In the coming weeks we are taking a quick peek at what’s inside our products. Information is power and we think it’s essential you know what is in your food! That’s why we’ve created “What’s Inside” to share with you the ingredients of our many creations. First up, our Cookies. Simple ingredients. Tremendous nutritional deliciousness.
WHY WE LOVE OUR COOKIES? Because they are full of OATS!!!
Oats have been getting a bad rap lately. Our Brand Ambassador and Nutritionist by trade) Erica wants to set the record straight on OATS.
“Although oats are hulled, this process does not strip away their bran and germ, allowing them to remain a concentrated source of their fibre and nutrients.” (Murrary 328)
Some important nutritional information on OATS:
1) They are a great source of minerals: manganese, selenium, and phosphorous. Oats have more than three times as much magnesium as calcium.
2) Specifically they are a great source of the mineral Iron. For Plant-Based eaters, oats are a great source of iron as they rely on vegetables and grains for their iron from food. A serving of oats have 2.1 milligrams of iron (12 percent of the daily requirement)
3) They are a good source of soluble dietary fibre which means you stay satiated longer and can keep your blood sugar levels steady to prevent spikes and crashes after meals. This is why our Morning Glory cookie is a great alternative to eating cereal for breakfast, cereal can be full of sugar and is often a low nutrient dense food. Our Cowgirl cookie is a great post workout cookie or snack, a great alternative to protein bars that can be full of highly processed ingredients, such as alcohol sugars.
4) They help lower cholesterol: Oat bran’s dietary fibre is high in beta-glucan which helps to lower cholesterol.
5) ANTIOXIDANTS: “Oats are a great source of avenanthramides, which are a type of polyphenol that act as antioxidants in the body.” (Murray, 328)
6) DIGESTION: Digestive health is all the wellness world can talk about these days and for good reason. Oats are rich in fiber, which plays a central role in digestive health. Fiber moves through the gastrointestinal tract undigested, which makes for smooth bowel movements and a healthy gut.
TIPS ON HOW TO EAT OUR COOKIES:
1) Break it up and add it to your favourite coconut yogurt as an impromptu breakfast parfait.
2) Pour yourself a nice cold glass of almond milk and dip our Cowgirl Cookie into it and savour your favourite childhood memories.
3) Cut the cookie into 8ths and put in your freezer, whenever you have a craving for a delicious treat, take one (or two) triangle treats out of the freezer, day dream about it for 10 minutes while it thaws and then enjoy.
References:
Murray, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York, New York. ATRIA Books, 2005.
]]>The staff at Earth + City are super passionate about creating the best products they can using local, organic and seasonal produce, made with sustainability in mind.
Get to know the awesome people who prepare the food items that you love and find out how they joined the Earth + City team. This week we chatted with Sinclair, one of Earth + City’s lovely market vendors.
Tell us a bit about yourself...
My name is Sinclair and I love talking about myself so clear your schedule. I’m currently in my final year of the Women and Gender Studies undergraduate program at the University of Toronto. Over the course of my degree, I was presented with a number of social justice issues and movements with which I could have potentially engaged. It was only during my time working for a couple of vegetable farmers at several markets around the city of Toronto that my appreciation for delicious, nutritious, locally-sourced veggies coalesced with my interest in food/environmental (in)justice and community building. Needless to say, working within a community and for a company that shares these interests and commitments has been a delight. I’m also a vegetarian (no shade to the carnivores), and so working with a company that specializes in delicious plant-based foods is an ideal match for me. When I’m not at work, I enjoy singing melancholic folk songs, playing the guitar and ukulele poorly, gardening, critiquing the hegemony, and wearing all black because it speaks to me.
How did you start working at Earth + City?
I had been working in the farmers’ market community for several seasons prior to working for Earth + City. I loved the sense of community and comradery amongst the farmers, vendors, market staff, and customers. After taking a year off work to focus on my studies, I felt drawn back to the scene. I had befriended one of Earth + City’s market vendors, Kate, a couple years prior and she had spoken highly of her experience - namely that Earth + City provided an inclusive and accommodating work environment for their employees. So when she mentioned that they were hiring for the upcoming year, I jumped at the chance, dropped her name multiple times in my cover letter, and was hired for the 2019 summer season.
What is your role with Earth + City?
Well my official title is “Market Vendor,” but that feels too pedestrian. I prefer “Market Ambassador” or “Market Envoy,” if you will. While I do occasionally work in the kitchen prepping our goodies and making sure that everything is ready for market, most of my time is spent on the front lines, transporting our products to, and setting up our stall at, various markets around the city. Considering that many of our products are made with ingredients bought at the market, I am also tasked with building and maintaining relationships with other vendors and farmers. However, my main role at Earth + City is engaging with our customers, fielding any and all questions, comments, and concerns, and building relationships with our regulars.
What do I love about food?
What I love about food is its communal and relational dimensions. For me, growing, tending, harvesting, and cooking food is a social practice and, when done with others, is a form of community-building and connection-making. I also think that food production and preparation is a potentially spiritual process. Our current food system disconnects us from our food sources. Oftentimes, we don’t know how it was grown, who grew it or who prepared it, which, for me, results in a feeling of alienation. Reconnecting with food, whether that means growing or preparing it myself, or having a relationship with the people who did produces a sense of intimacy with food and, in turn, myself. Not to sound clichéd (though I am in so many ways), but I am literally what I eat. And so for me, developing a healthy relationship with the food I consume is a part of developing a healthy relationship with myself.
What is your favourite E+C product?
One of my favourites is the Cowgirl Cookie. The banana and date are the perfect guilt-free sweetener. I secretly pray that one falls apart during the production process and ends up in the staff fridge. Is that bad?
My other favourite - and I am not alone in this considering its popularity at markets—is the seasonal pesto, in particular the garlic scape, dill, and parsley variation. Why use the bulb when you can also use the flower bud? Waste not, want not.
Which season is your favourite?
My favourite season is Fall. I find this time of year to be a great time for reflection, contemplation, and starch. I love the variety of fall vegetables that Ontario has on offer: pumpkin, butternut, acorn, and hubbarb squash, potatoes, yams. Not only do they make a killer centrepiece, they are so versatile and I find they make for really good comfort food as the weather cools down and I settle in to hibernate. On a non-food related note, I also love fall fashion. I am no stranger to a black wool knit toque - My Toronto hipster aesthetic demands it
What is your favourite food?
Can I skip this question? No. Okay, well if I had to choose, I would probably say Lebanese-style falafel with an abundance of pickled turnips, beets, and cabbage. Once I ultimately made the decision to become a vegetarian, I lived off of this particular dish for months. It made the transition slightly less jarring and therefore it will always hold a place in my heart.
]]>So, in 2016, we set out to create something to combat this problem while also making a delicious plant-based, gluten-free cracker that was full of all the organic and local ingredients that we love to use and would complement our infamous dips. So we thought why not be savvy and repurpose the “waste or scrap’ product and give it new life? It could be …. Food. Full Circle… like our tagline. Why not use the leftover juice pulp as a base for these crackers? And why not create a partnership with a local juice company to take their discarded juice pulp and use it to create a delicious and nutritious food product?
We have loved Village Juicery ever since they first opened back in 2014. They would often use us for catering opportunities and we would swing by their stores to pick up juices. The partnership seemed like a natural step to take. Their company ethos aligns directly with our core values and mission – to create high-quality, healthy products from locally sourced and often organic produce.
Each week, Village Juicery delivers their organic juice pulp straight to our production kitchen door. It allows us to create our delicious line of juice pulp crackers - Kale Lemon, Kale Rosemary and Beet Dill. We are so happy that our crazy idea worked and evolved into not only an awesome collaboration with a like-minded company but a product that you, our customers, love and enjoy too.
We hope to keep creating more awesome, innovative products in the future! And we hope you love them as much as these cracker creations!
Have any innovative food waste repurposing ideas you’d like to share? Have any suggestions of future products for us to create? Drop us a line below or on our social platforms!
]]>These days there are apps for everything from playing with someone else’s dog to sailing on someone else’s boat. There’s even one for using other people’s toilets!
It’s called Garden Sharing... the idea is to build a sense of community, give people access to green space and create a supply of healthy, local and organic fruits and vegetables.
]]>Whether it’s trading bottles of wine for baby supplies on Kijiji or booking an Airbnb, we’re increasingly comfortable with stepping into other people’s cars and houses. The sharing economy has become a part of our lives.
These days there are apps for everything from playing with someone else’s dog to sailing on someone else’s boat. There’s even one for using other people’s toilets!
So it should probably come as no surprise that several organizations have come up with the bright idea of encouraging people to grow food in other people’s unused gardens.
It’s called Garden Sharing, and unlike the Silicon Valley-created services mentioned above, it has nothing to do with making money: the idea is to build a sense of community, give people access to green space and create a supply of healthy, local and organic fruits and vegetables.
How Does it Work?
Several community organizations in the GTA facilitate garden sharing (read on for more information), and each has slightly different requirements. It’s also possible to set up a garden-share arrangement with friends, neighbours and even complete strangers via Kijiji or Craigslist.
But no matter how you choose to go about finding a partner, garden sharing almost always starts with an agreement between the owner and the person or people who want to plant a garden. This will cover things like when the gardening will be done, what will be planted, who will do the watering and, perhaps most importantly, how the food that’s grown will be divided.
What are the Advantages?
If you’re interested in gardening or growing your own food but don’t have a space to do it, garden sharing can be a more effective way to get started than finding a plot at a community garden (we love them, but they sometimes have long wait times due to space constraints). It might also be closer to your house or place of work.
If you’re a property owner with land you’re not using, or perhaps land you can’t use because of your schedule, or lack gardening confidence or have health issues, then garden sharing can be a great way to make the most of your space. You’ll learn about gardening, and might be able to put your knowledge to use in years to come. On top of that, you’ll get a steady stream of fresh, organic and VERY local produce—all without getting your hands dirty.
Photo by CultivateTO
How Can I Get Started?
YardshareTO is a city-wide directory for landowners seeking gardeners and gardeners seeking land. It has an easy-to-use map interface and resources for those getting started. They’re also seeking volunteers to help people start their own gardens.
CultivateTO, primarily based in East York, is looking for large (500 sq feet and bigger) backyards to be converted into productive vegetable gardens by a team of volunteers.
Garden Sharing Toronto facilitates garden share arrangements in Parkdale, Wychwood, Symington-Davenport and Taylor-Massey.
Now you have everything you need to give garden sharing a go. It will be even more satisfying than using someone else’s washroom, we promise!
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Spring is in the air! The temperature has finally risen and the sun is shining. Sure, there may have been some windy and cool days recently but we’re now well into May and spring has definitely made its way to Toronto.
At Earth + City we champion seasonal, local food and with the change in season we start to see lots of new produce becoming available at farmers’ markets and grocers. In Ontario, spring means asparagus, rhubarb, fiddleheads and, of course, wild leeks (also known as ramps)! We get ours from Farmers’ Market foragers Forbes Wild Foods - you can find them at Sorauren (Monday) and Dufferin Grove (Thursday) Farmers’ Markets.
To welcome in this warmer weather and the glut of greens that come with it, we have a delicious spring wild leek risotto recipe. A classic dish that is simple to make and bursting with bright flavours.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 bunches of wild leeks, washed and chopped
½ bunch of Fresh Herbs (basil, parsley…)
1 ½ cups arborio rice
1 cup white wine
1 L of vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon
½ cup vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast
Place oil in a heavy-bottomed pot on the stove, turn the heat to medium/low and add the bottom half of your wild leeks. While they are cooking, heat your stock on the stove in another pot.
Once the leeks have sautéed for 5-10 minutes, add in the arborio rice and stir for minute or two, or until it is coated in oil and slightly translucent. Add the white wine and cook until it has fully absorbed.
Next, add your stock to the rice one ladleful at a time, waiting for each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next one. Continue stirring the rice the entire time.
While the rice is cooking, take the top half of your wild leeks (green part) and transfer them to a blender or food processor along with the juice of half the lemon and a few herbs. Blitz the leeks, lemon and herbs into a puree.
Once the rice is cooked (after 25-30 minutes) to al dente and most of the stock liquid is absorbed, add the leek puree and parmesan or nutritional yeast to the risotto. Stir until fully combined.
Serve the risotto in bowls and garnish with a few herbs, a little olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice.
Enjoy!
]]>Photo by Shyam Sundar
In this series, we’re highlighting different ingredients and interesting ways to use them in your kitchen. At Earth + City we’re all about innovation, new recipes and new ways to highlight produce. This week we’re taking a closer look at gochunjang.
Right now you might be thinking “gochu-what”? That’s OK. We’re here to give you the lowdown. Before you know it, gochujang will be your new best friend in the kitchen.
Gochujang is a Korean chilli condiment. It’s made by fermenting chilli powder, rice, soybeans and barley in an earthenware container. The end result is a goopy red paste with a runnier consistency than miso. It’s available at Asian grocery stores, and comes in jars or loaf-tin size boxes. Buy the box. Trust us, you’ll use it.
Photo by Max Falkowitz
So what can you use gochujang for? Why, pretty much everything! Like miso, it’s a powerful vegan hit of umami and funkiness, but unlike miso it also brings the heat. You can buy versions that run from mild to extremely hot. There’s even an official scale, Gochujang Hot Taste Units: 30 is mild, 100 very spicy.
Aside from using it in Korean recipes, we like putting a teaspoon or so in dressings and vinaigrettes: this works especially well for roast vegetables and dark leafy greens like kale, which can hold up to the flavor. Its spice and deep flavor also make it an excellent addition to tomato juice in a vegan Caesar. You can rub it on freshly grilled corn on the cob, add it to veggie braises and soups, and combine it with soy to make a delicious dipping sauce.
But my all-time favourite way to use gochujang is as a rub or a marinade. The flavor penetrates whatever you’re cooking and when heat is applied it forms a delicious sweet, sticky, spicy, funky crust. Try it the next time you roast veggies on a sheet pan (again, you might need to add some soy to get the paste to a marinade-like consistency).
It’s also great with tofu. Try this recipe and I’m sure you’ll agree.
Image: Similar recipe from Lazy Cat Kitchen
Quick ‘n’ Dirty Vegan Bibimbap – serves 4
This is a great recipe for when you have friends over: just make the bibimbap in the skillet, put it in the middle of the table and tuck in. Really, you can use whatever toppings you like, I’ve just selected some of my faves.
Ingredients:
2.5 cups of cooked white rice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 block tofu, cubed
1 cup rice wine vinegar
Marinade/Sauce:
¾ cup of gochujang
3 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Toppings:
½ bunch of leafy greens, such as kale, Chinese spinach or broccoli rabe
8 radishes, finely sliced
Two carrots, shaved on mandolin
One block of firm tofu
1 cup kimchi
Toasted sesame seeds
Scallions, sliced
Combine the Marinade ingredients in a bowl, add the cubed tofu and refrigerate for half an hour (or as long as you like, it will only get more flavorsome).
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the rice and fry, stirring as little as possible, until the bottom of the rice has become crispy: 10-15 minutes.
While the rice is crisping, place half the rice wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar in a bowl. Add the shaved carrots leave to pickle lightly.
Heat another skillet over medium-high heat and wilt the greens with a little water. Add salt, soy sauce or sesame oil to taste. Use the same saucepan at the same temperature to fry the tofu, reserving the marinade. When the tofu is done (about five minutes), remove and use the pan to warm the marinade, adding remaining rice wine vinegar to taste.
When the rice is done, pile all the toppings atop the skillet as vertically and theatrically as you can. Serve the marinade/sauce on the side. Instagram. Dig in.
Photo by Lisa Sweetman: Earlscourt Garden Front Gate
If you’re a Torontonian who is into food, gardening and community initiatives, you’ve likely heard of The Stop. It’s an awesome community-based, non-for-profit food bank that seeks to connect people to nature and food, and to ‘give everyone a seat at the table’.
The Stop’s particular focus is on giving marginalized people access not only to healthy, locally grown food but also education and information about food systems and food security.
As regulars at Wychwood Farmers Market, we have always been very supportive of The Stop and its initiatives. We share a similar mission—to provide access to healthy, local and sustainable food—and our relationship has only grown since we started working together under the same roof.
One cool way we’re working together is an ongoing partnership regarding food waste. From May to October we partner with The Stop in an interesting and unique way - we give them our organic food scraps and they turn them into compost for use at their Earlscourt Community Garden!
Photo by Lisa Sweetman: Our amazing staff member Eduardo delivering food scraps to the Community Garden
What does this look like In practice? Well, we save all of our organic kitchen scraps, like the kale and collard stems from our green smoothies, and peels from onions, bananas or squash. Throughout the week we add these to a bucket and top them off periodically with paper towel and cacao shells from Chocosol (this helps to keep bad smells at bay).
When it’s time to make the drop off, we deliver the bins on our way to the markets about 1-2 times per week to the community garden at St Clair and Lansdowne. We then simply come by another day to pick up the emptied buckets and voila!
Much like our reciprocal relationship with Village Juicery (we take their juice pulp to make our crackers: more on that in a future blog post), we love that we can connect with a like-minded local organization in a way that benefits us both and underscores our core values.
This is another reason why farmers markets are so important: not only do they connect you to what you eat, local farmers and the seasonality of food, they also help to foster a sense of community.
Photo by Lisa Sweetman: Community garden volunteers hard at work
You can even get involved in The Stop’s community garden yourself by volunteering. You’ll get to learn about environmental issues and organic gardening, and get to take home some of the fruits of your labour in the form of delicious, locally grown fruits and vegetables! If you’d like to get involved more information can be found here.
It’s amazing to think that our food waste can be turned into compost which will help grow vegetables at Earlscourt Garden, which will then be distributed amongst members in our community, at The Stop Headquarters on Davenport (just a stone throw from our production kitchen) and at The Stop Cafe at Wychwood Barns, where we sell our products every Saturday morning. That’s the true essence of Earth + City: food full circle.
]]>Even though it’s been a bit dreary and wet lately, make no mistake, we’ve reached spring and there’s only warm weather and blue skies ahead (hopefully).
Here at Earth + City we’ve been introducing some new spring products that you may have seen at your local farmers’ market, online or at local shops. New macaroon flavours, coconut yogurt flavours and seed bread just to name a few.
Spring brings with it new opportunities to experiment in the kitchen as new produce is reintroduced. This week we noticed that rhubarb has reappeared at the markets. Did you know that although rhubarb looks like celery it’s actually most closely related to sorrel?
Rhubarb season spans April to June and the best rule of thumb when choosing rhubarb is that the redder the stalk, the sweeter the flavour. Also the leaves are poisonous so leave those alone.
We have a delicious and super easy rhubarb jam recipe for you. Great on toast, in oatmeal or even atop a smoothie bowl, this jam recipe will quickly become a staple.
Ingredients:
1lb rhubarb, (stalks only), washed and cut into chunks
1 cup sugar (you can use coconut sugar or maple sugar here too, also use less if you prefer it tart)
⅓ cup water
3 tbsp chia seeds
Place the chopped rhubarb, sugar and water into a small saucepan and place on the stovetop on medium heat.
Bring the mixture to a low boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar and cook the rhubarb. This should take around 8 minutes.
Once the rhubarb is fully cooked (it should be very soft), turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled slightly, add the chia seeds and stir through. The chia seeds will absorb any remaining liquid and thicken the mixture into a jam-like consistency.
When the jam mixture is fully cooled, spoon into a jar and keep in the fridge. The jam should last around 1-2 weeks.
Enjoy!
]]>Get to know the awesome people who prepare the food items that you love and find out how they joined the Earth + City team. This week we chatted to Alex, one of Earth + City’s lovely market vendors.
Tell us a little bit about yourself:
Hello! My name is Alex, and I’ve been working with Earth + City for three years now. Over the years, I have worked primarily at farmers markets - which I must say are my favourite part of my job.
I often turn to my market sidekick, Kate, and express how lucky we are to spend our Saturday mornings surrounded by fresh veggies and other market goodies (I’m talking about veggie momos and delishkitch’s vegan chocolate chip cookies- if you know, you know!), while listening to great tunes by local musicians, and most importantly interacting and building relationships with our community over a shared passion for locally grown food.
I have also spent many hours in our kitchen where I have learned to make all of our products. I think it is so important while working at the market to be well-informed about how all of our products are made and what ingredients we use. I love it when a customer asks about an item on our table and I can easily recite (and pronounce) every ingredient in it since I helped make it the day before. Or better yet, when a customer asks about the apples in our green smoothie and I can point directly to a farmer a few tables down from us at the market and say “we get them from that guy over there, he grows them on his family run farm located just outside the city!.”
Apart from being an Earth + City employee, I am a philosophy student, yogi, runner, big sister, friend, and daughter (probably some other things too). So life is pretty darn good.
What do you love about food?
Short answer: Food is yummy!
Long answer: I’ve lived in cities my whole life (Toronto and NYC), but from the year I was born until I was 16 I spent my entire summers at our little beachfront shack in Camlachie, Ontario. Up until a couple years ago, this was our tech-free zone: no tv, computer, or phones were allowed in the cottage (one year we even tried no electricity). This is why my sisters and I would bike over 15 km to my grandparents house where we could watch Disney movies. Whenever we were at their place in the evenings, our grandma would get us to run to the back yard and and pick some veggies from her garden for dinner. We would come back with the sweetest carrots, crunchy green beans (which became a favourite movie snack), various types of tomatoes, tons of cucumbers, and lots of leafy greens. Her garden seemed magical, no matter how many cucumbers we ate, more and more would grow. It fed us the entire summer, and come fall she would preserve the remaining produce and turn it into her famous pasta sauce!
My family instilled a deep love for nature in me at a young age which has grown into a strong interest in our relationship with food and the natural world.
Processed food these days breaks my heart. I’m not kidding, I have shed real-life tears over the industrial chemical “azodicarbonamide” found on the back of most store-bought breads, which also happens to be used for making yoga mats! And while having produce available year-round is handy, ask me how I really feel about lettuce and tomatoes being shipped across the country. Did you know that by the time they arrive at the grocery store they have lost up to half of their nutrients? : (
To me this represents a disconnect to our natural world. That is, from the land, other animals we share this planet with, and from our own roots. We have reduced the natural world to mere resources which can be exploited and commodified (Trees= wood, cows= burger… you get the point). I believe many of our health problems today, both physically and mentally, stem from this disconnect.
As much as learning about the reality of our food today pains me, having this awareness has only strengthened my love and respect for the natural world. I believe in the power of food to nourish and heal our bodies. Food that is alive and grown in dirt from the farmers market or your own backyard contains so much more vital energy than anything you will find packaged at the grocery store.
For these reasons, I feel so fortunate to be working with Earth + City, a sustainable, locally-sourced, plant-based business.
Favourite Product? Spring pesto when it’s in season.
Favourite season? Summer
Favourite food: Can I pick two? Fingerling potatoes (so creamy) and watermelon!
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Not sure if you’ve noticed but it’s spring out there (technically, anyway). Here at Earth + City we’re super excited. This is the time of year to get back into the garden (or onto the patio) and start planting delicious spring and summer produce.
Not sure how to begin? That’s OK: Seedy Saturdays are here to help. These seed exchanges and gardening events are run by the Toronto Seed Library, Seeds of Diversity, the Toronto Community Garden Network and other organisations. They’re a place to celebrate the upcoming growing season; get gardening information; exchange plants, seeds and tools; do workshops; join your local gardening group; and ask for advice.
The key dates are April 27, when the Toronto Central event takes places at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute and May 11, when the Toronto-West and Toronto-Scarborough events happen on either side of the city. There are also other Seedy Saturdays across Canada: the full listings are available here.
If you want to get started early and impress the other green thumbs at your local event, here’s a quick guide to early spring crops, which the pros call “cool season vegetables.” As recent snowfalls have made obvious, southern Ontario has a fairly variable (read: crazy) spring climate, so it can be a good idea to start planting indoors and transplant into the garden once the danger of frost passes in early May.
If you do start outside, covering your veggies will make them more likely to survive (and protect them from trash pandas). You may also want to invest in a thermometer to measure the soil temperature. These crops will cope with soil temperatures of five degrees.
Carrots: Plant near onions, peas and beets. Your carrots should be supermarket sized by Summer.
Cabbage: Start indoors and transplant outside before the last expected frost date (around May 10 in Toronto). Leave lots of space between the cabbages and consider planting dill nearby to deter pests.
Kale: This hardy vegetable can cope with the cold, and is best suited to a mix of sun and shade. Should be ready in about two months.
Onions: Plant in a sunny spot in soil with compost added. The greens will be ready 20 to 30 days, the bulbs by late summer.
Peas: Plant in full or partial sun. Peas aren’t fussy about the cold, but they do hate being over-watered. Be gentle when weeding nearby, as they have delicate roots.
Well that should get you started. Remember: your local community garden is a great place to pick the brains of more experienced gardeners (and be part of something local). Happy planting!
Get to know the awesome people who prepare the food items that you love and find out how they joined the Earth + City team. This week we chatted to Ashley, Earth + City’s General Manager."
]]>Get to know the awesome people who prepare the food items that you love and find out how they joined the Earth + City team. This week we chatted to Ashley, Earth + City’s General Manager.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started working at Earth + City...
My name is Ashley, I am the General Manager of Earth + City, which means I run the day to day operations of the business. I studied International Development at university and it was while studying and travelling abroad that my passion for food, agriculture the environment and food advocacy grew. I later completed my post-grad diploma in Project Management and then ventured into Toronto’s local food and farmers’ markets scene, where I worked with various farms and food vendors.
I started working at Earth + City five or six years ago after stepping away from work at fellow market vendor ChocoSol. My partner at the time - now wife - Lisa Sweetman asked if I’d like to join her business. Her and her business partner Cassandra, owners of Earth + City, thought I could be a real asset to the team. Although hesitant at first, mixing home and work life, the transition was flawless and I’ve never looked back since.
Over the years, I’ve dabbled in all aspects of the business and helped create the systems and positions with staff so they now run smoothly. I’ve been in this current role since September as Lisa and Cassandra ventured onto other things in their professional lives.
What do you love about food?
I love the community aspect of it, that relationships and community develops around eating food. Over a meal you can be with friends, family, farmers who’ve grown it and build relationships around that.
I also love seeing it from start to finish. Getting your hands dirty growing things in the garden, seeing the food grow and from there harvesting it to create something totally new and delicious. You can be creative making various things. ‘Food full circle’ (which is our motto at Earth + City) - that’s what I love most.
What is your favourite Earth + City product?
The Cowgirl Cookie and I really dig the Cinnamon Seed Bread. And Concord Grape or Watermelon Lemonade in the summer. Mmmmmm…..
Which season is your favourite?
Summer, for sure. I love the hot, humid weather and all the seasonal produce that comes with it.
Favourite food?
That’s changed over the years, it used to be all things gluten but then I realised I couldn’t eat that stuff. I will always love pasta, love fresh fruit, love watermelon and strawberries and raspberries. Summer fruits!
]]>We are Earth + City, an innovative and exciting food preparation company located in Toronto, looking for new people to join our growing team for this season (Late April / Early May to October). It is our mission to enrich the health and sustainability of our local food community and economy. We prepare healthy, plant-based food in tandem with the Ontario growing season. Our food is available at farmers’ markets, in local shops, by ordering online, or for catered events.
Working with Earth + City is nothing short of lively, dynamic, and creative. You will be working with us in our beautiful, bright kitchen (located at 88 Cawthra Avenue) preparing plant-based food and/or selling with us at various farmers’ markets, festivals, and events around the city. We are looking to hire folks who have kitchen and/or sales experience, and of course, those who are passionate about food.
The job requires both mental and physical strength and stamina, as you will be on your feet and moving most of the working day. It also requires full adaptability to varying weather conditions where you may be asked to sell at markets in rainy or cool conditions. If you are a person who wants to work in an energising work environment, who has initiative and drive, and who wants to spend time engaged in Toronto’s amazing food community, then please apply!
Position: Production and/or Market Support Staff
Organization: Earth + City
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Duration: Seasonal - Late April / Early May - Late October (plus potential for extension)
Hours: PT and FT hours available
Application Deadline: Friday, April 12th - 3 pm
Required Skills/Attributes:
Looking for applicants that have experience in:
Qualities we love in our team:
Please apply to info@earthandcity.ca by sending your resume and letter of interest (.doc or .pdf only please) to Ashley & Kate, with the subject line, Production/Market Support Staff. Thank you!
Earth + City is an equal opportunity employer. As such we agree not to discriminate against any employee or job applicant because of race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, physical or mental disability, or age.
]]>Spring is in the air! The temperature has finally risen above zero and the sun is shining. Sure, there may have been some snow recently but we’re now well into March and spring is definitely making its way to Toronto.
At Earth + City we champion seasonal, local food and with the change in season we start to see lots of new produce becoming available at farmers’ markets and grocers. In Ontario this means asparagus, rhubarb, garlic scapes and, of course, peas!
To welcome in this warmer weather and the glut of greens that come with it, we have a delicious spring pea risotto recipe. A classic dish that is simple to make and bursting with bright flavours.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 ½ cups arborio rice
1 cup white wine
1 L of vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup fresh (or frozen) spring peas
1 lemon
Handful of fresh mint
½ cup vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast
Place oil in a heavy-bottomed pot on the stove, turn the heat to medium/low and add your onion. While the onion is cooking, heat your stock on the stove in another pot.
Once the onion has turned translucent (after 5-10 minutes), add in the arborio rice and stir for minute or two, or until it is coated in oil and slightly translucent. Add the white wine and cook until it has fully absorbed.
Next, add your stock to the rice one ladleful at a time, waiting for each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next one. Continue stirring the rice the entire time.
While the rice is cooking, take half of your spring peas and place them in a bowl. Cover with boiling water to let them cook (this works for both frozen and fresh). After about a minute or two, drain the peas and transfer them to a blender or food processor along with the juice of half the lemon and a few mint leaves. Blitz the peas, lemon and mint into a puree.
Once the rice is cooked (after 25-30 minutes) to al dente and most of the stock liquid is absorbed, add the rest of your peas, the pea puree and parmesan or nutritional yeast to the risotto. Stir until fully combined: the heat from the risotto should cook the remaining peas.
Serve the risotto in bowls and garnish with a few shredded mint leaves, a little olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice.
Enjoy!
Get to know the awesome people who prepare the food items that you love and find out how they joined the Earth + City team. This week we chatted to Kate, one of our team’s amazing Managers... "
]]>Get to know the awesome people who prepare the food items that you love and find out how they joined the Earth + City team. This week we chatted to Kate, one of our team’s amazing Managers...
Pictured above: Kate out on a morning hike during one of her many camping trips in 2018.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started working at Earth + City ...
My name is Kate and I’ve been working for Earth + City for just shy of four years. I started with Earth + City right out of my undergrad which had very little to do with food, it’s actually a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (a BLA if you will).
When I started, I worked solely in production, working four days a week, making everything from onion flatbread to cookies. From there, I progressed into taking on market sales starting with the Cabbagetown Farmers’ Market and working up up to Wychwood Barns (where you will still find me each Saturday). Following that I’ve moved up through various roles. I’ve worked as a Market Lead, as a Wholesale Assistant, now I work as our Wholesale & Orders Manager, Markets Manager and Social Media Coordinator. It’s a lot of roles. But one of the many perks of working for a small business like Earth + City is that all of my roles and responsibilities are quite fluid, so some days you’ll find me chatting with prospective wholesale clients and the next I’ll be busy making Coconut Yogurt.
Pictured above: Kate at Wychwood Barns with her recent purchase of mushrooms.
What do you love about food?
I’ve always had a passion for food. I love its versatility, its history and its ability to create and foster a community.
I grew up surrounded by agriculture, on a dairy farm to be exact, so it always allowed me to have a different perspective on how and what we ate. There were a lot of meals prepared around meat, potatoes and vegetables but my family also hosted a number of international students over the course of my growing up. So that meant I was also exposed to a lot of other food and culinary styles during my formative years - which helped shape my perspectives on food. As I moved through school and university and different food-based workplaces, I was fortunate to be surrounded by people that helped educate me in other areas of food - including vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc.
To this day, one of my favourite things around food, is to explore local grocery stores and farmers markets when I travel. I love observing how food is sold, packaged and consumed by different people around the globe.
What is your favourite Earth + City product?
Out of habit, I would say the Cowgirl Cookie, because I can come back to it again and again and again. If I was going savoury, I think it’s the Wild Leek & Garlic Scape Pesto that comes out in spring and early summer.
Pictured above: one of the many variations of Earth + City's Spring Pesto from 2018
Which season is your favourite?
Honestly, I don’t think people appreciate it as much as they should, but I love the spring! The days keep getting longer, you get that fresh just-after-its-rained smell, everything is starting to grow and turn green again. It’s perfect! Plus you get the first of the seasonal produce - asparagus, rhubarb, wild leeks, garlic scapes, spinach, and morels. It’s a fresh start.
Pictured above: foraged wild leeks and asparagus freshly harvested from Kate's parents garden.
Favourite food?
Mushrooms! Hands down! I will always have mushrooms in my fridge because I use them in everything! If you asked our friends over at Fresh and Tasty Mushrooms (who we sell beside at Wychwood Barns each Saturday) what my favourite type of mushroom is, they would tell you that it’s shiitake (or King Oyster - when it’s available). They always make sure that I get some before they sell out. And if I ever want some foraged goods, I head on over to Forbes Wild Foods for whatever wild mushrooms are in season at the moment.
Pictured above: Kate's favourite way to eat avocado toast - covered in pan fried garlic and shiitake mushrooms (purchased from Fresh and Tasty Mushrooms at Wychwood Barns Farmers' Market)
]]>Photo by Madison Inouye
In this series, we’re highlighting different ingredients and interesting ways to use them in your kitchen. At Earth + City we’re all about innovation, new recipes and new ways to highlight produce. This week we’re taking a closer look at dried shiitake mushrooms.
You may not be familiar with them, but they’re a serious hack in vegan and vegetarian cooking. Sure, they look a little like shrunken heads, but these ‘shrooms pack some serious flavour! They are umami bombs and can take your recipes to the next level. Dried shiitake mushrooms can be found at Asian grocery stores, at your local grocery store or even better you can dry Ontario-grown shiitakes from our market friends at Fresh and Tasty Mushrooms. Here are some ideas for how you can use them at home.
Create a dynamite veggie stock
As a vegan it can sometimes be hard to pack flavour into your meals without relying on artificial sauces and processed food. This is where dried shiitake mushrooms come in: they are your secret weapon!
Adding a few dried shiitakes to a homemade veggie stock can take it to the next level, but be careful: these bad boys are strong, so you don’t want to use more than a handful.
When you cook up your next batch of quinoa use your mushroom stock instead of water and you won’t be disappointed.
Make your own umami salt
“But isn’t salt already umami?” I hear you ask. Well no, technically umami is the fifth taste. Since we add salt to most things, you can make all your food taste better by making your salt more umami. One easy way to do that is by whizzing dried shiitakes into a powder using a coffee grinder and adding that to your salt.
Now you’ve warmed to the concept of using dried shiitake mushrooms in your cooking, why not go all out and try this delicious congee recipe. As we wait for the first days of spring to take hold, a steaming bowl of congee is a great meal for those cold, dark nights (or mornings). On that note - don’t forget our clocks spring forward this Sunday morning at 2 am!
Photo by Shao Z
Brown rice and shiitake mushroom congee
Serves 4
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 spring onions, finely sliced (to serve)
Knob of fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
Salt
1.5 cups short-grain brown rice
½ cup dried shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
5 radishes, thinly sliced
2 tbsp rice-wine vinegar
½ tsp caster sugar
Toasted sesame seeds (to serve)
Blitz the rice in a coffee grinder or pulse in a food processor, until the grains are broken up (you may need to do this in two batches). Do the same with the mushrooms and combine evenly with the rice and a teaspoon of salt.
Place the oil, ginger and garlic and large, high-sided pan on a medium-low heat. Fry for 5-10 minutes, until soft and aromatic.
Add the rice mix into the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add 4 ½ cups of water and bring to a simmer. Once the mixture is simmering, lower the heat to medium and leave to cook for 30 minutes, stirring often, until the rice is done and the congee has the consistency of a soupy oatmeal.
While the rice and mushrooms mix is cooking, put the radishes in a bowl with the vinegar, sugar and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, and leave to pickle lightly.
Divide the congee between bowls and garnish with the pickled radishes, sliced spring onions, toasted sesame seeds, herbs, fried shallots or any other toppings of your choice! I recommend toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and hot sauce.
Earth and City got its start selling wares at farmers’ markets around Toronto. In this series, we are exploring farmers’ markets around the world, different cultures, the foods that make each unique and what we can learn from them.
Image: Brian S.
My mother is a snowbird. As you likely know, this means that when things get cold up here in Canada she gets herself down south in a jiffy and stays there until well into the spring season. Most of the time this makes me upset as I don’t get to see her for several months on end. We miss out on celebrating almost all of our family members’ birthdays as they occur over the winter and early spring months. However, from time to time this snowbird thing comes in handy - it’s a lovely and cheap (due to the free accommodation - thanks Mom!) destination to visit!
I do my best to get down there for a short visit every couple of years and love to explore what the city and surrounding areas have to offer. And as a die hard foodie that obviously includes checking out the local farmers’ market scene.
Let me start with some fun facts about agriculture in Arizona. The state has a $17.1 billion agricultural industry and growing! Obviously the weather in Arizona plays an important role in allowing it to supply the nation and beyond with produce otherwise unavailable. For example, the state produces almost all of the lettuce Americans eat during the winter months. Amazingly, farmers in Arizona can actually be planting and/or harvesting every month of the year!
The agricultural seasons in Phoenix have some similarities but also many differences compared to our Southwestern Ontario. Winter in “The Valley of the Sun” brings traditional winter crops and greens and is also citrus season - oranges and grapefruits are aplenty on my mother’s backyard trees and the produce stalls at the farmers’ markets. You can find unusual varieties at some markets including clementines, tangelos, cara cara, blood oranges, pummelos and Meyer lemons! Early springtime brings crops like ours - green garlic and asparagus - but also our typical summertime fruits (peaches, strawberries..). Late spring brings prickly pear pads and native edible flowers. Early summer brings tomato season! Tomatoes stop setting blossoms at a certain temperature so they peak in Phoenix in June. Summer is the quieter time for local produce in Phoenix as temperatures soar. Most markets close down and farmers tend to their fields to get ready for fall. Markets reopen in the fall with chiles and the first of the season’s baby vegetables and freshly harvested dates followed by winter staples like pumpkin, root vegetables and corn. And November starts the lettuce season and brings key limes.
I’ve had the pleasure of frequenting a few of Phoenix’s farmers’ markets - Uptown, Ahwatukee, Roadrunner Park and Old Town Scottsdale Farmers’ Markets. But…. my absolute favourite, which I want to highlight in this blog post is the Open Air Market (Phoenix Public Market) in downtown Phoenix. It runs on Saturdays and is an incredible community with an amazing vibe. They also run a killer Instagram account! I now make a point to attend each and every time I’m down there.
Images: Phoenix Public Market
Attached to an incredible farm-to-table restaurant called the Public Market Cafe, this farmers’ market have been running since 2005. It prides itself on creating a natural gathering place for small farmers and businesses that strengthen sustainable food systems and produce health products for the local community.
Image: Taste It Tours
I love to start with a fair trade organic coffee from the neighbouring Cafe before roaming the stalls - tasting all the unique offerings and talking with farmers and artisans. I love the local honey vendor Beetanical Garden - the flavours of which change between seasons. I love the RAD fresh pressed juices made from local produce. I love the selection of prepared food from local vendors and food trucks - some serving up the best Mexican you can find. The greens in ‘winter’ are a treat and the citrus fruits are to die for!
I’m heading down to Phoenix again this April and suffice to say I’ll be heading straight to the Open Air Market on Saturday morning. I have never tasted the seasonal offerings in April and let’s just say I’m drooling over here just thinking about it.
Do you have a favourite farmers’ market in Arizona or the USA? Do you have a favourite farmers’ market elsewhere abroad? Let us know in the comments below!
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Image: Jacquie Manning
As the resident Aussie at Earth + City, I’m here to tell you about my favourite farmers’ markets back home. The first thing you need to know is that Australia is food obsessed! We love our seasonal produce and love supporting local farmers and businesses. We take our food culture very seriously!
There are a couple of things that make Australian farmers’ markets different from Ontario.
For starters, they run through the year, outside, as we don’t have to worry about real winter weather.
Because our seasons are so mild, there is a much wider variety of produce available during the winter months, and crops like pumpkin (squash for you Canadians) are available year round.
We also have ready access to a lot of tropical fruit. Mangoes, pineapples, avocados and bananas are plentiful and local: no need to ship them from South America! This is because northern New South Wales and Queensland have subtropical and tropical climates.
Native Australian produce, once the preserve of fine dining, is also becoming more widely available at most farmers’ markets. This means ordinary consumers have access to things like warrigal greens, bush tomatoes, wattleseed, lemon myrtle and even kangaroo and emu meat from local producers.
In Sydney, there is a plethora of farmers’ markets to visit, each with its own distinct characteristics. If you were to visit the Bondi farmers’ market you would encounter not only a sea breeze, but hundreds of bronzed market goers in bare feet and more green smoothies than you’ve ever laid eyes on.
At Sunday’s Addison Road Farmers’ Market in the inner-western suburb of Marrickville you might have an entirely different experience. There you would be more likely to find yourself perusing the used books stand, munching on a mung bean burger or hanging out under the Moreton Bay fig trees at the chai tent.
Image: Jacquie Manning
But my favourite Sydney market has to be the Carriageworks Farmers’ Market, my local until I moved to Toronto. Sure, it may sometimes get accused of being bougie and expensive, but I love it with all my heart and soul. You can check my bank statements if you don’t believe me.
The market is located in Carriageworks, a multidisciplinary arts centre housed in an old train maintenance warehouse in Sydney’s inner west. The space is unique and industrial, and means you can check out the latest exhibitions while you enjoy your flat white and bacon and egg roll.
Image: Lee Samantha
My favourite organic veggie stall is run by Kurrowong Organic Farms. I could wax lyrical about their broccoli and don’t even get me started on their peaches during stone fruit season.
Other notable producers are Pepe Seya Dairy, known for their cultured butter, which graces the tables of many a Sydney fine dining restaurant, and Bread and Butter Project, a social enterprise that makes awesome sourdough bread (the whey and rye is my favourite) and trains refugees as bakers.
Image: Daniel Linnet
The market also hosts many established eateries, including Kylie Kwong, Lankan Filling Station and Cornersmith, who’ve set up stalls to tempt the foodie crowds. There are often public workshops during market hours and a few times a year Carriageworks curates a night market with Sydney’s top restaurants and bars, often with a theme.
Suffice to say that next time I’m in Sydney I’ll be heading straight to Carriageworks Farmers’ Market on a Saturday morning to catch up with my friends over some tasty treats.
Do you have a favourite farmers’ market in Australia not mentioned? Do you have a favourite farmers’ market elsewhere abroad? Let us know in the comments below!
]]>If you follow us here at Earth + City, it’s very likely that you are also a huge fan of farmers’ markets. We love farmers’ markets - they are where we started and where we will always be. Toronto markets are bustling with laughter, community, food, and music. You can always find a fresh loaf of bread. Creative picklings and fermented foods. You can discover a new cider or a variety of apple you’ve never heard of. When it comes to food, you can find almost anything at the market. But did you know you can also find love at the market? Say what? That’s right! Love at the market!
A few years ago, Sorauren Farmers’ Market shared the following cute stories about sweet romance that grew from connections made at the market.
So, we want to know: have you found love at the market? Made an unlikely connection while sipping on watermelon lemonade and chickpea millet burgers? If you have, please share your story with us. We would love to hear it! And if you find yourself looking for love these days, we suggest taking a look around this weekend as you browse your favourite vendors. Maybe when you find yourself grabbing for the last Cowgirl Cookie at the same time as someone else...well, who knows. ;)
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Many of us remember receiving or sending Candy Grams to friends and crushes alike in school growing up. The nostalgia that comes with these sweet little bundles is likely part of why they were so successful when we first launched them in 2016. Now, after a three year break, we've brought them back! For only $20, our team will deliver a petite package, bearing a handwritten love note, two of our classic macaroon flavours (vanilla and cacao) plus one of our seasonal macaroons (cinnamon heart), to four special individuals across the city on February 14th - Valentine’s Day!
During the planning stage, we wanted the Candy Grams to reflect some of our core values. Aligning the Candy Grams with #HeartMonth and #ValentinesDay seemed appropriate but it was more important for us to highlight heart health (alongside overall wellness) and all types of relationships, friendships, partnerships and families!
The edible portion of the Candy Gram - our macaroons - are plant-based (vegan), gluten-free and naturally sweetened like all of Earth + City's products. The Cinnamon Heart Macaroons - one of our current seasonal offerings - are the cherry on the top. They are made with organic beets, cinnamon, fresh chilies and raw cacao - all having various proven heart health benefits.
In order to encourage people to send Candy Grams to multiple people they love in their communities, we set the minimum order to four (4) Candy Grams per purchase. While Valentine’s Day has typically been a day that couples use to celebrate their love and romance for one another - we thought that folks should use this day as an opportunity to also celebrate the many other positive, love-filled relationships in their lives. Many of us here at Earth + City are planning on sending some to our best friends, neighbours, family members and to our partners too!
Celebrate this Valentine’s Day in a meaningful way and make a difference in a loved one’s life. Order your Candy Grams today! See below for steps on how to order!
How to order Candy Grams for the special folks in your life:
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Consider this the beginning of a recipe blog series on some of the things we have preserved in recent years and how we creatively utilize them in our menus, or in today’s case, staff lunches!
Today’s preserve recipe has been a yearly tradition in my family’s history since I was born. In recently years I have made it an Earth + City tradition each September - we call it Sauce Day! It makes for such a fun staff day full of education, good smells, comradery, and, at the end, lots of delicious tomato sauce to enjoy.
I am excited to share this family recipe for preserved tomato sauce, as well as one of our favourite staff recipes to make with this sauce - Vegan Chili topped with Cashew Sour Cream. I hope you enjoy them as much as the Earth + City team does. It certainly never lasts long in our kitchen’s staff fridge!
ONTARIO TOMATO SAUCE
Yields 18-20 (1L) Mason Jars per bushel of tomatoes
Ingredients:
1 Bushel of Ontario Roma Tomatoes
1 Bunch of Ontario Basil
Ontario Garlic Cloves (1-2 per jar)
Sea Salt (1 tsp per jar)
** We typically use organic roma tomatoes grown by our local friends Spade + Spoon or Sosnicki Organics
Method:
VEGAN CHILI
Yields 1 Large (approx. 4 Qt) Pot
Ingredients:
2-3 tbsps of olive oil
1-2 medium onions, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, diced
1 small celeriac, chopped (bite size)
2 carrots, chopped (bite size)
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped (bite size)
1-2 sweet potatoes, chopped (bite size)
2 cups of mushrooms (we use crimini), sliced
1 can of organic diced tomatoes
1L jar of Preserved Tomato Sauce (can substitute tomato puree from any grocery store)
1L of water
3 tbsps of chili powder blend (not ground chillies as they are VERY spicy)
½ tbsp cumin
½ tbsp paprika
Salt + Pepper, to taste
2 cups cooked beans (we use kidney and black beans)
Method:
Serve and enjoy!
TOPPING - CASHEW SOUR CREAM
Yields 1 ¼ cup
Ingredients:
1 cup cashews
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ cup water
Method:
Did you know we have a Food Charter? Perhaps you’re not sure what a Food Charter is? Let’s explore it in more detail shall we? Essentially, a Food Charter is a broad statement and/or set of goals that describe how members of a specific community - or in our case business - want their food systems - or in our case production - to operate. They raise awareness, offer platforms for discussion and act as inspiration or a vision for how to conduct our work.
Here we hope to begin a series of blog posts that dig deeper into our Food Charter - the values and principles that influence our work - discussing the experiential and grassroots ways we’ve demonstrated Earth + City’s commitment to its mission - to enrich the health and sustainability of the local food community and economy.
#1 on Earth + City’s Food Charter is…..
Source Local Whenever Possible!
Over eight years ago, Lisa and I launched Earth + City at a few farmers’ markets in Toronto. When we began, we had a general sense of how our food system worked, how food was grown, procured, and distributed. But it was through our continued participation in the very food system we were a part of that we developed a greater understanding of how our city’s local food system interacts with its growers, producers, and eaters. And, in turn, our business grew as a result of this deeper understanding.
Above: a spring smoothie made with locally grown and stored staples (beets and apples) as well as seasonally available strawberries.
By engaging with urban and regional farmers, sourcing small quantities of locally grown vegetables and fruits, attending food lab workshops and educational events, we quickly learned how to integrate, and more importantly prioritise local produce into our recipes. We determined that storage crops, such as carrots and apples, should be a staple base for many of our products because of their breadth of availability throughout the entire year. In this way, we are able to procure and produce food that is locally sourced for a greater portion of the year. We learned to use seasonal produce - that which is only available for a short amount of time (often in the summer months) - in super creative ways. From this, we designed recipes that invited substitutions as new things became available. For example - utilizing rhubarb in our lemonades and stewed fruit in May and June, which could be substituted or supplemented with Strawberries in July. We learned to be adaptable and inspired by our evolving harvest. Local maple syrup runs dry by the late fall so we allowed recipes to adapt throughout the year - switching to other local sweetener such as honey or house-made apple sauce. Through these practices, our recipes quickly became innovative and creative, and our customers got excited to try the many variations of our staple products.
We ingrained these practices and many more into our production methods and products quite early on in our business. Now these methods constitute the very ethos of our company’s values. We do our best to remain unwavering in our principles and yet agile to the flux of the growing season. This has made our work challenging at times, but it is these very challenges that continue to inspire and motivate us on a daily basis.
Stay tuned for more on the Charter and hit us up with any questions on social!
]]>It is always lovely to hear that a small business with big ideas has an equally small story that started the whole big thing. Ours is one of those stories. Cassandra and Lisa met in the late spring of 2010. Having spent a few years learning about the raw food movement, Lisa frequented many popular vegan restaurants, enjoying healthy, plant-based meals while healing from health issues. Cassandra, simultaneously experiencing challenges of her own, had finished her Masters degree at OISE and was an independent fine artist, with paintings on display in local restaurants. While dining out one afternoon, Lisa saw a piece that she was immediately drawn to and the rest (as they say!) is history.
Connecting first over the painting (which Cassandra sold to Lisa!) and then later over a mutual love of farmers’ markets and local food, Cassandra and Lisa envisioned a business that could bring the seasonality of Ontario’s food supply more in line with the currently available plant-based prepared foods. Without knowing each other for long (memory fades, but it is somewhere around 3 weeks or so), the two jumped at the chance to establish their company. After various incantations during its infancy, the business officially became Earth + City in early 2011.
While initially setting up a strictly raw operation, the business gradually forayed into cooked foods - still vegan - making room for a wide variety of preparation techniques and ingredient combinations. After applying to Wychwood Barns in the fall of 2010 without so much as an actual operating name (we are forever grateful to one Cookie Roscoe for taking a chance on a couple of kids!), we quickly established ourselves as an exciting new vendor on the local market scene.
Additional markets followed in the years to come as Earth + City became a sought after prepared food vendor. Operating on the ethos that plant-based prepared foods could be regionally sourced, seasonally inspired, and deliciously healthy, Earth + City brought much added value to the farmers’ markets around Toronto. From Wychwood, we joined the rosters of the WEFC Sorauren Market, the Dufferin Grove Organic Market, and East Ends pride and joy, the Leslieville Farmers’ Market. In the years that followed, we participated in several AppleTree markets, the Brickworks Farmers’ Market (starting on Sundays and then moving onto Saturdays vendor list where you can still find us during the outdoor season), Cabbagetown Farmers’ Market, and Withrow Farmers’ Market.
As the market list grew, so too did the opportunities for the wholesale of many popular Earth + City items. The Coconut Macaroons and Cowgirl Cookies developed committed followings and the demand for these products outside of the market scene grew. The advent of the snack-with-a-story, the Juice Pulp Crackers, in partnership with Village Juicery, opened new channels for sharing our creations with the wider Toronto community. Check out our Visit Us page for more information on our up-to-date market venues and wholesale locations.
While our sales avenues expanded over time, our staff grew in tandem. From the days of a two-person operation (which saw Cassandra and Lisa purchasing, preparing, selling, growing, and developing everything on their own), Earth + City has a robust staff that varies in number throughout the season. At the height of the summer season, Earth + City often has around 15 employees working in various capacities. It’s a strong team with a deep dedication to the big dreams of a small business. It may have all started with Cassandra and Lisa taking a chance on an idea, but it continues due to the drive and commitment of the many key players.
And so, with paintings and produce, a business was born. From 2010 to 2019, we’ve come a long way. As always, there is still so much room for growth and development. Stay along for the ride with us as we see where we go next!
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