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?

Local food hasn’t been this alive in Edmonton since the pre-WW2 era. Here are a few tidbits:

A family grows ingredients for and brews wine in the Edmonton area. Seriously.

Story here and link to the winery website here.

We grow mustard in Alberta? But none of it was processed into mustard (the spreadable kind) until now? It’s available at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market or online? Awesome.

Here’s a story on it and here’s the website.

This man is my new hero when it comes to local food. He is incredibly involved in the food that his family eats. And his blog makes this one look like something from 1997 (style-wise anyway). Check out Kevin Kossowan’s amazing local food website.

Finally, did you know that you could get local Edmonton food delivered directly to your door? Check out the good food box.

Apache Seeds Ltd., 10136 - 149 Street, Edmonton, AB

Seeds for food-bearing plants are one of our most precious assets. Bred and tested over the ten thousand years that humanity has been farming, the seeds that we propagate today produce miraculous amounts and varieties of foods. There are entities and organizations in Canada that research and protect these treasures, but we could be doing much more. Specifically, I would like to see Alberta fund a university research centre to further research and preserve knowledge in the area of cold-climate agriculture and gardening. I think that they have a strong program like I’ve described at the University of Saskatchewan (to be honest, we could have something like that in Alberta that I’ve never heard of. Please comment if you can enlighten me).

We do have a burgeoning culture emerging around the issue of seeds. Edmonton’s annual Seedy Sunday event (for those “interested in plant biodiversity, heritage gardening, organic gardening, and seeds”) is happening this year at Alberta Avenue Community Hall (9210 118 Ave NW) on Sunday March 20, 2011 from 11-4.

And we have a local institution, Apache Seeds, Ltd. I went there today since it’s time to plant onions indoors. There’s no other place that I know of that carries garden seeds at this time of year (especially not unusual ones like onion seeds) .

As the old-timey sign implies, Apache Seeds is a long-time Edmonton company. I don’t know much about its history, but its reputation suggests that it is THE place to go if you need anything beyond your run-of-the-mill tomato and corn seeds.

I wasn’t disappointed. Apache has hundreds of different kinds of seed packets from at least seven or eight different companies. They have heirloom and organic seeds. Bulk seeds. Even grass seed (including drought-tolerant grass seed, which I have had problems finding I the past).

I had four or five kinds of onion and leek seeds to choose from, plus I picked up some eggplant and pepper seeds.

seeds  read more... »

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.