I've written about Earth's General Store before because it's one of my favourite businesses. We get our coffee there because it's the lowest-impact available, but I mostly like it because I can trust it.

What I mean is, I trust that they've done the research for me on any given product. And that there won't be any "surprise" non-organic items in my bag when I get home (virtually everything they carry is organic, and whatever isn't is well-labelled).

Proprietor Michael Kalmanovitch has now written a convincing post about how Earth's General Store beats Planet Organic on price most of the time.

If you don't shop at EGS yet, what exactly is holding you back?

Tomato plants, started from seed on March 25 and planted May 21, 2011.

Gardening is one of the greenest things you can do. It also saves you money, increases the quality of the food that you eat, increases your food security, and gives you a fun and healthy summer activity.

If you’re already gardening, the best way to “green” your gardening and save a ton of money is to start plants from seed instead of buying them as seedlings at the garden centre.

This year I started 60 tomato plants and 100 yellow onions from seed. I follow the Vriend’s planting calendar, which specifies the dates of February 25 and March 25 to plant onion and tomato seeds, respectively.

I am happy with my results. My tomato plants would cost about $3/each if I were to buy them, so I “made” $180 by putting seeds in pots and watering a few times. It’s really about the fun though. Gardening at the end of February is a great way to kick yourself out of winter mode a bit early.

Yellow onion seedlings

Onions planted in the ground from seedlings at the end of April.

Tomato, leek and eggplant (background) seedlings – all obtained for a few dollars in seeds and a couple of cans of water.

The critics will tell you that local organic food is elitist and out of reach and that it can’t feed the world. They’re leaning on a tired old paradigm though. If all or most of us become involved in our food, if we all become farmers to some degree, we can put an enormous dent into so many problems at once that it dizzies the mind.

It amazes me that solutions to such big problems can be so enjoyable, simple, and, in the end, delicious. It’s all pretty damn satisfying if you ask me.

Local organic milk, available from Earth’s General Store

By far, the best way to reduce the environmental impact of your diet is to reduce your meat and dairy intake. It’s a fact, and it was a bit surprising to me, given how much emphasis is placed on eating local organic food.

In the same way that the three Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle, illustrate the order of importance that your actions have, I would describe the choices about food as reduce meat and dairy, eat local, eat organic. Okay, it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but it’s probably close to the truth.

I was raised within a food culture that puts meat and dairy front and centre, and while my family has made significant changes for the better, we still eat our share of dairy products.

That’s why I was happy to discover that Earth’s General Store is carrying organic milk from an Edmonton-area dairy. Milk from Saxby’s Creamery is organic and local, making it a significantly better choice than the other milk out there. And at under $5 per two litres, the price is right.

My appreciation goes out to Michael Kalmanovitch and his crew at Earth's for continuing to push the envelope on good, green, local choices.

Swiss Chard Harvested in Edmonton on November 15, 2010

I enjoyed the book Four-season Harvest a few years back. The author is from a mild-weathered state in the U.S. (I can’t recall it right now), and he has enjoyed tremendous success in extending the harvesting season (not the growing season, mind you) throughout their mild winter. While Edmonton will never be accused of having a mild winter, we can extend our harvest so that it at least touches all four seasons.

There are a few vegetables that are perfect for growing in Northern Alberta. Of that group, my favourite is probably Swiss Chard. This leafy green, found at or near the top of every “most nutritious vegetable” list, thrives in all mild weather. Plus 30 out? No problem, harvest some chard for a mid-summer salad. Hard frost last night? Not an issue, blanch chard leaves and drench in sesame oil and soy sauce for a tasty side dish.

Chard can first be harvested around July 1st. I harvested my last bundle two days ago on November 15. That’s 4.5 months of as much chard as we wanted – it virtually never goes to seed and it requires little water to get the job done.

I did resort to some of the tricks that I learned from my parents and from the aforementioned book. I covered the chard before our first snowfall on October 25:

Think there’s nothing edible in this garden? Think again.

That evening I needed to throw some chard in a soup that I was making:

Swiss Chard is a super-hardy, cold tolerant miracle!!! *raises hands to the sky*

Even though the temperature has been dropping below –5 Celsius most nights recently,  the leafy goodness remained until today, at which point the entire patch is finally frozen solid.

A cold-hardy vegetable isn’t actually growing when it’s freezing every night. Instead, it is being perfectly stored. In its natural environment, with its roots in the ground, the veggie will taste 100% fresh once harvested.

With the use of cold frames in the spring, there is a lot of potential for the harvesting of fresh vegetables much longer than it may seem possible. If cold frame-grown lettuce is ready to eat in April (is this realistic? I  haven’t tried it yet), and tarp-covered chard ready until the middle of November, Edmontonians can eat local, fresh, organic, free vegetables for almost eight months a year!