Minimal ingredients sometimes extract maximum flavour. It’s the middle of winter, so no doubt you locavores have had your fair share of carrots. But this fresh, creamy soup is a big leap from boiled carrots, and is sure you brighten your day while warming you up!

All of these ingredients can be found locally.

Some of the Greenbelt Fund team at the Ontariofresh.ca booth in the Ontario Pavilion. From left to right: Franco Naccarato, Chloe Brown, Megan Hunter, and Andreea Nicoara.

On the first weekend of March, the nation’s largest tradeshow for restaurants and foodservice took place in Toronto. Hundreds of exhibitors gathered at the city’s Direct Energy Centre for the annual Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) Show, to offer their goods and services: stoves & fridges, wines & beers, uniforms & food, delivery services & cleaning products—you name it, it was there.

The 9th Anniversary celebration of the Greenbelt featured a local carrot cake.

Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in the Members' Guest Gallery at Queen's Park to listen to our Province's political parties comment on the Greenbelt in light of its ninth anniversary.

FEBRUARY 2014 NEWSLETTER

Guess what the Greenbelt got for its birthday? 

This month's newsletter features:

• Mississauga Votes to Expand Ontario’s Greenbelt 
• Happy 9th Birthday, Greenbelt!
• Greenbelt Olympics
• Beer Belly: The Greenbelt's Bursting Beer Industry
• Funding Food Forward: The Greenbelt Fund's Newest Grants
• And more!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 28, 2014

ONTARIO'S GREENBELT, NINE YEARS AND GROWING

Celebrating 9 Years of Protected Landscape and
News of Expansion in Mississauga

Celebrating its 9^th Anniversary, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, along with Mississauga City Council, Credit Valley Conservation, and a growing group of supporters, have come together today to show their support for growing Ontario’s Greenbelt.

A little take on the Olympics, Greenbelt style.

As the Olympics come to a close and the drama of competition moves onto the emotional returns home, I am thinking of my favourite winter sports. Hockey is up there, as are the ‘new’ acrobatic ski and snowboard events. The skill set required for the biathlon amazes me, while ski jumping always reminds me of "Eddie the Eagle".

Tis the season of the Seedy Saturday! With spring looming on the minds of many, Seedy Saturdays are sprouting up throughout the Greenbelt. A great venue to purchase seeds, exchange ideas and knowledge, and learn from others about the craft of gardening, Seedy Saturdays grew out of a need for low-cost venues where local gardeners, seed companies, growers, and nurseries could simply learn from one another, share some of last season's well-earned seeds, and promote diversity.

Hop flower in a hop yard in the Hallertau, Germany. Source: Wikipedia, 2014.

The City of Toronto has been peppered with breweries for as long as it’s been called Toronto. Today, more than 150 years later, pubs, taverns, bars, restaurants and homes are overflowing with local indie craft brews more than ever. Craft implies a small, independent operation, using traditions to produce and deliver effervescent beer to tantalize your taste buds. With so many young entrepreneurs channeling their efforts to keep things small-scale and local, the choice and variety is vast.

Janice and I sit together by a snow-laden stream at the Ecology Retreat Centre in Orangeville.

Around 4 or 5 months ago, I came to Canada to volunteer at the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation. After finishing my school in Germany, I wanted to go to another country and take a gap year before studying at university. But better than a normal gap year, like the most common German version of "Work-and-Travel" in Australia, I got the opportunity to do something good for the environment.

Extending the Greenbelt into urban river valleys like the Credit River is now possible. Credit: Sierra Club Ontario.

At its December meeting the City of Mississauga’s Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) passed on to Mississauga Council a recommendation to apply to add the City's publicly owned Credit River and Etobicoke Creek valley lands to the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt resolution is on the Council agenda for its February 12th meeting. If successful, the Mississauga initiative will be the first addition to the Greenbelt under Ontario’s new Urban River Valley (URV) designation, enacted early last year. It will also mark the expansion of the Greenbelt into Ontario’s second most populous municipality.