Nov 14 2018
Elaine and Archie
Posts by Elaine and Archie :
Jun 20 2016
New Farmers Symposium Held at Dieppe Market
We spent time at a conference for New Farmers in April at the Dieppe Farmers Market. While we would love to report on what all happened there because we were impressed with everyone there, we have a couple of reservations, mostly because we were not officially invited as journalists and second, because we are not new farmers.
As community journalists we want to establish a foundation of trust with anyone we work with. Showing up uninvited, taking pictures and notes and then publishing stuff doesn’t work for us.
So here are a couple of what we hope are flattering photos and the promise that we want to do more work with this group. They definitely fit into the parameters of our food beat. We most likely will track down the people we talked to and photograph and interview the hell out of them because so many seemed like great resources of knowledge and experience that many others would benefit from.
And they put on a great potluck lunch.
A Gallery from the New Farmers Symposium
Jun 18 2016
We Think Janet Hamilton is a Big Deal
There are a lot of people doing a lot of good work in the food movement in the Greater Moncton Area. Why do we have a big picture of Janet Hamilton for the first issue or our Food Movement Beat? It’s because she is all about teaching that most basic and powerful skill of cooking, a skill that if learned, it could go a long way to fixing a dozen or more of the world’s problems. Anyone familiar with the shortcomings of our food system knows this is not exaggeration.
We became students of the food movement after our Community Food Mentor programs with Alya Nouasri and Janet, Elaine in June and Archie in January. Once we started to talk about the issues and the food system and all its effects on health, culture, behaviour, the economy and on and on, we started to realize how food really is something people can organize around in myriad ways and make a difference.
The paralyzing question is: Where to start? Food is an astonishingly big topic. But after nearly a year of meeting many of the people who make up the movement — because Moncton Beats is about people who make up the heart of the community — we keep coming back to that one powerful activity that makes everyone — including children — experts on the food system and that’s cooking.
Once you start cooking, then you start appreciating food and then you start looking for good food, maybe buying from farmers markets, talking to farmers, maybe growing your own vegetables or keeping a couple of chickens, and then wondering how in the world all that food got into the grocery stores from who knows where and what’s the true cost of it being so cheap, and on and on.
Whether it’s a one-pot meal for single people living on low income, or a baked potato for children who don’t know where potatoes come from, many start the journey with Janet in her teaching kitchen.
There are other teaching kitchens, other people teaching cooking, but whenever there is a meeting about food in the Greater Moncton Area, be it about policy or pickles, you’ll probably find Janet there putting in her two cents, and taking home the peelings to make soup stock.
Jun 6 2016
Planting seeds — The Simplest, Most Powerful Thing a Child Can Learn
“If they plant it, they’ll be more eager to eat it,” says L’Ecole Abbey-Landry teacher François LeBlanc of his students. “At basis we need to eat better.” If there is one reason why teacher François LeBlanc got involved in establishing a greenhouse project for the school in Memramcook it’s that.
But it turns out to be more than that. “I’m more just trying to find different ways to teach. I like to tinker with things and I know kids do, too.” If this sounds like a teacher who likes to do things with his students, you’re probably right. And if you think he’s getting as much as the kids out of the program you’d be right about that, too. We talked to both François and Véronic Cormier, the coordinator of the program, and throughout it was obvious they were on the journey, too. The greenhouse, now that it’s up and running, has got their imaginations fired up with all the possibilities for education and for the community.
The possibilities
In the hour or so we talked they spoke of the possibility of feeding the school and feeding perhaps the nearby seniors complex, as well as having a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. They hope to find their place in the agricultural scene of the area. “One of the challenges is to find our niche,” says François, “maybe herbs or microgreens. No one here is doing microgreens.” They talked about having one crop they specialize in to pay the bills, as well as doing experiments with “weird” vegetables.
While not an expert, François is an avid gardener. “I’m self-taught. I do it on the weekend and at night, that’s when I do it. I try to stop that and get my school stuff done.” Véronic is also self-taught but is also studying nutrition at a school in Moncton.
The educational value of the greenhouse cannot be underestimated but there are challenges there, too. “It’s tough because you do have to follow a curriculum and we’re working closely with another school,” he says. “But I think the school vision with the principal we have now (Pierre Roy) is to have project-based learning and real-life things. He loves the whole entrepreneurship thing, getting kids involved.”
The business of greenhouses
The greenhouse is industrial sized at 33’ x 75’ and has room for whole classes to come in. It was donated by the local golf club who didn’t need it anymore. It was erected by a contractor.
The first day we were there seeds had just been planted but on the second visit the place seemed filled with bedding plants and apparently they had already had at least one sale.
On the day we visited there were seniors from nearby Le Manoir du Mascaret were stocking up on bedding plants.
The children we met that day were Grade 6 students Janelle Bourque and Danika LeBlanc and they had the manner of experienced sales staff. When asked what about the project had impressed them most it was, “M. François trusts us with the money.”
