It is so great to see the momentum growing for food security in Kamloops! Kamloops Food Policy Council has been working for a long time to get community gardens integrated into our community, now they are taking it a step further.
"Landscape architect advocates growing free food in public places "
9 May 2011,Kamloops Daily News, By CAM FORTEMS Daily News Staff Reporter
The biggest problem with so called edible landscapes — fruit trees planted on city medians and gardens along sidewalks — is not the maintenance or finding land or volunteers, says urban planner and landscape architect Darrin Nordahl.
Instead, the difficulty is simply encouraging people to stroll over, grab a peach or pepper and start munching.
“We’re not used to seeing free food, right before our eyes,” said Nordahl, an author and public planning expert who spoke to a Kamloops Food Policy conference last week.
Nordahl is on the vanguard of a movement in North American cities to go beyond the concept of community gardens and into public produce — fruits and vegetables grown on medians, plazas, at government buildings or any public space, with produce free for the taking.
He presented examples of public produce from around the continent, including rooftop gardens in Chicago, orange bushes on sidewalks in Florida and elaborate fruit tree and vegetable gardens planted at historical government building sites, including in San Francisco.
Any gardener knows planting produce is more than tossing a few seeds on the ground and throwing on water occasionally. It requires labour.
But Nordahl said growing food, as opposed to ornamental plants, taps into a basic human need and volunteers come out in large numbers.
At Provo, a municipality in Utah where government cutbacks put an end to flower planting at municipal offices, bureaucrats started planting produce in the brick planters. This year they expect to harvest 400 kilograms of produce.
“When you go to pay a parking fine, maybe we can offer you an eggplant or a potato,” Nordahl said.
The idea is to make nutritious food affordable by using local resources.
With today’s “industrial” agriculture, Nordahl said the cost of f ruit s and vegetables has climbed beyond the means of many and is being replaced with high-calorie processed foods. That equates to a double cheeseburger and a single peach from a farmers market both being worth $1 each.
“If you’re hungry and you only have $1, what do you buy? Most people in North America buy the cheeseburger.”
That’s translated into an explosion of obesity. Twenty years ago not a single U.S. state’s population had an obesity rate higher than 14 per cent. Today, Colorado is the lowest, at 15 per cent.
Some southern states have rates of more than 30 per cent. The rate in B.C. is 19 per cent, one of the best in Canada.
For public produce, Nordahl recommended shrub-t ype plants and leafy vegetables for esthetics. He cautioned against soft fruits, such as tomatoes because of the mess they may cause.
Successful plantings also include using varieties that complement each other, such as those that fix nitrogen from the air beside those that require it as a nutrient.
Nordahl also showcased edible schoolyards — gardens at public schools that are integrated into the curriculum.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Kamloops & District Elizabeth Fry Society Conference, the Kamloops Daily News Perspective
The Elizabeth Fry Annual Conference last week covered a range of topics relating to women and the justice system. Women are one of the fastest growing demographics of homeless people. It is not a coincidence that women's numbers in jails are rising as well.
While it is not a crime to be poor, Canada’s “tough on crime” agenda is increasingly criminalizing poverty, the national executive director of Canada’s Elizabeth Fry Societies said Friday.
As a result, women are being jailed at a rate faster than any other group, Kim Pate told a group of abut 60 women at a one-day Elizabeth Fry conference in Kamloops.
Pate told the crowd Canada’s move to jail more people through the use of legal devices like mandatory minimum sentences stems from long-developing social and economic agendas.
Cuts to programs made decades ago set in motion a deterioration of the social safety net that has pushed many marginalized individuals, especially women, into conflict with the law. “(Canadians) no longer presume that everybody is (entitled) to be housed, clothed, fed and educated. Increasingly we have moved to the notion some people deserve assistance and some people don’t,” Pate said.
Social assistance used to be a springboard out of poverty, Pate said — now it is more like a trap.
To make the situation worse, “tough on crime” laws have simplistic appeal to many in the public, even though in practice they do not achieve the results politicians state they will.
“Unless you ignore what is actually happening, unless you pretend the research does not exist, unless you close your eyes and ears, it’s hard to imagine how you could see the tough on crime agenda being effective,” Pate said.
In large part, many in the U.S. are rebelling at the cost of imprisonment, preferring “ books to bars,” Pate said — a reference to a California student movement that challenged the government to provide more resources for education than for jails. “If this model was working, the U.S. would be the safest place in the world to live,” she said. “All across the U.S. they are retreating from mandatory minimum sentences, and from longer sentences in jail.”
Pate urged the room to demand the Canadian government be accountable and transparent and provide a true assessment of the costs of “get tough” laws.
“What will it cost generations to come? How many hospitals or schools will close while we are on the trajectory toward more imprisonment?” she asked.
"Tough on crime’ tougher on women, support group says"
May 7th 2011, By ROBERT KOOPMANS Daily News Staff Reporter
May 7th 2011, By ROBERT KOOPMANS Daily News Staff Reporter
As a result, women are being jailed at a rate faster than any other group, Kim Pate told a group of abut 60 women at a one-day Elizabeth Fry conference in Kamloops.
Pate told the crowd Canada’s move to jail more people through the use of legal devices like mandatory minimum sentences stems from long-developing social and economic agendas.
Cuts to programs made decades ago set in motion a deterioration of the social safety net that has pushed many marginalized individuals, especially women, into conflict with the law. “(Canadians) no longer presume that everybody is (entitled) to be housed, clothed, fed and educated. Increasingly we have moved to the notion some people deserve assistance and some people don’t,” Pate said.
Social assistance used to be a springboard out of poverty, Pate said — now it is more like a trap.
To make the situation worse, “tough on crime” laws have simplistic appeal to many in the public, even though in practice they do not achieve the results politicians state they will.
“Unless you ignore what is actually happening, unless you pretend the research does not exist, unless you close your eyes and ears, it’s hard to imagine how you could see the tough on crime agenda being effective,” Pate said.
In large part, many in the U.S. are rebelling at the cost of imprisonment, preferring “ books to bars,” Pate said — a reference to a California student movement that challenged the government to provide more resources for education than for jails. “If this model was working, the U.S. would be the safest place in the world to live,” she said. “All across the U.S. they are retreating from mandatory minimum sentences, and from longer sentences in jail.”
Pate urged the room to demand the Canadian government be accountable and transparent and provide a true assessment of the costs of “get tough” laws.
“What will it cost generations to come? How many hospitals or schools will close while we are on the trajectory toward more imprisonment?” she asked.
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