How we can eat our landscapes

This is an inspiring video about just how easy it is to get people involved with local sustainable (and regenerative) approaches to growing food. Want to get involved with this kind of thing? One way is to get involved with a local Transition initiative, like Transition Middlesex. It makes a difference in your own attitudes to hang around with others who are passionate about making the world better with small local actions.

We had a great meeting last night, and one of the things that's exciting me the most is our plan for a 'local food feast' in the summer of 2013. Stay tuned for more info on that soon, and our other upcoming events, soon. 

February meeting - Wed, Feb 20, 2013

So, we have secured a new ongoing location for meetings, but it's not available until March. The meeting next Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 at 7:30pm, will be at my home again (Rob Read & Julie Walter). Email me at readobread at gmail.com to get directions if you need them.

We had a great meeting last month, discussing ideas for the coming year, and this meeting we will solidify some dates, and organize hosts for events.

Hope you can join us. 

Next Meeting - Wed, January 16, and Hardy Ginger

The meeting will be at 7:30pm - and it will take place at my home, where we will decide on a new location for meetings going forward.

I'm not posting my address here - we live in Poplar Hill, just northwest of London, but please email me at readrobread at gmail.com, and I can give directions.

Looking forward to planning our year's activities and initiatives - so if you've been considering coming out to a meeting, I encourage you to.

Here's a surprise for the new year - ever considered growing your own ginger? Here's a hardy ginger that will grow in our area (Zone 5/6) - though it's the flowers that are eaten, not the root. It's widely used as an ornamental, so I'm hoping to find one around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zingiber_mioga

Nov 7 event postponed - Natural Building event ready to go on Nov 14

This is not Chris & Wil's home, it's a a straw bale house pic by Peter Blanchard.


Sorry to say we've had to postpone the Sustainable Energy Panel that was scheduled for November 7th. We hope to reschedule this event for the new year.

HOWEVER - you can join us at the Living Centre on November 14 for a fascinating talk on Natural Building by Chris & Wil Dancey.

For the past twenty-five years, Chris and Wil Dancey have been accumulating knowledge about the many materials and methods that are used to build healthy, sustainable, natural buildings.  As owner builders, they have built with local materials including industrial hemp, lime, clay, wood and stone.  Their home is a round log timber frame with hemp and lime infill for insulation. They have constructed a living roof and a heating system that includes a masonry heater and radiant floors.               


During their presentation, they will take you on a virtual tour of building projects from around the world that have had a minimal impact on the environment, while providing truly beautiful structures for play, work and living. There will be many examples of natural building in Canada and discussion about using local materials will be included.

Free, with donations greatly appreciated.

The Power of Community - October 2nd free movie night

Almost any event Transition Middlesex has organized could be subtitled 'The Power of Community', but this week's free movie night features that as the main title, and as a subtitle: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.

In the early 90s, the fall of the Soviet Union meant economic collapse for Cuba because the flow of oil from its only major trading partner ceased. This documentary follows the dramatic steps taken both by the Cuban people, and the Cuban government during this time called by Cubans the 'Special Period in Peacetime.'

Far from being a film only about a unique historical moment, the film-makers argue that the world needs to look at how Cuba adapted to a shortage of cheap oil (and came out the other side), in order to start making real changes in the global economy to prepare for a time when the amount of oil available is surpassed by the amount desired.

The film is about 45 minutes in length, and afterwards, we will have a discussion.

The event is at 7pm on October 2nd at the Poplar Hill Baptist Church in Poplar Hill, just north-west of London at 24415 Poplar Hill Rd.

I hope you can join us.

By the way - last week's event on local food was amazing! We had a great crowd out who heard what Helene St. Jacques had to say about local food hubs, and then worked in small groups to brainstorm and share their ideas about this topic. I'm working on a blog entry that will describe this evening in more detail to be posted soon. Thanks for all who came.

We're working on putting together a Food Work Group, so if you are interested in contributing to that (and live in the London or rural Middlesex area), please send me an email at readrobread at gmail.com. One of the important roles we're looking for is someone to organize meeting times and locations and communicate these to others who are interested.

