Cape Breton Local Food Adventure

Well here it is, the final day!! I had a great time this month and ate so much great food that I almost hate to end this. However, I do have chocolate cake waiting for me so over it must be! In celebration of my month of food adventuring we had a wonderful local food only potluck at my house this evening. Lots of our friends came and brought some amazing food! It is truly outstanding how much diverse food grows in Cape Breton and how much is accessible if one has a food network to depend upon. I will continue this adventure by researching and investigating food issues and I will blog about whatever I learn. Mike Target of Target Design, and I are also working on adding a local food map to this site and making some other improvements to help this site become a resource for people in search of Cape Breton food. I would like to thank Mike for all his help setting up this blog and also for all the people that helped me to eat this month! I could not have done it without you all!

Delicious dishes at our potluck!

Breakfast: Eggs and potatoes

• Eggs – Joel and Jill – Howie Center
• Potatoes – North River Organics – North Shore
• Butter – Abigail the Cow – Nevada

Lunch: Cucumber, apple and plum

• Cucumber – Dave Williams – Westmount
• Apple – Picked in the wild
• Plum – Cynthia Drinnan – Baddeck

My filled up dinner plate at our potluck.

Dinner: Potluck!!

• Chicken dish – Kim Tinsley
• Potato dish – Dennis and Judith Laffin
• Corn – Tim Brooks
• Stuffed potatoes – Michelle Smith
• Corn Bread – Terron Dodd
• Fruit Salad – Oomen’s
• Marvelous Moo Ice Cream cake- Jim and Sue
• Sauteed apples – Katrina MacKenzie
• Sheppard’s Pie with all local ketchup – Douglas
• Stuffed Grape Leaves – Douglas
• Baked Chicken – Douglas
• Apple Torte – Michelle Smith
• Of course some other friends brought me chocolate and wine for midnight;-) and Douglas baked me my favorite chocolate mousse cake!

Everyone was remarking that it was amazing that we could have all these different dishes from only Cape Breton sources! I love local food!!

I can’t believe that this adventure is drawing to an end! Doing this for only one month has been very limiting in many ways. Had I had more time to devote to this project I would have visited more farms and tried to find more products. Alas, real life…. complete with jobs and family and volunteer work and graduate studies and the Baddeck Community Market are necessary priorities above my local food fanaticism.

Breakfast: Zucchini, onion and oyster mushrooms.

I just couldn’t bring myself to eat another egg today. I just couldn’t do it, so I ate fried vegetables instead. It was good, but I was hungry very quickly and ate plums and sunflower seeds until lunch time.

• Zuchini – Tom Oomen – Mabou
• Onion – CB Farmers market vendor
• Oyster Mushrooms- Margaree Mushrooms – Margaree

Lunch: Crab

• Crab – Mira Bay Seafood – Louisbourg

Dinner: Barbecue steak with corn, broccoli and potatoes

• Steak – Charrick Keltic Farm – Sydney
• Potatoes – North River Organics – North Shore
• Corn – Hank’s Farm – Millville
• Broccoli- Dave Williams – Westmount
• BBQ sauce – tomatoes and hot peppers – Hanks Farm, honey- North River Organics

Dessert: Baked Apples and Pears (delicious!)

• Apples – picked in the wild by me
• Pears – Hank’s Farm – Millville
• Maple Syrup – Highland Gold – Boisdale

Snacks: Wild apples, sunflower seeds from Scenic Valley Farm, plums from Cynthia Drinnan of Baddeck

A new vendor at the market today! Oyster mushrooms are being grown here, I had no idea!

Today was my favorite day of the week – Market day in Baddeck! We had a great market today with new vendors and some farmers who just had too much to use and decided to come in and try out vending. This resulted in having some real treats along with our regular goodies at the market today. One vendor who vended at our market last year, but had a baby so took this year off, came in with a fresh batch of ever-bearing strawberries; they were a hit! This vendor also remembered from last year that my husband loves lemon cucumbers and brought him in the only one he had! The big news of the day though was the “mushroom man”, a nice young man who grows Oyster mushrooms in a controlled environment at his home in Margaree. Mushrooms are a nice addition to my diet. I fried some up with my lunch today and they were great!

Breakfast: Squash Blossom Scrambled Eggs

• Eggs- Joel and Jill – Howie Center
• Squash Blossoms – Dave Williams – Westmount
• Broccoli – Flemmings Farm – Millville
• Onion- North River Organics – North Shore
• Mint tea – Blue Marsh Farm – Nevada Valley
• Pear – Hank’s Farm – Millville

Lunch: Sausage, fried roast beef, potatoes and oyster mushrooms

• Sausage – Dancing River Sprite – Middleriver
• Left over roast beef – Charrick Keltic Farm – Sydney
• Potatoes – North River Organics – North Shore
• Oyster mushrooms – Margaree Mushrooms – Margaree
• Butter – Abigail the Cow – Nevada Valley

Dinner: Chicken Drumsticks with plum saucce

• Chicken – Glenryan Farms – Margaree
• Plums – Cynthia Drinnan – Baddeck
• Hot pepper – Eyking Farm – Millville
• Honey – North River Organics – North Shore

Snacks:

• Plums – Cynthia Drinnan – Baddeck
• Grapes and peach- Dave Williams – Westmount
• Strawberries – Tom Oomen – Mabou

View overlooking part of the Eyking farm.

