Chickens in the media

The other week I was interviewed by Sarah Elton for the Globe and Mail. Here is the article.

The latest edition of the Economist also has a story about the backyard chicken movement in the US. This is the article.

---------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in some restaurant stuff, we were at White Spot last night, the one at Quadra and McKenzie. Sheila is tracking her calorie intake closely at the moment and to help with this I asked if they had any nutritional information about their food. Turns out they have a full binder of complete details of everything on their menu.

The Podium Sports Gilll

This is a new establishment at 531 Yates Street - I have not been here, but been informed by my friend Jim Legh that it has opened. Jim is a partner in it and it is part of the group that owns the Gorge Pointe Pub

Organic Islands Festival

The festival is being held July 4th and 5th at Glendale Gardens - aka the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific. Certainly worth going to, the $10 now, $12 at the door admission is paid for simply from being on the ground of the gardens.

The festival is a great chance to get connected to what is being produced in this region. You would be surprised.

Upcoming local events

Tuesday, June 16, 2009: CR-FAIR June 16 food security roundtable at Glamorgan Farm

11:00 - 12:30

Glamorgan Farm, 1805 Glamorgan Road, North Saanich

North Saanich, BC

CR-FAIR, the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable, is pleased to announce that June's food security roundtable meeting will be held at beautiful Glamorgan Farm in North Saanich. CR-FAIR extends its thanks to Glamorgan Farm for co-hosting this meeting.

It is CR-FAIR 's hope that by meeting in different locations throughout BC's Capital Region, the food security network can be expanded and strengthened, and people who otherwise might not be able to make it to roundtable meetings may attend.

Please RSVP to annar@communitycouncil.ca

Food security roundtable meetings are an informal forum for networking and exchange of information on issues and projects related to food security and sustainable food systems, and usually last 1 to 1.5 hours.

This traveling meeting of the CR-FAIR food security roundtable is being championed by Glamorgan Farm. CR-FAIR thanks Glamorgan for their support and their work in building food security in BC's Capital Region. Learn more about this beautiful heritage farm via their website: http://www.glamorganfarm.com/htmls/philosophy.html

We look forward to seeing you on the 16th. Check out this and other food-related events on the new CR-FAIR regional food events calendar:

http://www.communitycouncil.ca/crfair_nl/crfair_nl_events.html

More information:

Contact Anna Russo

Email: annar@communitycouncil.ca

___________________________________________

Some on going events:

Every Wed, 1-3pm Haliburton Community Organic Farm work parties. 741 Haliburton Rd. info@haliburtonfarm.org. www.haliburtonfarm.org

Every Sat, 9:30am. Madrona Farm Tour. Walk the fields of this 27-acre farm with Nathalie. Learn how save this important ecological and agricultural treasure, and buy some freshly picked vegetables at the same time. Meet at the farm stand, 4317 Blenkinsop Road.

Greater Victoria Chicken Tour is on

Hello there all, the chicken tour is on for this Saturday.

The focus this year is on the Saanich Peninsula, a change for the last few years. We will be starting at near the airport at 8:30 am.

Please contact me via email for the details - bernard at shama.ca - note this is NOT shaw.ca

No fee to take part. You can join part way through the day as well if you would like.

Globe and Mail will be doing a story on backyard chickens

I spoke with Sarah Elton today, she freelances with the Globe and Mail and is on the CBC in Toronto program Here and Now. She also has a blog called the Locavore. You can find her here on Twitter.

She contacted me because she is writing a story of the Globe for next Wednesday about backyard chickens around Canada. For Victoria she contacted me.

We talked this morning about chickens, how I came to have them, what it is like to look after them, the legal situation of chickens and the benefits of having your own eggs.

When the story comes out, I will link it here.

Chicken Tour Date not set

For all of you interested in the chicken tour in Victoria, the date has not been set, when I know more I will post it here and let you all know.

Looks like the Globe might be doing a story on urban chickens.

Szechuan City

So we went....

For all the time it was closed and the work that looked like it was going on, the place hardly looked like it had changed. Apparently all that has happened is a change in ownership.

The bad news is that the food was not very good. It was not Wing's or Chinese City Buffet bad, it was just not very good.

The selections on offer were not great, some of the ones I loved before were gone. In fact I saw nothing spicy on the buffet, though as I was leaving it looked like some greasy salt and pepper squid was out.

I am hoping this was just an error on the opening night, the staff was very attentive, but the quality of the food was mid range.

Szechuan City is Open again

I am off to dinner there as we speak, report later on how it is