I’ve been meaning to mention this wall for a while.

It’s a classic graffiti wall that has been painted since the early 90s. (And updated since then, obviously.) Located by the Dundas West Subway Station in a parking lot, you can see it from the subway car if you look carefully. I think the businesses that own the building allow artists to paint this wall.

I love the detail of the images and the fantastic portraiture. A truly talented group of artists.

Technorati Tags: Artists, Dundas Street , the junction

I recently heard about a Community Shared Agricultural system operating in Ontario. Plan B Organic Farm sells a share of their harvest to a local household in return for weekly delivery of fresh organic local fruits and vegetables. This type of system has been successful in Europe and Japan since the sixties, and allows farmers stability and startup capital to buy seeds and jumpstart their operations. It’s a system that benefits everyone involved. By eating fresh local food we get more vitamins and nutrients to keep us healthy, while carbon emissions are also reduced.

Technorati Tags: family business, fresh fruit, local business, organic, Toronto

Rowe Farms recently opened the doors of its first Toronto location in Leslieville. Rowe farms sources its meat from 12 Ontario farms which are bound to their specified practices when raising animals. These include feeding animals a vegetarian diet, without the use of hormones or antibiotics. They also require animals to be treated humanely and allowed to graze freely. The meat is not certified organic, but that said, more alternatives to ingest less hormones sounds good to me. They claim their meat tastes better also, due to how the animals are raised. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Technorati Tags: environmental, local business, Leslieville, Toronto

Hello readers. I have two exciting announcements to make today.

First, Osh, my partner in crime, is going to join me in writing on the Mukodu Blog. He normally blogs over at MyOwnPirateRadio.com, covering, shall we say, “geekier” topics. Moving forward Osh will be contributing to Mukodu, and occasionally cross-posting both here and on his personal blog. You’ll see his first post in short order.

Second, as some of you know, Osh and I are collaborating on putting together a web startup under the “Mukodu” umbrella. We want to build on the core idea I’ve been exploring here: discovering local “good stuff” by tapping into the knowledge of your friends and neighours. So… [drum roll]… moving forward, we will be blogging about our brand new startup — Mukodu Inc. — and the projects we’re working on together.

We’re calling our first project “5 Blocks Out”. The web site is currently under development, and all going well, we’ll begin opening it up for public trial later this summer. If you’d like an invitation to participate in the Beta release, drop us your email at www.5BlocksOut.com and we’ll let you know when we’re ready to go.

Stay tuned for more!

Technorati Tags: handmade, homemade, Toronto

Heritage Toronto puts on some great walks throughout the city. I recently took one and found it was a nice way to learn about the City’s history and architecture while exploring on a beautiful day. Check out their site for upcoming walks.

Technorati Tags: architecture, Design, history, puppy, Toronto