The South Osborne Intergenerational Garden Project is a modular program consisting of 4 garden sites that are all in partnership with other community organizaitons where participants of all ages come together and grow food. At each of the garden sites, children, adolescents and young, middle and older adults work and learn together about community gardening, sustainable urban food production, and intergenerational community building and knowledge transfer.

Ka Ni Kanichihk’s “What’s Food Got to Do With It?: Empowering Women Through Healthy Living Education” will consist of providing food related programming such as workshops in cooking, gardening, nutrition, traditional medicines and traditional teachings to the 20 participants of the Honouring Gifts program. Through observation, focus groups, surveys and creative reflection they will explore how the programming has impacted their lives. They will share these experiences with the larger community at a fall feast and open house.

Rural Projects

Food for the Future is a project of the Oak Lake and Area Economic Development Board. This project will see students learning about self-sufficiency and sustainability and will provide them with an opportunity to experience these concepts through involvement in a community garden where they will grow produce for their families and for a market garden.The project is designed to promote knowledge of how to grow food, building sustainable food economies, physical health from eating and growing fresh produce and the community spirit that comes from sharing skills and experiences across generations.

Landmark Elementary School’s, Grow to Give Project strives to build on on a previous composting initiative. This second stage is for the school to model with their students the cycle of using compost (produced in the vermi-composters, backyard composters and the industrial composting facilities) to grow plants. They are establishing a greenhouse to allow them space for each class to grow plants. The elementary school will invite Landmark Collegiate Institute students and local seniors to help their students learn about plants and their care. To further the cycle they will have students take the plants home to transplant into their gardens. In the fall, students will bring produce to school to be used for making some delicious food which will be shared with community members.

A Seed Starting Workshop in Sandy Bay

Bridging the Generations is a Project of the Sandy Bay Health Centre. The project will provide opportunities to greatly increase production and awareness of local food sources. Five adults with experience in raising poultry will mentor up to ten youth. There will be a square foot gardening component of the project that will be aligned with tunnel greenhouses.  Opportunities to start seedlings indoors will be provided through a variety of hands on workshops in greenhouse construction and maintenance.  A school based approach at the Senior High school level would provide students with the classroom experience in starting seeds.

Northern Projects

Dave Courchene - Nii Gaani Aki Innini

The intent of 2nd Annual Turtle Lodge Food Justice Community Roundtable is to ask community Elders, nutritionists, community members, food justice organizations, individuals with expertise and passion for food justice, health staff (nurses and a local physician), Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and Assembly of First Nations staff,  First Nations & Inuit Health Branch staff and North Eastman Health Association staff how to move toward food sovereignty. This process will occur following cultural protocols and led by a community Elder facilitator (Dave Courchene – Nii Gaani Aki Innini).

The communities of Grand Rapids and Misipawistik Cree Nation are Building a Community Food Future by creating a two-day event to be held in June, which would see a community group of interested individuals emerge in order to tackle food security issues. The two-day June event will include workshops on composting with fish to create gardening soils, Indigenous nutrition and the state of the territory, Traditional gardening methods for a Northern climate and canning for winter storage of fish and vegetables.

Raised Beds for the community of Matheson Island promoted by it’s own Community Council, strives to improve food security. The community hopes to build 15 raised in 14 different household and one at the school. Each household will attend the basic gardening workshop organizaed by the Northern Association of Community Councils. During the growing season the participants will document their gardening experiences by taking pictures and writing their impressions in personal journals that will be shared at the end of the harvest season with other community members and students.

The Duck Bay Community Council’s Traditional Healthy Food for Elders is a project made to provide the elderly people of the community with traditional food, which is prepared in a healthy manner. The project is for the Elders of the community to continue eating traditional, helathy food.

Broader and Cross-Regional Projects

A Harvest Moon Society Farmer Consultation

Networking to Foster Sustainable Inter-regional Food Systems in Manitoba is a project of the Harvest Moon Society (HMS) and Manitoba Farm Mentorship (MFM). They will work to establish a model for support nodes in different regions of Manitoba that will enhance the development of alternative food networks in the Province. Ultimately, this project will create a process to establish the formation of interconnected nodes, each with a SWOT report, and one final report that compares the challenges and opportunities across the regions.

The Manitoba Traditional Foods Initiative Planning and Resource Development Project is a project of Food Matters Manitoba.The goal of the project is to increase Manitoba First Nation communities ability to implement traditional foods projects. It will provide an opportunity for communities to collectively share knowledge to assist those communities interested in implementing successful and sustainable community based traditional foods projects. Through a participative community development and capacity building process the Traditional Foods Initiative develop a Manitoba traditional foods “how to” implementation resource (handbook, video, or other communication  medium  identified by project participants).

