Two podcasts: Tim Farmer & Paul – Food Safe

I’m posting a few quotes from Tim’s podcast and Paul ‘s podcast – both have been released! See Tim’s latest for what has changed. Paul has had some changes as well so stay tuned.

Week 7: Tim from Strawberry Hill Farm:

He speaks about his passion with a varied background from “a gardening family around farms”. Tropical foods including that he and his wife continue to have the tendency to do things they were told not to be done. 

Each podcast I enjoyed listening with an open mind. Tim also is quite willing to share a bit more about details. https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-u2rm4-19e42eb

One of his favourite crops to make is sweet potatoes. 

There is so much excitement about all of the specific foods including blueberries and strawberries.

There is a whole world of life that happens in the soil that we don’t see. And that life is responsible for all that we can see. The little bugs and little critters in the soil they are responsible to do all of the break down… they build soil structure… they are responsible for all that we see and this army of little critters. It’s all dependent on this army of little critters. And we just treat it like dirt like it shouldn’t be there.

I know I don’t want to spray chemicals… from studying soil biology… As a steward of the land, I want to leave this better for my kids and their kids after… So I don’t want to put chemicals on here that is going to end up in the rivers or in the ocean or damaging the land here. So this is very very important to me.

I really like how we have been able to integrate livestock and vegetables… A lot of farms have gone simple so done fewer fewer crops and larger and larger to support a family. I’m proud of working with that diversity. So we’ve been able to raise organic livestock when there has been very little in this area. My passion for livestock started as a teenage watching sheep graze…

Our goal has been when a lot of farms have gone simple so done fewer and fewer crops, our goal has been to make diversity work for the betterment of the whole.

It’s really satisfying to watch the soil to being hard and no structure, and to watch the soil biology come back… Take the triangle with the man on the top whether you agree with that or not and all of the animals on top… and then 9/10ths that you don’t see is all the bacteria and fungi and all these other things that live in the soil that we call dirt. And that’s the whole pillar that everything else is standing on. In a teaspoon there is an entire planet of diversity in that one teaspoon.

For more about Strawberry Hill Farm:

https://www.facebook.com/StrawberryHillNB

https://www.youtube.com/@strawberryhillfarm4060

https://www.instagram.com/strawberry_hill_farm

@strawberryhillnb

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Week 8: Paul Moores

There are many numerous lobster processing facilities here so there was one right on the wharf here. They still hold lobster here. And there are still 3 factories that still operate in the vicinity. Not far from this area and they will process a fair amount of lobster and ship all over the world.
https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-5zqgd-19f36b8

Always from a young age I really enjoyed cooking and then my roommate – he was doing … his final chef zags and I remember we were roommates then … developed more of a passion for it then and he was always cooking at home and I always helped him out …. I was his taste tester and maybe his little sous chef at the time… so that’s when I got my first real passion for food.

I worked in food safety and quality control and with legislation change … I decided to get away from that and train in food safety. It was an opportunity and there was a need … and with my background in processing it was a natural fit.

A lot of product is heading to Asia, Europe, there is still a big demand in the US… the cruise ships still demand those raw tail products… The whole market is based on US price. Lobster meat is at an all time high… For us it’s very important, our seasonal business is years being able to source the proper product at the proper price… at one time we would buy all cod knuckle meat… and now we have to look at other alternatives to be able to bring the price to bear the market.

Food access … most people see grocery stores as access. More people are looking at community farms, markets, we do local rather than supermarket… and there are becoming more access to local products.
I see a little bit of food safety… I mean I do a lot of training for people in food banks and certainly community kitchens… I know there are a lot of security issues for people to get a safe healthy meal.

A lot of blueberries and cranberries here… lots of potatoes… New Brunswick… PEI isn’t far so lots of potatoes.

Sustainability is going to be able to have a good steady wholesome supply of food that you can replenish – I think that we have certainly overfished as there is no more cod fish in the area. I know there is some good technology behind some of the oyster farming.

Wash your hands, wash them thoroughly.., That’s our number one cause is just poor food handler hygiene, not washing your hands when you should, not washing them properly, not washing them often enough.