USC Canada is honoured to have received a piece of art from The Blossom Project, in acknowledgement of our Seeds of Survival program.

The Blossom Project – a joint effort by artist Marlene Yuzak and journalist Allan Casey – aims to inspire people to do their best to serve the needs of global community, as defined by the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

Each of the 19 paintings – gifted by the Blossom Project to select organizations and individuals – is a token of acknowledgement for work already done. Each is a gesture of encouragement for work that may yet be undertaken in the future.

You can read more about the Blossom project and about how the recipients were selected by visiting their website.

His name is Richard Collier – a 70-something retired English prof and enthusiastic long-distance runner. He recently ran for election as an MLA in his Calgary riding of Glenmore.

It was a grueling campaign, as Rick relates, yet somehow he managed to get in all his training runs. He says, “While walking on cement sidewalks, delivering campaign literature, and knocking on doors, I covered about 10-12 km each day… and then went for my training runs (or cycles or swims). I ran close to 200 miles for the month of April.”

Rick wears many hats besides his running cap. He’s an avid outdoorsman and an active member of The Old Goats climbing and outdoor club. He’s also a dedicated environmentalist, which led him to participate in the Castle logging project protests in southwest Alberta earlier this year.

Rick’s commitment to the environment runs deep, and when he heard about USC’s Run for Biodiversity – one of the charities supported by the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon – he jumped at the chance to participate. When asked why he was running for biodiversity, he replied, “The planet is exhausted and will die if we don’t reverse our exploitation of its biomass and resources very quickly.”

Recently Rick entered Calgary’s Police Half-Marathon, and he broke two hours once again, which was good enough for first place in the 70+ category! He’s hoping for a similar time when he runs the Calgary half marathon on May 27.

If you’d like to support Rick and his Run for Biodiversity, please click here.

This CTV news clip of the press conference gives further highlights.

And Food Secure Canada has just put out a Press Release on it’s homepage and provides further information and context about The People’s Food Policy, which got high praise from de Schutter.

Take Our Facebook Poll!

Are you familiar with the five fabulous contenders below?

Keep your eyes peeled, because you’re going to start seeing them at farmers markets across the country – if you haven’t already!

Which of these particular pieces of peculiar produce do you think will most likely be the focus of Canada’s next big food trend?

Take our poll (You’ll need a Facebook membership) and please add your comments below. We’d love to see your recipes!

Here are the five contenders

Black Cherry Tomatoes

Cherished for their sweet taste and smoky overtones, these beauties have little water and lots of flesh. They make a dramatic addition to any salad or side dish. Tomatoes are native to the Andes region – Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru – but are believed to have been domesticated in Mexico.
Dig Deeper!

Gnadenfeld Melons

These small, deliciously sweet melons have a fragrant, deep orange flesh. Move over cantaloupe! A shorter season melon, it’s perfect for growing in Canada’s cooler climates. From Gnadenfeld, Manitoba, they may have come to Canada with Ukrainian immigrants. They feature a cob like structure, containing seeds in the centre. If you cut the melon lengthways against the centre core, you can twist the two halves apart. Beautiful!
Dig Deeper!

Haskap Berries

Okay, it’s actually a berry and not a veggie, but you’ll soon see it on vegetable stands almost everywhere. And no wonder – lonicera caerulea combines the flavours of blueberries AND raspberries! Also known as Blue Honeysuckle, Honeyberry, Edible Honeysuckle, or Sweet berry honeysuckles, Haskap tastes great, ripens in mid-June, and is prone to very few insect pests or diseases.
Dig Deeper!

Mizuna

No more boring salad greens! Mizuna’s flavour is piquant and bright, with a subtle earthiness. Its long, broad, serrated, deeply cut satin-finish leaves stand out, with their trailing stems. Brassica rapa nipponosica is a cool-season Japanese mustard green that looks similar to wild arugula. It’s native to China, but has been primarily cultivated in Japan.
Dig Deeper!

Purple Potatoes

A regal addition to any plate, the purple potato has a deep violet, inky colour. It tastes slightly nutty and comes in dozens of heirloom and heritage varieties. Solanum andigenum are native to the Lake Titicaca region in the high plains and mountain slopes of Peru, but these treasures are getting a big profile in gardens, kitchens and restaurants across Canada.
Dig Deeper!