Food: Centre of the Local Economy event on September 26, 2012

Not a likely scene in Southwestern Ontario this fall, as much of the apple crop was lost due to spring weather. Photo credit: Muffet (Liz West)

Title:   Food: Centre of the Local Economy

Presenter: Hélène St. Jacques

When:     Wednesday, September 26, 7 pm

Where:   Poplar Hill Baptist Church, Poplar Hill             

We've got another event coming up next Wednesday - one at which group interaction and sharing one’s own food experiences will be strongly encouraged. The event will be part presentation, part working group where participants will be able to explore options such as food hubs, and presently available sectors. A limited number of local snacks will be available (if you have some to share, feel free to bring them!) 

About the Presenter

Our facilitator, Hélène St. Jacques serves in an advisory capacity with the Toronto food co-op, FoodShare (& a former board member). She is also citizen co-chair of Toronto Food Policy Council, and is very active in the development of comprehensive food security policies, programs and principles of healthy public policy. Hélène has conducted extensive research across the entire food value chain from eaters to growers, studying consumer attitudes, purchase, usage and consumption patterns.  This includes consumer packaged goods and processed food companies (international and local/Ontario/Canadian).

Through her firm, Informa Research, Hélène has also provided the following research services:

- to retail (health/organic, independents and chains) including alternative channels (food box programs, farmers' markets and buying clubs)

- to distribution (organic/natural food distributor) and wholesaling

-to producers and marketing boards (beans/legumes, turkey, vegetables, eggs, milk/dairy)

- to farmer owned co-ops  (Gay Lea Foods and OntarBio - Organic Meadow brand)

- to industry organizations (Organic Council of Ontario and Canadian Organic Trade Association)

- to farm owned, value-added products (Mapleton's Organic)

Hélène favours a hands-on collaborative approach when bringing together the corporate and community worlds. She is currently engaged in a variety of volunteer activities and community development initiatives, including Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, Jessie's Centre for Teenagers, Canadian Foundation for Women's Healthcare, Dixon Hall, and Sheridan College School of Crafts and Design.

If you are at all involved with local food (and let's face it, everyone is, whether we are eating it or involved in its production or processing), we hope you can make it out to this event. One hope is that we will have the start of a  Local Food Subcommittee of Transition Middlesex beginning to form by the end of the evening! 

Forest Garden Tour 7pm Sept 12, 2012

Martin Crawford, a well-known British champion of Forest Gardens. 

Photo by London Permaculture.

This free tour presented by Shantree Kacera for Transition Middlesex takes place at the Living Centre (follow link for directions). 

 Ever since I learned about Forest Gardens, the idea just made sense. Here was an approach where you look at pointers from ecology, and applied them to the growing of food forests where every aspect of the design had been considered and reconsidered.

As I learn more about permaculture, the field modern forest gardens have come out of, I've had to come to terms with their being no easy and fast way to set-up a forest garden - like any forest, we can't expect the sort of turn-around we do with typical buildings being constructed, for instance. It takes time for a forest garden to grow into what it will eventually be: a beautiful and functional landscape that provides food, fuel, and 'farmaceuticals' as well as building and textile materials for humans and animals alike, all while being highly resilient to pests and climate fluctuations, improving the water table, and absorbing CO2.

Shantree Kacera will be giving a tour of his own forest garden, likely the oldest in Canada, but based in a slightly longer tradition from England (see photo above of Martin Crawford, a guru in the field of forest gardens). Shantree will give an introduction to the idea of forest gardens, a bit about how they work, and will be ready to answer your questions.

The Living Centre, where the tour takes place, is run by Shantree and his wife Lorenna. They offer courses in Forest Gardening, permaculture, raw-food cuisine, primordial movement and many other fascinating fields.

(Note that this post previously had a typo saying the tour was on Sept 21 - it's on Sept 12 - sorry for the inconvenience.)