Recipe for Change is a celebration of food with a purpose, supporting FoodShare's innovative and multi-faceted work toward Good Healthy Food for All and specifically the Field to Table Schools program, which returns Food Literacy to students from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 12.

Imagine a community with creeks and streams whose waters are clear and full of life, and whose banks are rich with shrubs and trees and birds and butterflies. And now imagine that this place is only an hour away from the GTA...

If you mised the Global Greenbelts Conference, March 22-24, 2011, you can see what everyone's been talking about and check out the videos from two of the keynote addresses. 

It's almost that time of year again; when the fruit is ripe from the tree and the vegetables are fresh from the farm. Farmers markets are almost open! Nearing the end of the month, most farmer's markets across the GTA and the Ontario Greenbelt will be ready with spring produce.

Image from:  No Limit Learning at Saint Mary’s University

Yeah, that’s right people. Tomorrow is Earth Day! Who’s excited? I know I am.

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970! So if you do the math – the Earth is turning 41 tomorrow!! Now – we just need to times that number by a couple billion and we will get a slightly more accurate number.  It was only 4.6 billion years ago (seems just like yesterday right?) that the Earth was formed.

Courtesy of Ahmed Bilal, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

 Another growing season is here and it’s going to be exciting! My plan is to get more involved in gardening this year and to grow my own food. I intend to get down and dirty not just with the usual, conventional seeds but with those special world crop seeds like okra, callaloo, fuzzy melon…AND bitter melon! Bitter melon is one of the super foods, rich in iron, containing twice as much beta-carotene as broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach and twice the potassium of banana. Medical research shows that it also regulates blood sugar levels.  Now the best part is I can use it in a stir-fry, stew, or curry. It can also be steamed, braised or pickled. Adding to its amalgam of nutritional awesomeness is its natural pest deterrent properties. Who wouldn’t want to grow a crop like that?

Beginning in the middle March, Twenty-five seniors and fourteen youth, ages 14-18 have been working hard in the greenhouse. They have been growing seedlings (a lot of which are world crops) that they will later plant in the Global Roots gardens at the Stop Community Food Centre. 

This time of year eggs are all around us.  Whether they’re painted, chocolate, or come from chickens this is the holiday season where eggs are front and centre.  For Easter we hide and enjoy yummy egg shaped treats.  At Passover eggs are an important symbol reminding us of the continuity of life.  However you enjoy yours, take some time to appreciate your local egg farmer as well.  Visit the Egg Farmers of Ontario website for information on eggs, egg farmers and for some great egg recipes.  If you’re looking for some Greenbelt eggs, check outGreenbeltfresh.ca and search for egg farmers and markets selling farm fresh eggs close to you.

Every other Wednesday I look forward to picking up my Good Food Box.  The program, offered by FoodShare Toronto, provides a variety of food boxes including Small or Large regular, Organic, Wellness and Fruit Boxes.  This incredibly successful program, which began in 1994, has seen tremendous growth and has helped thousands of Toronto families bring fresh, healthy food into their homes.

Calling all amateur shutterbugs! Harbourfront Centre, in celebration of the launch of the second stage of our large-scale, photographic exhibition along Toronto's waterfront, wants you to submit your best photo representations of Ontario’s Greenbelt. Let your camera do the talking for a chance to win great prizes, including a bicycle and Tour de Greenbelt jersey, and have your photo enlarged and displayed at York Quay Centre!