New Book on Organic Gardening on the Prairies

I always love a book written specifically for Prairie gardeners.  We have a special (very special) set of circumstances here, and bugs and diseases specific to our area.  How many times, while working in retail horticulture here in Brandon, did I have people come into the nursery convinced they had a bug or disease that is not even present in our area!  They had found some info in some book, or on the web and had self-diagnosed and were self-treating, without great results.  So, every time I see a book by Hugh Skinner or Sara Williams, I get excited!  Skinner is part of a family who has done great things in breeding plants for our cold climate, and Williams is a professor of hort who has done great things in educating cold climate gardeners.  When I moved to Manitoba from Vancouver, Williams book 'The Prairie Xeriscape' was super-duper useful in educating me about my new climate and the plants that would thrive.  If you're trying to garden organically this new tome is awesome!  Highly recommend it!

A Case Against Genetically Modified Food

While cocooning in the middle of winter, I have much more time to check out Blotanical - a world of garden blogs! Found this interesting post by Peter Finch of Rolling Hills Organics in Ontario. His post '10 Reasons We Don't Need GM Foods' is worth a read! Check it out here.

And, Also....

We're having a serious day here at Aagaard Farms, it would seem from our posts. But, we've been reading and ..........Checked out Huffington Post tonight and there, in the Food Section, is MORE food for thought! Find another interesting posts on our current food system here.

Have You Seen....

Have you seen the video 'Food Inc.'? It may make you think a bit about the food you eat. If you're interested in local food, chemical-free food and sustainable growing, you've probably already seen it or heard about it. CBC's 'The Passionate Eye' aired it a few weeks ago and here's a link to it here. We also recommend the books 'Eating Animals' by Jonathon Safran Foer and 'Omnivore's Dilemma' by Michael Pollan. Both can be purchased using the Amazon link on the sidebar. Foer's book was particularly interesting as it documents his search for the best food for his new child. He's not in the food business, and never gave much thought to food until he had a baby to feed. His research is startling and sometimes disgusting. But it's information we feel everyone should know. As Farmer Man says: You vote with your dollars! We can change what's in our stores, how animals are treated and how we take care of the land! If you don't buy a product, it won't be made. Collectively, we have great power!

The Benefits (or not) of Organic Food

Another study, another debate: are organic foods more healthy? The link is an article on Forbes, with a new study showing little nutritional difference between organic and conventional food. We've never been about that; our thing is the FRESH food has more nutrition because the nutrition hasn't had as much chance to decay. And the flavour of fresh, fully ripened food is waaaaaay beyond so much of the stuff that is trucked for thousands of miles. And we really do believe pesticides and chemical fertilizers can leave residues in your food, which this study did not investigate. Check it out: http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/article/forbes/1217/organic-food-behind-the-hype