Both girls gardened at home, Janelle for a few years, but this was Danika’s first. She said it was easy now that she had already done it. And she says she loves it. She’s not the only one. “A couple of parents sent letters to the principal,” says François, “and said what we’re doing is helping their kids. Before they didn’t want to go to school. Now they’re loving the whole thing.”
One of the seniors there, Juliette Landry, was a retired Abbey-Landry teacher who said, “Every school should have a greenhouse.” Véronic thinks even bigger than that. “I would love to have another greenhouse and have one for full production and one for education.”
A community greenhouse
But the greenhouse is not just for the school. François and Véronic continually point out the benefits for the community as a place to gather and do gardening and for improving the health of people in the area.
Robert Bourgeois, owner of Belliveau Orchard, also sees the value of the project for the community. He is one of the business people and farmers consulted about how to make the greenhouse succeed. While he doesn’t think it could succeed as a full-blown, profit making business, he does believe in the project and its value to the school, its students and the community. “For the kids to have a hands-on experience to know where their food is coming from is worth something,” he says.
He also says they might think about forming a co-op “so people like me could could invest in it a bit, say, a thousand dollars a year” and with government incentives they could interest others. “It would help the community.”
François says there is still so much work to be done and so much that could be done. “We’re looking to do something for the community. It would be nice for people to jump on and give a hand.”
Jun 6 2016
This is Aaron Shantz — Our Food SENB’s Coordinator
When I first met him at the on Elmwood Drive in Moncton, Aaron Shantz couldn’t shake hands because he had this massive gash from some accident with metal at his house. It looked painful and he made it sound like he had been incredibly stupid and clumsy.
The other thing I remember about that first interview is that he said his wife was probably better connected to food security skills than he was because he was just a forestry guy, his original career being in GIS for big corporations – the ‘devil’, as he calls them – helping them to cut corners around environmental policy. “It made me sick.”
Homesteaders
But this is who Aaron is now. He and Shelley bought an abandoned farm and they’ve turned it into a homestead. In the photos you can see why Our Food SENB might think him suited to the job of coordinating food actions.
Aaron and Shelley have committed to the idea of a way of life they believe more people must turn to if we’re to survive on this planet. “I’m an idealist,” he says and the ideal is, “can someone start from scratch with no financial help from anyone else and actually provide for themselves and live with a low environmental footprint?”
The original plan was for Aaron to work some minimum wage job while Shelley grew their food. Aaron got jobs like welding plastic tanks for fire trucks, picking corn, and milking goats. “We were going to live agricultural bliss,” Aaron said, but “surviving in Kent County has been a real journey.” And then kids started happening. “We never factored having a kid.” Or two.
“I know a lot of people have the ideal (of food security and a light environmental footprint) but it seems like a really hard thing and that all the things that are needed don’t exist yet and that our generation has to learn those things. Maybe in a couple of generations we’ll have it figured out.” Aaron Shantz, Coordinator of Our Food Southeast New Brunswick.
A Gallery of Aaron Shantz and his Family
Jun 6 2016
This is Natalie Goguen
Natalie, her husband, and two young children live in a tucked away corner of the city that seems like country. Surrounded by grassy fields and wetlands, the redwings, warblers, geese and pheasants are calling all around, yet you can hear the bells of the cathedral close at hand.
Her front yard is dominated by that huge, and intriguing concrete structure that look like a Druidic circle but, she tells us, it is the Coliseum, the remnant of what once was the biggest indoor skating rink in eastern Canada. Anyone who knows Natalie agrees that this is exactly the kind of place Natalie would find.
The other circle in Natalie’s world is a close-knit but loosely organized group of friends involved in issues and projects. “I’m not into that many organizations. It’s just a group of people and we just kind of gather and talk. Like a few of us are working on a permaculture garden in the downtown Moncton. We’re all trying to learn as much as we can and we’re all trying to spread the word as much as we can.”
While Natalie is a gardener with a local landscaping company and has studied art at NSCAD, she describes herself first as an activist, something she’s been doing most of her adult life. She has supported causes like striking bus drivers, participated in “occupy Moncton,” and opposed water fluoridation and fracking. “I always have social issues in my brain.” In April we ran into her at a New Farmers event put on by the National Farmers’ Union and were not surprised to find her there.
Garden Cities Project
A formal organization she is involved in is the Garden Cities Project. Natalie is the coordinator. She organizes box rentals at their initial Garden Hill location as well as the new Community Food Centre on St. George Street.
She also organizes workshops. Elizabeth Gorman, one of the founding members of the group, says Natalie is adept at it because of her creativity and the circle of friends with unique talents she can draw on.
Sour dough saga
In their personal lives Natalie’s friends focus on healthy living and making things from scratch. They keep each other going. Natalie tells us a story about sourdough starter. Sourdough starter is wild yeast fermented in bread dough that can be divided and shared — kind of a metaphor for how they share things and ferment ideas.