Making Viable, Sustainable Connections between School Nourishment Program Food Needs and a Secure Food Supply is a project of the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba. The goal of the project is to determine how Manitoba school nourishment programs are currently sourcing and obtaining their food and identify other potential food supply sources, including alternative food systems, which could be available to nourishment programs. The information that is collected will be used to create a tool for schools that will be launched through a series of regional workshops.

Our project is focused on soil quality in community gardens specifically related to metals. The research is being conducted by Honours Student Teresa Senderewich with project lead Dr. Mark Hanson from the University of Manitoba, Ms. Anna Weier from the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance, and Dr. Doug Goltz from the University of Winnipeg. Honours student Ms. Angel Howells and her advisor Dr. Dave Walker at the University of Manitoba are also making valuable contributions to this research around accessibility to gardens across the city.

Teresa at a soil sampling site

This summer, you may see Teresa visiting your community garden! She will be taking soil samples from all the community gardens in Winnipeg, and then analyzing them for certain metals at a laboratory at University of Winnipeg. Later in the summer/fall she will also be collecting lettuce samples for analysis. In addition, she will be comparing the soil and food in community gardens to typical agricultural soil, private backyard gardens, and vegetables from the supermarket. The results will be presented to the community as soon as they are available and interpreted by comparing to Canadian guideline values for metals in soils and foods.

If you would like more information on this project, please don’t hesitate to contact us at soilsamplingcommunitygardens{at}gmail.com. We would love to answer any questions you may have.

This project would not be possible without the participation of Community Garden Associations across Winnipeg, including the Spence Neighborhood Association, West Broadway Development Corp, Boys and Girls Club of Winnipeg and support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Urban Project Descriptions

Cross-Regional and Broader Issues Project Descriptions

Northern Project Descriptions

Rural Project Descriptions

Tzotzil woman on a street in San Cristobal

We visited indigenous groups including Zapatista communities to witness successful examples of indigenous systems of governance, education, health and food security. For example, Zapatista communities are developing co-ops where everyone has a share in the coffee production system and we saw that families still plant “La Milpa” or the equivalent of the traditional three sister planting combination of squash, beans and corn.   The conference was an excellent environment to re-think our position on these matters and to bring more accountability to our studies and the work of professional planners. I really think these are the kind of discussions that should be promoted in academia and at the government level in Manitoba. In Manitoba there is a need to change the negative perception of indigenous peoples so exchange programs, conference and open discussions are excellent opportunities to non-natives to start a decolonization process.    At the conference, I had the opportunity to present my video titled “Harvesting Hope in Northern Manitoba Communities”. Harvesting Hope tells the stories of Aboriginal peoples struggling to access healthy food in Northern Manitoba communities. Despite the grinding poverty, isolation and many other barriers to accessing healthy food, people in Northern communities are growing hope. The video was very well received and most of the speakers, students requested a second view and some copies for further distributions.  I believe that the information shared at the conference will transcend and improve our understanding of indigenous cultures.

This article was written by Vanessa Lozecznick. She is the Northern Healthy Foods Initiative Project Coordinator for the Northern Association of Community Councils. She is currently completing a video looking at intentional, sustainable communities in Manitoba.

A Community Food Assessment Consultation with Newcomers

Stefan Epp, the coordinator for the project has been looking into the demographics and history of the neighbourhood . He has been examining issues like obesity, food waste, agriculture, food access and community resources. In gathering all this information he explained that student involvement has been important because there is only so much staff time that can be allocated for the project.

The St. Vital Community Food Assessment has been the first major project that MAFRA has been able to connect to a large number of students in order to provide research support. Two classes at the University of Manitoba are doing course assignments that will feed directly into the community food assessment.  A course called the Social Geography of the Environment will be doing class projects focusing on food costing in St. Vital compared to other areas of Winnipeg and one project having to do with farming and gardening in St. Vital.

Next semester there will be a Food Geographies course doing a food consultation with a St. Vital community organization to determine what kind of food programming is needed and what direction it should take.  This kind of research will help to further the work that Food Matters has started in the neighbourhood and will help provide more information to accompany the Community Food Assessment Report.

An Apple Tree in St. Vital's Public Orchard

When asked about the important findings at this point in the project Stefan Epp commented “We’ve learned that there are significant food issues even in a suburban neighbourhood. There are a lot of people doing food related worked who may be as plugged into the food network as people who are working on food in the inner city. It’s my hope that the assessment report can be used as a tool by organizations who are interested in doing food work.”

The Food Matters St. Vital Food Assessment Report will be available on the Food Matters Manitoba website early in 2012.

Title Photo used from the Lance Newspaper.

