George 

This is also the year I toasted New Years with newly discovered local spirits ;) After week's of holidays it is finally time to return to school and work and the daily grind they ensue. Living even locally, rests for no one!

Happy Holidays,

Melanie

"An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make a better soup." H.L. Mencken

stuDYING!

No I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth....yet! The last week of class's are here for the fall semester and this means a lot of cramming and late nights. This week I have found myself ordering a lot of take out from the Thirsty Moose Pub and stocking up on baked good from the University Farmers Market and the tasty delights at Degree's Coffee supplied by Home Sweet Home (Maple Yumbar is amazing!) At least I have lovely local options to get me through this week, wish me luck!

XX Melanie 

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey

Cracked!

I'd like to think I take care of my stuff. I've had my laptop going on 5 years, I still have cloths from high school and I've been wearing the same winter jacket since 2006. My motto has always been if it ain't broke don't fix it, so I am not frequently replacing things even when they have minor defects (like my iPod that doesn't have an on button anymore). My cell phone is a 6 year old iPhone 3g, for our 5th anniversary I bought it a new case even though it hasn't done the internet for the past 3 years so it hardly deserved it. It has definitely fallen before, survived 2 dips in the toilet (and subsequent rice baths), countless slip and falls and who knows how many times its been roughed up, but it still makes calls so I keep it around. So you can imagine I was quite upset when it fell out of my pocket last week while I was biking and the screen cracked! As if it wasn't enough of an issue reading the screen with lines all across it (I probably could have lived with that), the glass is now falling off in little pieces...I am thinking finally something has to be done. Hence the problem, if I replace the screen the parts can be purchased from a local business but will obviously be straight from China OR I can buy a used phone. I usually like to fix what I have instead of buying something new, but what is more local? HELP!!!!???

I've also been thinking about batteries lately, I will eventually need them, what do I do? What happens when Angela needs new bike parts? Some things you just can't get used... can you? This is where the limitations of a local lifestyle come into play, it's go big or go home in my house right now but I am not sure how long that will/can last!

XX Melanie

"To find better means of fixing the brain, we first need to achieve something more fundamental. We must understand how it works." -Sebastian Seung

What I ate for dinner this week

Just to prove I don't live off of Kale and carrots, this week I kept track of my dinners to show you all how delicious local really is. After all, eating local is not about eating less good food but about eating more good food.

Monday- Spaghetti Squash with tomato and peppers, here is the recipe

Monday 

• BC spaghetti squash that I got in my Good Food Box last week. 
• Peppers I got from Marlin Spikes Organics at the PG Farmers Market a few weeks ago 
• Tomatoes Sauce, a can that I reclaimed from the trash having been past the best before date (it tasted fine to me) 
• I skipped on the cheese and used whatever spices I had in my cupboard 

Tuesday

Tuesday- A had a late night at school so I made a quick egg sandwich at 10pm when I got home. 

• Egg- Purchased from PG PIRG who orders in free run farm fresh eggs weekly. 
• Bread- from Brenda's Bread at the University Farmers Market
• Goat Cheese- free from a friend who was away for a few weeks and had to get rid of food in his fridge 
• Sweet Relish- from Tuppy's that was at the Studio Fair at UNBC (that I am obsessed with, I wish I bought more!)

Wednesday

Wednesday- Soup & Salad at the Thirsty Moose Pub

• Tomato Basil soup made in house
• Spring Salad- Lettuce sourced from the SGU Dome Greenhouse on campus (can hardly get more local then that!)
• Garlic Toast
• A hand full of those sweet potato fries from the top of the photo
• PWB Canterbury Lager

Thursday- Eggs scramble and toast

• Eggs with more peppers and green onions from the Good Food Box
• Toast with bread from the University Farmers Market



Friday

• Red Pepper Jelly from Bertha Miller at the University Farmers Market

Friday- Leftover spaghetti squash from Monday and Leftover mashed potatoes with Mushroom gravy from Sunday 

• Potatoes come from Cariboo Growers in Prince George
• I made mushroom gravy from an expired can of mushrooms I saved from the trash
• Lot's and lot's of Cariboo beers at the SGU Electro-Swing Pub night at the Thirsty Moose 

Saturday

Saturday- Veggie Burger and Salad at Nancy O's 

• They make the best almond based veggie patty in house, any of the toppings are delicious but I had the truffle burger with brie cheese, died! 
• Side salad uses greens from the local aquaponics 

Sunday- Rutabaga Fries (recipe here) & Veg-Potato Hash

Sunday

• Rutabaga from a friends garden
• Potatoes from Cariboo Growers with onions, peppers, garlic and dried basil from my own garden. 
• I also pre-cooked potatoes and lots of extra Rutabaga fries for the week so the cycle of leftovers can continue. 

As you will notice from this weeks menu things often repeat like the bread I used, it was the same loaf all week. As I only shop once a week at the University Farmers Market, I need to plan a little a head to ensure I will have enough to last the week. I don't always follow recipe's exactly and heavily substitute with local goodies, reclaimed and expired foods and things that were given to me. As you have seen eating local not only feels good but is good for your wallet and tastes delicious! So get out there and see what you can incorporate into your dinner this week. 

In good food,

Melanie

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are." - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin