Milking “Buttercup” the Cow (327)

“The faster you go in the beginning, the more milk you get. Beginning milkers have a rough time because of this.” Alexandra King, co-owner of Inspiration Farm shows how she milks the family cow, Buttercup. A stall holds the Jersey cow in place while being milked. Alexandra … [Read more...]

Food, Community and Our Place on Earth (320)

If the trucks stopped rolling, how long could locally-produced food sustain your community? A farmer friend of Whidbey Islander (WA) Vicki Robin calculated “Two weeks in August [peak harvest time].” Vicki went on a one-year 10-mile diet, building relationships with her … [Read more...]

Tour Salt Spring Island’s Local Meat Processing Facility (311)

(No animals or meat products are portrayed in this program). When new regulations required Salt Spring Island's meat producers to take their animals off-island for processing, local production plummeted nearly in half. In response, the Salt Spring Agricultural Alliance … [Read more...]

Best of Canada, volume 2

First Nations People Reclaiming Their Heritage, Pawa Haiyupis. Visit McCaskill Street — Forging Community through Resource Sharing, Meredith, Garcia-Meredith, Riddell, Parkhouse, Walsh Village Vancouver — How Can a Big City Become a Village? Moster, Pacey & … [Read more...]

Sooke Harbour House & Restaurant — Pioneers of Local (307)

Nestled beside Sooke Bay on Vancouver Island, Sooke Harbour House Hotel has gardens boasting hundreds of edible plants, including sea plants at ocean's edge. Innkeepers Frederique and Sinclair Phillip have pioneered locally-sourced cuisine, art, and decor for decades because … [Read more...]

I’ll Farm Your Lawn (298)

"I'm not a millionaire but I feel like one," declares Gabriel Pliska. This Vancouver, B.C. urban farmer gives a tour of a residential front yard garden, including planted boxes in the boulevard strip beside the curb. Several homeowners provide him yard space and water for … [Read more...]

The Animals are Allies at Inspiration Farm (294)

"My worms are my hardest working critters…along with all my other critters." Brian Kerkvliet shows the mobile chicken house area where chickens scratch, eat bugs and plant seeds, spread the compost pile, and fertilize the soil. As they clear one region, they're moved to … [Read more...]

Grow Your Food in a Nook and Cranny Garden, part 1 (289)

"Chickens are naturally forest birds." A tour of Gord and Ann Baird's edible landscape starts at the off-grid chicken house and yard, containing fruit trees that provide a protective canopy against flying predators. Roof rainwater becomes drinking water for the chickens, … [Read more...]

A Resilient Gardener Breeds Plants for These Times

Freelance plant breeder Carol Deppe sifted handfuls of golden, ruby and coppery corn from the huge pile. "Remember the Scrooge McDuck comics, where he goes into the vault and runs his hands through all the metal coins, gloating about how wealthy he is?" she asked. "I … [Read more...]

The Squash is In!

We popped out into the Corvallis countryside to photograph Oregon plant breeder Carol Deppe and friends as they harvested the last of the season's squash. These butternuts were laid on tarps in the shade alongside the already-harvested big "Sweet Meat - Oregon Homestead" and … [Read more...]