Author Anna Weier lives in Winnipeg’s Spence Neighbourhood where this summer her apple tree produced 3 apples.  Anna works at the University of Manitoba for the  Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance.

The rural ‘Homegrown Leaders’ project provided an amazing learning opportunity for 12 rural Manitoban youth. The youth participated in hands-on workshops, farm tours and had discussions about their experiences. They also helped to plan and lead a day camp for children and made presentations regarding rural youth and the next generation of farmers to a University of Manitoba class learning about rural communities.

The Homegrown Leaders group with the completed solar food dehydrators that they built

The coordinator of the Harvest Moon Society project, Michelle Schram said “I was hoping (the project) would raise some awareness with youth about food systems issues and give them an opportunity to be more engaged in their community.” From their feedback it is clear that the youth learned a lot. One of the participants commented “Being a part of this program definitely made me respect small scale farmers and rural communities a lot more”. Another said “I have now made suggestions for my farm to change (based on)…things that I have learned.” After the summer program, many of the youth took on new food related projects. One youth was inspired to get Berkshire pigs and to start raising pastured pork on his farm and another wants to start a community garden in her rural town.

The Winnipeg inner city ‘Community Gardens and Land Tenure’ project led by the Urban Greenspaces Coalition has spent the summer and fall supporting food skills workshops and events such as berry picking, pumpkin canning and the extremely popular Inner City Community Garden Bike and Bus tour. This year because of a community artist incorporating living, growing, plant based furniture into some of the community gardens there were even more excited tour participants than normal.

A group of West End residents picking raspberries

The community gardens visited on the Community Garden Bike and Bus Tour are mostly on city owned land with insecure lease agreements and so the long-term work to support these gardens involves achieving secure land tenure. Thus, the ‘Community Gardens and Land Tenure’ project is researching the possibility of creating an urban land trust for community garden plots in Winnipeg. Robyn Webb, coordinator of the project says “for a group who are predominantly interested in community gardens, it is good that we are now delving into the world of real estate and law.”  Although, they are not yet sure from a legal stand point if an urban community garden land trust is possible, they are learning more about engaging with the city on this issue and have even gone so far as to begin looking into the possibility of changing the provincial Conservation Act to allow for a wider definition of conservation lands that would include community gardens.

The Food Justice Community Round Table hosted by Turtle Lodge in Sagkeeng First Nation brought together food-interested folks and Indigenous People from across Canada. Their aim was to bring information together and then to use that information and the experiences and stories in the room to have a discussion about food justice and how it can be supported in Indigenous communities in Canada.  Many powerful stories were shared.

Dace Courchene from Turtle Lodge, who lead the Round Table

Elder Harvey Knight from Muskoday First Nation, Saskatchewan, who came to speak and share his experience, commented that “Part of the agricultural practices of Indigenous people has always been ceremony. People would do ceremony to honour the Spirit who takes care of the plant – prayers would be done for the protection of the plant. This was done with the understanding that when the time came, that plant would give the people life.” This year at the Round Table the group came to a great understanding of Spirit. There are also plans to host another Round Table in the coming year to help create a vision that will lead to direct actions.

The first year of MAFRA funded projects has been really exciting and we are glad to be embarking on that process again. The MAFRA 2012 call for community proposals has gone out and applications are due on January 15^th. As in the previous year, each of the three (urban, rural, and urban) regions will be evaluated separately by adjudication committees dominated by community members. However, a fourth cross-regional category has been created in order to support and projects that facilitate networking among these regions, networking that arguably fell between the cracks last year. For more information about the call for proposals or MAFRA in general, contact the MAFRA Coordinator (Anna Weier) at weier@cc.umanitoba.ca

So what are you paying more for?  Some big price increases have been in vegetables – potatoes have jumped in price by 25% and lettuce by 17%.  Other veggies haven’t increased as much, but will still pinch your wallet if you’re trying to eat healthy.  Flour and bread are the other big price jumps as is beef.  So if you were hoping to put together a classic meal of meat and potatoes with some bread and salad on the side, it looks like you’ll be paying a whole lot more than what you did last year.

Are there some bargains out there?  You bet!  Preserved fruit has dropped in price, as has rice.  Relative to inflation, fish is a bargain, as are items like milk and apples.

It’s important to add that just because food prices go up does not mean that farmers are getting rich.  Input costs for farmers – gasoline, fertilizer, etc – has gone up in price too, often more than the price they are getting for their product.  When there is more money being made it is the middlemen that benefit the most.  So cheap food isn’t necessarily the answer here.

What does this mean for our provincial election?  It’s hard to say.  Provinces have very little, well actually no say in the prices we pay for food at the grocery store.

