BlogHers ACT Canada

More local eating! Farmer's markets and pick-your-own.

This week was a great week for us in terms of eating locally.  Since eating locally is our challenge this month here at BlogHers ACT Canada, we are pretty proud!  We took advantage of two awesome ways to eat locally, the farmer's market and a pick-your-own-produce farm.

The 100 Mile Diet and My "not-so-local" Breakfast

Eating locally is a real challenge, and some folks are taking it quite seriously.  Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon are the founders of the 100 Mile Diet, a movement they started back in 2005 in an effort to eat foods only found within 100 miles of their Vancouver home.  Their's is a fabulous website devoted to the concept, tailored to both American and Canadian households.

July's Challenge: Eat Locally!

This month at BlogHers ACT Canada, we’re challenging you, our fine readers, to eat locally.

What exactly does this mean?

For some, eating locally means stepping out the back door, heading to the vegetable patch in the yard and harvesting some homegrown lettuce greens for dinner.

For others, it means taking a weekly trip to the farmer’s market to select some regionally-grown produce sold by nearby farmers and baked goods prepared in nearby kitchens.

For other folks, eating locally means paying attention to the labels on the food they purchase at the grocery store in an attempt to bring home only food that was grown or produced in their own province, state or country.

June's Challenge: Reducing the Auto Footprint!

It's not enough that as conscientious and responsible members of society, we should be focusing on reducing our carbon footprint.  Now, just as the summer vacation season gets under way, the season of road trips and weekends away, started off by hopping onto the highway to get to the cottage or camp site (not to mention extra stops to the liquor and beer store), BlogHers ACT Canada has the guts to tell you that you should also be reducing your auto footprint.  We've got some nerve, don't we?

Teaching Kids about Growing Food

At the beginning of this month, as I started to plan the posts for April’s challenge, I was probably mostly excited about the third week’s post...because it’s a topic that is near and dear to my heart!

Teaching kids about gardening and growing food is something that I’m involved in on a regular basis.  I jump at literally every opportunity to show children my garden and to talk about plants and growing food with them, on an age-appropriate level.

I recently saw an episode of the television show Recreating Eden about a children’s garden, created by gardener and plant enthusiast Cassie Scott, at a school in North Richmond, California.  The garden is completely integrated into the school’s curriculum, and children take great pleasure in getting their hands dirty while learning to grow food throughout the school year.

Why Canada Rocks. Why BlogHers Act Canada Rocks. Why YOU Rock.

This week, major news outlets reported that the Government of Canada was on the verge of declaring bisphenol-A toxic, which would open the door for a country-wide ban on all products containing the chemical.

According to the International Herald Tribune:

A public announcement by Health Canada may come as early as Wednesday but could be delayed until the end of May. Canada would be the first country to make a health finding against BPA, which has been shown to disrupt the hormonal systems of animals. The department's decision was first reported in The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, on Tuesday.

(Bolding mine. Canada will be the first! WOO HOO!)