2 months in.

Its nearly the end of February and I guess the Year of Food is progressing at a medium pace...

Working from home means I have more time for slow cooking. The crock-pot has gotten lots of use for beef and pork roasts, chili and stews. It has certainly allowed us to appreciate our meals a little bit more, and because it is always available, we are able to buy when the best deals are on. I am definitely eating out less often, taking the time to bake bread is something new and challenging.

The drawbacks of working for myself also mean a much tighter budget, which does conflict with my desire to buy organic food, which comes at a higher price.

Urban Stream is getting off the ground, though it feels slow. I figure this is normal and I shouldn't get too hung up on the pace. We are making progress each week and have decided to focus on building a research facility to test the recirculating aquaponic greenhouse.

I have been able to find freshwater prawn only at Safeway and it is regularly available for $18 per pound. It is often confused with Tiger prawns and goes on sale for $9.99 per pound and thats the only time I'll pick it up. I have been trying to serve the prawns to potential partners/investors and the product sells itself. Too bad it comes from Bangladesh and it likely grown in overstocked ponds dug into clear-cut forests. I probably shouldn't even be supporting this industry, but nobody is aware that there are freshwater prawns and they can get quite large too! Still better off than going with tiger prawns which are grown in saltwater ponds where the Mangroves used to be, flooding arable land with salt water, causing nearly permanent damage.

Intro: Fuck your food. This is real food.

This is my first entry! This particular blog will be used for me to document 2010 as my Year of Food. The title of 'Fuck your Food" comes from an initial thought of slogans to use for my new venture, Urban Stream. It is in the early stages and get explained later in this post. We want to redesign the food industry from the ground up, take on the giant corporations that tell us what we should eat. One day, I can say to them, " No, fuck your food. This is real food." One day...

I'll copy my first thoughts I created in january:

"A rough beginning to the year it has been. It's January 5, 2010 and that means I'm five days late on my plans for this year. Reflecting on the holidays in Edmonton and all that I want to accomplish in 2010, I'll take this time to jot it down while I wait for my delayed flight back to where I live, Vancouver. The holidays back home are great for the soul, surrounded by family and friends, time to relax and that vacation feel of freedom. The holidays however, are rough on the body. Late nights filled with too much booze, pot and exorbitant amounts of food, delicious food made with love, but unhealthy favorites and piles of it. Not the best way to start the year.

2010 will be my year of food. I will need to be more involved and aware of the food I consume for monetary, environmental and health reasons. I will have less money to buy food, a renewed desire to support sustainable food production and I want to have a healthy diet. Professionally, it will also be a year of food. I have left my job at a hydrogen fuel cell company and will be starting a new venture called Urban Stream Inc. Our business will be to take food waste from Restaurants, Farmer's markets and grocery stores. We will compost this waste on the main floor of our Urban Vertically Integrated Microfarm (UVIM) and turn it into natural fish meal, fertilizers and pesticides. We will use these products to grow vegetables, herbs, mushrooms and freshwater prawns in the upper greenhouse levels of the facility. We will take these high-end, organically grown products and sell them back to the restaurants, farmers markets and grocery stores."

I'm also starting to blog with my girlfriend, Kate as we embark on an adventure to get more out of life.