Maria is passionate advocate of biodiversity, whether of food crops, livestock, native plants or pollinators. Their health is so inter-related: food crops need bees for pollination, bees need native plants for particular food needs. A member of a beekeeping co-op, Maria has found that bees often do better in the city than in the countryside. This may be because of the diversity of food sources in the city and Toronto’s pesticide ban. “The use of round-up and other herbicides has made it possible to have a functioning, true rural monoculture. Crops are only flowering for a very small portion of the year – without any ‘weeds’ or native plants flowering over a longer period, pollinators starve to death.”
Maria also grows a variety of edibles in containers and on her rooftop and has been experimenting with sub-irrigated planters. A member of the Raging Grannies, she is also a folk singer-songwriter who has recorded 3 albums.
If you’ve met someone representing us in Toronto, it was probably Maria. She represents us at all five Seedy Saturdays in Toronto, manages our booth at Canada Blooms, singlehandedly represents us at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and takes on numerous speaking engagements and festivals. Maria comments on how volunteering has led to so many opportunities and experiences she wouldn’t otherwise have had – meeting people with similar interests and passions, receiving invitations to lectures and luncheons, and – a highlight - meeting Vandana Shiva.
Maria says she’s often heard people talk about being afraid to try growing something – afraid they’ll just kill it. She likes to remind people that plants produce so many seeds because they’re the gamblers, not us! We don’t need to feel guilty about our failures – that’s how we learn, and the plants just want the chance.
“This is a dangerous time," she reflects. "We have a whole population that doesn’t know how to take care of ourselves: we don’t know how to grow our own food or make our own shelter….There didn’t use to be a business making money off every last thing in the world! If everybody saves some seed varieties from the broad spectrum of plants that feed us, this right will remain in the hands of the people, not the corporations. All our grandmothers have done so for thousands of years. Let's keep this legacy alive for our grandkids!"