In 2011, de Schutter visited Mexico, Madagascar, and South Africa, subsequently publishing reports on each. While here, de Shutter and his team will look at several Canadian issues, including poverty, aboriginal peoples and the right to food, the organization of food supply chains, international development, and trade and investment.

Food Secure Canada has helped arrange several of de Schutter’s meetings with civil society organizations in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. They believe Canada is long overdue for a national food policy. In fact, FSC spent two years canvassing Canadians coast to coast, producing the Peoples Food Policy last year.

For more information about de Schutter’s visit, see Food Secure Canada’s comprehensive overview, or read their press release on the Special Rapporteur’s visit.

Here’s a sampling of a few of the more recent activities of our many volunteers and champions. Go, team USC!

Nova Scotia: Mark Austin (our Board Chair) and Debby Finkbeiner flank award-winning singer-songwriter, Bruce Cockburn. Bruce has graciously donated his time as a USC spokesperson for decades, and Mark and Debby are incredibly active in their native Nova Scotia, organizing events to get the word out.

Quebec: Daniel Brisebois – an organic farmer with Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm –also uses his blog to help promote our new Canadian seed initiative.

Ontario: Lauren, Sally, Erin, and Rebecca (L to R) – who took part in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon last fall – are among a host of runners and walkers supporting our work with seed-saving farmers. You can join in the fun as part of our Run for Biodiversity (R4B) campaign, in four cities this year: Calgary, Ottawa, Victoria, and Toronto!

Manitoba: Three USC Champions – (L to R) Unitarians Ruth Pearce and Jim Gardiner, and USC Board Director Kenton Lobe, who teaches International Development and Environmental Studies – spread the word about our Seeds of Survival program at the Seedy Saturday in Winnipeg.

Saskatchewan: Karen Farmer spends her days supporting local community groups in Saskatoon, but she donates her spare time as USC’s volunteer coordinator for the province. Here she represents USC at an event for International Women’s Day, earlier in March.

Britsh Columbia: Robin Tunnicliffe – an organic farmer in Saanich, BC – is our poster girl from BC. When she did a book tour earlier this year to promote her new book on organic farming, All the Dirt, she never missed a chance to spend a few minutes talking about USC Canada.

Mali: Former USC employee Friederike Knabe, pictured centre with our staff in Mali and Board Member Mamby Fofana (second from left), decided she wanted to go back – 15 years after her last visit – to see how work was progressing. She headed over in December and brought back plenty of before-and-after success stories that she has graciously offered to share – on our website and in person. You’ll be reading more about Friederike’s visit in the coming weeks. Don’t miss out. Sign up for CyberSprout!

Events took place in several Canadian and American cities, including Toronto (organized by Occupy Gardens) and Edmonton. All seems to have gone unnoticed in the mainstream press, however.

Here’s one report from California that sums up their mission.

And for an interview with the Toronto organizing group, Occupy Gardens, check out this podcast recorded by rabble.ca

The author of the revolutionary 1971 classic Diet for a Small Planet recently sat down with Radio Boston to talk about her views on changing the way we think, to create the world we want. Listen to the interview online here or here

AND…
If you’re going to be in Ottawa or Toronto early in the New Year, you could have your own opportunity to ask Lappé the tough questions. We’re bringing her to Ottawa and Toronto for a speaking engagement in each city.

Get your tickets now!

Bruce’s visits to our programs in Mali and Nepal – featured in two films by Robert Lang, River of Sand and Return to Nepal – continue to inspire, just as Bruce’s music does!

Our heartfelt congratulations, Bruce.

• Here’s a link to the UNFCCC/COP17 Conference website, where you can find webcasts – for all of us who can’t be there.
• Need a nuts and bolts backgrounder? Check out this Q&A provided by The Guardian.
• For a view of how Africa sees climate issues, you can do no better than with The Pambazuka Press, an African News resource based right there. Start with this feature article.
• And for the view from Britain with a Canadian twist, check out this BBC story.
• Here at home, check out the Climate Action Network.
• What role is Canada playing in Durban? Take a look at these video clips and thought-provoking observations at a pre-conference meeting held in Ottawa in September. Pat Mooney from ETC Group is always challenging. But take a look also at what the South African High Commissioner had to say, Her Excellency Mohau Pheko, especially from the 3-minute mark.