Today was filled with delightful surprises! I left for work a little early this morning and decided to check out the Eyking farm. It was such a beautiful drive, with the bails of hay and the rolling hills. I dropped in to their store and bought some romaine lettuce, tomatoes and peppers. I then continued on to work to put my nose to the grindstone. But low and behold after a few hours of work, my friend Diane called in desperate need of a lunch break, so off I walked to meet up at Flavor 19. I was pleasantly surprised that they were once again serving a local special, and once again it was divine!! Spinach salad, roasted red pepper dressing, free range chicken and topped with glazed (real) baby carrots. Absolutely delicious! My friend Dave asked me to drop by his house on my way home to give me food. He had unbelievable peaches! Also cucumber, broccoli, squash blossoms and even grapes!! He also gave me some grape leaves so that I can try to stuff them. The sense of community support for this project is phenomenal!

Breakfast: Roast Beef and Eggs

• Left over roast beef – Charrick Keltic Farm – Sydney
• Eggs- Joel and Jill – Howie Center
• Butter – Abigail the cow – Nevada Valley
• Mint tea – Blue Marsh Farm – Nevada Valley

Local Special at Flavor 19

Lunch: Local Special at Flavor 19

• The waitress assured me that all of the ingredients were local and that most were sourced at Hank’s. She also told me that lots of people get the special when it is local. Smart people!!

Dinner:Chicken Wrap(with Romaine)and corn

• Corn – Hank’s Farm – Millville
• Lettuce and tomato – Eyking Farms
• Chicken – Glenryan Farm – Margaree
• Cucumber – Dave Williams – Westmount
• Onion – CB Farmer’s market vendor

Snacks – Pear from Hank’s, Peach and carrot from Dave Williams.

Breakfast: Spinach Omelette

• Eggs – Joel and Jill – Howie Center
• Spinach – Scenic Valley Farm – Margaree
• onion – North River Organics – North Shore
• Butter – Abigail the Cow – Nevada Valley
• Mint tea – Blue Marsh Farm – Nevada Valley

Lunch: Chilli

• Kidney beans – Glenryan farm – Margaree
• Black Soy beans – Blue Marsh Farm – Nevada Valley
• Ground beef – Charrick Keltic Farms- Sydney
• Tomatoes and hot peppers- Tyme for Ewe – Millville
• Tomatoes – Scenic Valley Farm – Margaree
• Garlic – Blue Marsh Farm – Nevada Valley
• Jalapeno and green pepper – Hanks Farm – Millville

Dinner: Roast Beef

• Sirloin roast – Charrick Keltic Farms – Sydney
• Potatoes, sage and rosemary – North River Organics – North Shore
• Brussel Sprouts – Scenic Valley Farm – Margaree

Snacks: Apples from my mom’s yard and pears from Hank’s farm.

I can’t believe that I only have 5 more days of this adventure left! I feel like there are so many things that I did not get to explore and discover yet. I learned that I want to learn more about our local food system and how it affects society. If only I had more time, but alas I did what I could do in the midst of working, raising a family, taking classes and volunteering. I think in truth this will be a life long adventure!

Potato Pancakes with Applesauce

Breakfast: Potato Pancakes and Applesauce

• Potatoes – North River Organics – North Shore
• Eggs – Joel and Jill – Howie Center
• Corn Meal – Teron Dodd – Roseburn
• Applesauce – Dave Williams – Westmount
• Butter – Abigail the Cow – Nevada Valley
• Nettle tea – Martine Remiillard – Baddeck

Pear and Spinach salad with leftovers

Lunch: Spinach Salad and Leftovers

• Pear – Hanks Farm – Millville
• Spinach – Scenic Valley Farm – Margaree
• Onion – North River Organics – North Shore
• Garlic – Blue Marsh – Nevada Valley
• Black Current Juice – Mom’s Garden – Iona
• Honey – North River Organics – North Shore
• Leftover stir-fry from yesterdays lunch

Family dinner at my house - everyone loves local!

Veggies and Dip

• Cherry Tomatoes – My Yard
• Lemon Cucumber – My Yard
• Carrots – Mom’s garden – Iona
• Cucumber – Dave- Westmount
• Eggplant – My yard
• Garlic -Blue Marsh Farm
• Hot pepper – Tyme for Ewe – Millville
• Onion – CB Farmers Market Vendor
• Tomato – Scenic Valley Farm – Margaree

Dinner: Roast Chicken Dinner

• Chicken – GlenRyan Farms – Margaree
• Potatoes – My yard
• Potatoes, sage and rosemary – North River Organics
• Carrots – Mom’s Garden – Iona
• Honey – North River Organics – North Shore
• Onion – CB Farmers market vendor
• Garlic – Blue Marsh Farm – Nevada Valley

I even made the gravy with potato, and it came out great. I may never go back to gravy with flour actually because when using potato it never lumps up and it tastes great!