But here is a thought.  One of the reasons why food prices have jumped is the cost of gasoline.  Potatoes and wheat flour are things that we produce in great abundance in Manitoba.  If we want to pay less for transporting our food, why don’t we buy it from closer to home?  This is where our provincial government can play a role.  They can help make those connections and develop that infrastructure.  If food prices continue to rise, this is a way to support our local farmers, while ensuring that our food is not dependent on a long distance transportation system that requires ever more expensive fuel to operate.

Food prices are something that affects all of us.  This year ask your candidates what they plan to do about rising food prices – and suggest investing in our local food economy as a solution.  Together, we can put food on the provincial election plate.

Find out more about food in the Manitoba provincial election at www.votefoodmanitoba.ca.  This article was written by Stefan Epp, Evaluation Coordinator for Food Matters Manitoba.

Across Canada, provincial and territorial governments have developed unique approaches to create food secure communities.  Whether they promote local food, develop anti-poverty initiatives, or launch healthy eating campaigns, provincial and territorial governments have the capacity to play a very positive role in improving Canada’s food security.  Initiatives require other governmental and non-governmental partners as well, but provincial governments have the fiscal and human resources to be a major catalyst for healthier, more sustainable food systems.

Investments in food security policies can have many benefits for a province or territory.  Local food markets keep money in local communities, create jobs, and support the economy.  Investments in sustainable agricultural production support healthy environments and ecosystems.  And work that promotes healthy eating saves money that would be spent on preventable diseases such as diabetes or heart disease.

Despite these benefits, not all Canadian governments have taken equal initiative.  Some have done little work on food security or have done so in a piecemeal manner.  There are still opportunities to grow and expand upon the items in this document.  We have much to learn from the United States, Europe, and countries in the Global South.  Meanwhile, those outside government need to continue pushing governments to implement policies that create healthier economies, healthier environments, and healthier communities.  A lot of good work has been done, but there is still a long way to go.

Provincial Approaches to Food Security was prepared by Food Matters Manitoba and the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance.

In my yard I was fortunate enough to find at lease five varieties of edible “weed” (as well as a few self-seeded heads of lettuce).  In recent years I have been fortunate enough to attend a few different workshops and courses given by Laura Reeves who teaches about wild edibles and I remember her saying that it is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of edible plants that one could identify and it’s a good idea to start with a few and get to know them well. Below, you will find the five that I am currently getting to know. Also, just a caution, in the beginning when choosing the wild edibles that you would like to get to know, it is good to be careful of the plants that are edible, but that have poisonous doppelgangers.

A Patch of Jerusalem Artichoke growing in one of my raised beds.

Jerusalem Artichoke
One of my raised beds is filled with Jerusalem Artichokes. I had been thinking that I wanted to get my hands on some Jerusalem Artichoke to give it a try and it turns out that I had it in my yard and I was weeding it all along. I still have not decided whether I am going to keep them in this spot or not. They are in a bed that is usually a prime space for my annual vegetable garden. I have been told that in order to harvest them you need to leave them until well into the fall and then you harvest the tubers and use them instead of potatoes. I tried to do a potato barrel last year and it did not work, so maybe I should stick with the weedy Jerusalem Artichoke. They have beautiful yellow flowers and they can also be pickled or sliced and eaten in salads.

Oxalis

Oxalis
My garden also has Yellow Wood Sorrel, also known as Oxalis. It has a slightly sour or lemony taste and the heart shaped leaves can be used in salads or to make an iced tea. Consuming large amounts of Oxalis over an extended period of time can impede your body’s ability to absorb calcium, so you wouldn’t want to use it as your only green, but it would add a very nice flavour to a salad. The plants are very attractive and make a nice addition to the garden.

Chick Weed
My yard is full of chickweed and my quail love it. It is a very mild green that can be used in salads or served as a steamed green. It is also quite pretty and serves as a kind of ground cover in my yard.

Chickweed

Lamb’s Quarters or Pigweed

Lamb's Quarters growing on a path in my backyard.

Lamb’s Quarters plants to me look a lot like quinoa and they also has some of the same uses. The leaves can be served as steamed greens and the seeds can be milled for flour or boiled and eaten as a breakfast cereal.

Dandelions
I am sure that many people can already identify dandelions and perhaps are aware that they are edible. The leaves can be used as a salad green and the roots can be dried and used to make a coffee substitute.

I encourage you to go out into your yard and see if you can find any of the above mentioned edible plants or find and identify others that you could potentially use in the kitchen.

Some of the information provided about the plants was found in Perterson Field Guides – Edible and Wild Plants (Eastern/Central North America).

Anna Weier is a harvester of weeds who lives in Winnipeg and works for the Manitoba Alternative Food Research Alliance.