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Don’t worry, eat local - Wendy Bird

As I watched the juice of a red, juicy strawberry drip down the chin of my blissed-out eight -year-old daughter, the thought occurred to me that eating locally grown food might be good for one’s mental health.
eat local
Stawberries aplenty from Beaulieu Farms in Chelmsford. Photo by Wendy Bird.

As I watched the juice of a red, juicy strawberry drip down the chin of my blissed-out eight -year-old daughter, the thought occurred to me that eating locally grown food might be good for one’s mental health. Her smile was wide and her eyes were half-closed as she devoured one perfectly ripe berry after another. I turned to my son and watched him do the same except, being the more verbal of the two, he described the flavours of the berries as he ate them.

“The ones that are just slightly mushy are the sweetest,” he said. “They almost taste like strawberry wine.”

I don’t think he has ever tasted strawberry wine but, I suppose, from a 12-year-old’s perspective, a slightly overripe strawberry might taste like strawberry wine ought to taste — pure strawberry flavour that overwhelms the palate.

Within 24 hours we devoured the four-quart basket of berries we bought from the Beaulieu Farms stand at Market Square. But that wasn’t the only local bounty we bought and enjoyed.

There was the fresh whole-wheat bread and lemon genoise cake from CJ Pies ‘N’ More. A rainbow-coloured bouquet of swiss chard and a couple of lush green zucchinis from a farm in St. Charles. We bought creamed cinnamon honey from Board’s honey farm and strawberry-rhubarb jam from the Perogy Princess. We snacked on homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and bought a bag of Nana’s Kettle Corn to munch on, for later in the week.

No trip to Market Square is complete for this Barbie-loving mom and her daughter, without dropping a bit of coin on the latest garb from Janet’s Doll Fashions — all locally made as well.

“I picked up this fabric at Gina’s,” Janet, the talented seamstress said, as she ran her fingers along a white, lacy wedding dress she recently created. She was referring to Gina’s Fashion Fabrics and dressmaking shop, located only a couple of blocks away.

It made me feel good to know that I was supporting a local business person, who was also supporting a local business person.

In our fast-paced world, where we often make things too complex, refocusing our attention on those things that are directly within our environment can be therapeutic. Taking time out to “smell the roses,” as the old saying goes, is more important than ever in our knowledge-based economy. It used to be, when more of us used our bodies to work, physical injury rates were a concern. Now, as more and more of us use our minds to work, mental health “injuries” are a rising issue.

A Conference Board of Canada study released last month showed that, in the workplace, 78 per cent of short-term disability claims and 67 per cent of long-term disability claims in Canada, between 2009 and 2010, were related to mental health issues. The study also found that 44 per cent of employees surveyed reported that they either were currently experiencing or had previously experienced a mental health issue.

Solving mental health issues is a complex matter and needs our full attention, in the workplace and at home. By no means am I suggesting that mental health woes can be fixed by a trip to the local farmers’ market. But in this age of technological distractions — when it becomes all too easy to spend the day in front of a variety of electronic screens for work and pleasure — we lose touch with the importance of resting our eyes on the marvels that surround us. Those local farmers, crafters and vendors offer us an opportunity to reconnect with our environment in a meaningful way.

Want to test my logic? Pick up a side of freshly caught and cleaned whitefish from Purvis Fisheries, pulled from Lake Huron. Pan-fry it in butter with a squeeze of lemon and dig in. Your body and soul will be nurtured.

Or you could simply do what one of my newsroom colleagues did. She brought in a bright bunch of red, orange and yellow lilies to the office. Locally grown, freshly picked and shared with her peeps. It was a great boost to everyone’s mental health.

Summer is here ... let’s embrace the vigour of the season and enjoy the fruit of all that is grown around us.

Wendy Bird is managing editor of Northern Life.

- Posted by Vivian Scinto


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