From the category archives:

Lifestyle

Embracing the Tyranny of Place – Beating the Travel Drug

Thumbnail image for Embracing the Tyranny of Place – Beating the Travel Drug September 8, 2009 by Jonathan Wright

Jonathan Wright is a Calgary-area farmer and co-founder of one of the city’s first community supported agriculture programs. Jon operates a zero-emission farm called Thompson Small Farm near Carbon, Alberta with his partner Andrea.
I am forty-five years old. I consider myself to have lived a luxurious life in terms of the spectrum of experience [...]

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Aphid and Goliath – An update from the Thompson Small Farm

Thumbnail image for Aphid and Goliath – An update from the Thompson Small Farm August 20, 2009 by Jonathan Wright

Jonathan Wright is a Calgary-area farmer and co-founder of one of the city’s first community supported agriculture programs. Jon operates a zero-emission farm called Thompson Small Farm near Carbon, Alberta with his partner Andrea.
This year began as a drought year. This turned around in June, but by then it was too late for the [...]

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Michael Pollan on “Julie and Julia” and the end of cooking

July 31, 2009 by Mike Soron

Michael Pollan writes in the NYT about the “end of cooking” and a parallel rise in food fetishism and chef worship.
I’ve always found he speaks on the topic elegantly and convincingly. Perhaps I have a bout of Michael Pollan worship? That’s probably not such a bad obsession.
This current conversation springs from a new [...]

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The First Delivery: the Beginning of a CSA Part II

Thumbnail image for The First Delivery: the Beginning of a CSA Part II July 13, 2009 by Ryan Slifka

The following is part 2 in an ongoing series documenting the inaugural year of the “Knox-yoke” CSA, a collaboration between Knox United Church and Oxyoke Farms. You can view photos of the visit to Oxyoke in mid June here.
The garden at Oxyoke is big, but not unusually so. Robby steps between the rows, grabbing his [...]

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Car-free streets: a tale of two cities

Thumbnail image for Car-free streets: a tale of two cities June 5, 2009 by Mike Soron

Earlier this week, the Vancouver City Council voted to introduce temporary car-free zones in four neighbourhoods this summer.
Collingwood, Mount Pleasant, Gastown and Commercial drive are to be closed to motor vehicle traffic on select Sundays throughout the summer.
In Calgary, a proposal for a street festival that would close two lanes of Memorial Drive to vehicle [...]

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Radiant City: Suburban Sprawl and Cultural Malaise

May 28, 2009 by Ryan Slifka

Several years ago I had the pleasure of viewing the film Radiant City at the Uptown Stage & Screen. Sufficed to say, it completely transformed the way I viewed what could be termed the “sprawl problem” facing the majority of our North American cities today. I had never approached the problem of the suburbs–even though [...]

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