Taking on big banana, live chickens in Toronto yards, our dismal spring

Taking on big banana, live chickens in Toronto yards, our dismal spring

Cry fowl: Opinions differ on the value of inner-city chickens (Photo by Jon Feinstein)

• City hall is considering a pilot project that would allow Torontonians to keep live chickens in their backyards. First they have to figure out how to protect the chickens from prowling city foxes and other wildlife. [CBC]

• Taking on big banana: A Swedish filmmaker has incurred the wrath of the Dole Food Co. with his documentary Bananas!—an exposé of the company’s alleged abuse of workers on its Nicaraguan plantations. [L.A. Times]

• Queen’s Park is officially encouraging Ontarians to buy local food, but it might be a bad year for Dalton and company to start touting locavorism. Our wet, rainy spring is resulting in crops that are small and later than usual. [Ontario.ca] [London Free Press]

• A group of Parkdale residents is spreading the gospel of food mapping—the practice of marking one’s frequented food shops on a grid—as a means of showing that a food co-op is needed in their neighbourhood. [Toronto Star]