Tales from Niagara is a blog series focused on the people and places that make Niagara’s Greenbelt great. The series will cover everything from local businesses, to seasonal events, to life on Niagara farms. Look out for our upcoming posts to stay up-to-date and informed on exciting going-ons in Niagara's Greenbelt. 

The Greenbelt Route is here! 

The result of three years of collaboration between the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, the Waterfront Regeneration Trust, and over 27 Greenbelt communities, the new Greenbelt Route is a whole new way to experience Ontario's almost 2 million acres of protected countryside. 

Signed, mapped, and protected, the 475 km Greenbelt Route spans seven regions, from Northumberland to Niagara.

The Niagara section of the trail highlights some of the region’s best features and attractions, and give riders reasons to make stops along the way.

Check out my cheat below for how to make your ride along the Greenbelt Route a uniquely Niagaran experience.  

 
Program assistant Sam Cheuk "giving it a go" at the Regent Park Community Garden

Like most people working from an office, I get a palpable itch to be out and about while envying all that golden cascade of sunlight peeking through the office shades in summertime. Murphy’s Law dictates that when I do get the chance to be out and about for work, as I had last week jumping location to location to see one of the grants I oversee in action, the weather would refuse to cooperate.

I'm currently overseeing The Stop’s New Canadians Go Greenbelt! grant, run by Peter Mitchell, one of the most active Greenbelt Champions the Foundation's worked with. At the time I joined Peter on-site, his team had already completed the delivery of ethno-cultural crop seedlings: bok choy, napa cabbage, Chinese and Indian eggplants, Indian and Thai hot peppers, okra and bitter melon, to 14 community gardens across the GTA. These community gardens—often situated in ethnically-mixed, low-income neighbourhoods—are meant to help subsidize food costs and increase access to fresh, healthy vegetables for neighbourhood residents.   

It’s shaping up to be a spectacular summer for Greenbelt cycling!

I am super excited to say that the Greenbelt Route is finally here. Directional signs are being installed along roads and trails as I type, and people are getting pumped for the inaugural 6-day ride this August: the 2015 Great Waterfront Trail Adventure, Greenbelt Route Special Edition.

 So in anticipation of the adventures to be had, I've put together a few tips to help you plan your next bicycling adventure:

Tales from Niagara is a blog series focused on the people and places that make Niagara’s Greenbelt great. The series will cover everything from local businesses, to seasonal events, to life on Niagara farms. Look out for our upcoming posts to stay up-to-date and informed on exciting going-ons in Niagara's Greenbelt. 

Despite the looming clouds, the Town of Pelham got a little bit brighter on Friday afternoon. I was on hand to participate in the Town of Pelham’s Paint the Pavement event, an event that the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation's Niagara region office helped organize. In recent years, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation has been running a program in elementary schools throughout the Greenbelt that allows students to paint a Greenbelt-themed mural in their school under the instruction of art instructor Katherine Laco.

Tales from York is a blog series focused on the people and places that make York's Greenbelt great. The series will cover everything from local businesses, to seasonal events, to life on York farms. Look out for our upcoming posts to stay up-to-date and informed on exciting going-ons in York's Greenbelt. 

If you’re on your way to the cottage or near the south shore of Lake Simcoe in Georgina at the northern end of the Greenbelt, you can find a great opportunity to experience local seasonal dishes expertly prepared at Cori’s Café.

The rustic cottage exterior hides a chic modern intimate café where chef Cori works her magic. She endeavours to use organic, local, seasonal foods as much as possible.

The cafe has won many awards since opening in 2013. It won the Small Business award in Excellence for Georgina and The Advocates Reader’s Choice for Best Salad and Best Deserts for both 2013 and 2014.  And, this year, Cori’s Café is the winner for York Region Excellence in Business for The Best Small Business in York Region!

Tales from Durham is a blog series focused on the people and places that make Durham’s Greenbelt great. The series will cover everything from local businesses, to seasonal events, to life on Durham farms. Look out for our upcoming posts to stay up-to-date and informed on exciting going-ons in Durham's Greenbelt. 

On a sunny Wednesday in May I toured one of Canada’s most breathtaking and ecologically important landforms - the 195,000 hectare Oak Ridges Moraine.

My tour guides? Two Moraine experts - Cindy Sutch, Chairperson of Ontario’s Save the Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition (STORM), and Councillor Heather Stauble, City of Kawartha Lakes Councillor and chairperson of Kawartha Conservation.

My generous guides led me through this Durham Region treasure; it was an eye opening experience.

This paper, written by Dr. Wayne Caldwell from the University of Guelph, provides an overview of the agricultural system and its component parts. The agricultural system refers to the web of relationships that support the viability and sustainability of the agricultural sector. It includes the relationship between farmers and natural systems (specifically related to climate, geology, soil, air, pests), and farmers and other human systems (involving politics, land-use planning and infrastructure, law, finances, and marketing). These various systems and the relationships within and between them inform the production of food, agricultural goods, and other commodities.

Read our May Newsletter

This month's Newsletter features

• Local Food Week
• A special edition Jane's Walk
• A new report on local leadership
• And More!

The first week of June marks the second annual Local Food Week and here at the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation we're in full celebration mode. 

Created under the Local Food Act of 2013, Local Food Week is part of an overarching strategy to grow the province’s economy by making more delicious, fresh local food available to all Ontarians in markets, schools, hospitals, long-term care homes, grocery stores, and restaurants.

As champions of the almost 2 million acres of protected countryside that make up Ontario's Greenbelt, we're excited to be part of the Week's festivities. 

Throughout the week, we're going to be talking about, thanking, and celebrating the many growers, producers, and local food sellers that make Ontario's Greenbelt great. We'll be sharing our favourite Greenbelt farmers' markets, we'll be participating in the June 3 #LoveOntFood Twitter party, and we'll be keeping you in the loop about the many Local Food Weeks events and going-ons throughout the province. 

Whether you're actively involved in the sector or just want to learn more about the food you're eating and its journey from the farm to your plate, we'd love you to be part of the celebrations.