2016 is the International Year of the Pulse, and although this pulse doesn't refer to the beat of your heart, the foods comprising pulses do support excellent heart health. Dried beans, lentils, and dried/split peas and chickpeas provide protein-packed nutrition with fibre, iron and potassium at a very affordable cost. 

As such, pulses are an excellent nutrition option for people as part of a well-rounded diet.

"Beans are our focus at the garden this year," says Lynne Taylor, executive director of the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens. "Our Junior Agricultural Stewardship program will focus  on them, and beans are a great way for us to fight the issue of food insecurity." 

Taylor notes that recent statistics on food insecurity in Bruce County show a staggering 15 per cent level, significantly higher than Ontario's growing 12- per-cent rate. Statistics focus on moderate to severe levels, meaning a person doesn't know where he/she will get his/her next meal. 

In 2012, when the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food visited Canada and made his report to the United Nations in Geneva, food insecurity in Canada, including Bruce County, was around 10 per cent. With all of the news coverage since, it could have been expected that rates would have fallen but instead, the statistics reveal they have risen by a staggering 50 per cent in Bruce County. 

Taylor reports that the corps of volunteers the food gardens attracts is spectacular and has been instrumental in making the site what it is today. 

One recent example was the delivery of 460 hand-crocheted 'bean' stitch bracelets made by Ellen Waye, a resident of Huron-Kinloss Township where the gardens are located. 
 

Katie (L) and Ellen Waye of Point Clark, with the 460 'bean' stitch bracelets; photo courtesy of the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens
 

"I saw the food gardens' Facebook posting, asking for volunteers to make these bean bracelets and I love to crochet, so I got right to it," says Waye. "I just worked while I watched television. The more intense the show, the faster I got the work done!"

Waye made 10-30 bracelets per night and soon had the 460 completed as daughter, Katie Waye, cheered her on. Katie selected the wool combinations for the project. With a design degree from NASCAD University in Halifax, she took a particular interest in this project and the important purpose it addresses. 

"We are looking for donations of medium weight yarn of any colour," says Taylor. "Otherwise, potentially wasted bits at the end of a ball of yarn are just right for the bracelet-length creations."  

The garden will be selling the bracelets as a visual icon of solidarity in the fight for food security for all, and part of the food gardens "I've Bean. Have You?" Campaign. The bracelets can be obtained at the gardens at 62 Park Street, Ripley. The food gardens will formally open June 1. Orders can be made any time by contacting Taylor by E-mail at: ltaylor@bbfg.org.