Natalie’s starter died after her daughter Ariane was born. She was just too busy to make bread. But bread making has started again thanks to the gift of starter from a friend that has been kept going for 18 years. “For the last six months we’ve been making bread every week at least once a week … and I’ve been giving away more sourdough and now we post pictures of our bread on Facebook.”
Women’s issues
A lot of these activist friends are women and attend a yearly gathering of feminists at Caissie Cape where they celebrate, create, discuss and brainstorm. “I’m excited to be leading a discussion at a women’s summit this year. We’re going to talk about the whole Jian Ghomeshi thing face to face.”
Dedicated mom
For the past four years, Natalie has wholeheartedly dedicated herself to motherhood and it shows. Her children are trusting, curious, cuddly and talkative even if we don’t understand everything they are telling us in French.
Their outdoor environment, where they spend time every day, rain or shine, is magical with a meandering Zen path, a fire pit and an aromatic pine tree where her son Jaco hides underneath from ghosts. Are there skater-wraiths from days past that haunt the Coliseum?
The youngest, Ariane, was sporting a goatee of orange washable marker the day we were there, the result of exploratory artistry. There are toys strewn everywhere both inside the house and out.
Back in the dirt
But this is the year for getting her hands in the dirt. Natalie goes back to work full-time as a gardener and will also start to expand her own gardens at home in earnest. Last year she worked a community plot at the U de M, but this year she wants to garden where she lives. She has several new vegetable beds and plans to grow food well into December in the hot houses that she built with her dad. “I gardened with my Dad for a long time when I was a kid.”
She got back to gardening when she returned from NSCAD. “When I came back to Moncton, I started really small. I was living in an apartment with some people and there was this little garden two feet by six feet and just started there. The soil was awful but it got me started.” When we met in April she was saying, “If it were up to me this would be planted already but none of the soil companies are open yet. I want soil, I’m excited. I want to garden now.”
Respect for the natural way of things
Inventive and respectful of nature, she points to a patch of Colt’s Foot next to the house where she has struggled to establish a garden. She has concluded that these wild flowers shouldn’t be eradicated (they do have some medicinal benefit) and that she will, instead, work with the persistent plants by sinking coffee bean bags full of soil into the patch and grow her vegetables that way.
She also has a healthy garlic patch and an area of earth reserved for a bee garden.
Growing her own food is half of the equation — the other half, food security for everyone, is always on her mind. “People don’t realize that we’re going in a scary direction. They’re blaming themselves because they’re struggling to eat.” She sees this at close hand with her peers — her own generation. “This is wrong that people can’t afford to both eat and pay rent.”
Natalie is a doer — comfortable and confident speaking her mind. Her motto: “Learn as much as we can and spread the word.”
A Gallery of Natalie Gogoen
Jun 6 2016
Laura Degrace — The Mad Scientist of Workshops
This is Laura DeGrace. Don’t mention a community project idea around Laura unless you’re better than half serious about following through because the next day your inbox will have urgent messages about funding possibilities and probably a list of potential recruits and clients.
Her logic is simple: If the idea resonated enough to tell someone then why wouldn’t you get out there and try to make it happen? Hers is a mindset of making possibilities into realities.
Green Eye Coop
Many of her projects — and there are a lot of them — are about food: cooking it, growing it, supplying it, teaching about it, protecting it. Her flagship is Green Eye Coop, which she says gives some coherence to all the stuff she’s organizing. Creating the co-operative also moved her from mostly volunteer work towards a living income for doing the things she was doing anyway.
Love for Organizing
We take for granted that someone who spends most of their time organizing courses and workshops about food and food security is someone who is obsessed about food and food security. Laura told us that she’s really about organizing. An idea pops into her head, she wants to make it happen. An idea pops into someone else’s head, she’ll get in on organize that too.
And as if she didn’t have enough ideas for workshops, she recently traveled to California with a couple of friends, Janet Hamilton and Jen Hudson, to take a week-long master food and preserving course. So, you can be expecting a swarm of preserving workshops in the near future.
A Gallery of Laura Degrace Activities
Jun 6 2016
The Farmers Truck — Season 2
Last spring when we heard the rumours of a farmers market on wheels we thought, It’s about time. And obviously so did a lot of other people because The Farmers Truck’s Facebook Page had 4,000 likes before the summer was even out. So popular and timely was the mobile market that people were volunteering to work on it – not a problem most businesses have.
Season 2 promises to be even better with a second, improved truck, an online store complete with home delivery, more products and even, potentially, a performing carrot.
Frederic Laforge and Mathieu Reyjal are the entrepreneurs behind this local business and what we like about them is the solid farming roots they have. Frederic’s father has been a farmer most of his life and Mathieu became a farmer out of university. The idea for The Farmers Truck came out of a professional connection when Frederic was helping Mathieu develop his farm’s logo and brand.
Frederic says the idea came when he was admiring the little country store Mathieu had made at his farm. “But,” he told Mathieu, “it really sucks that I would have to drive out to Cap Pelé. It’d be awesome if it could be mobile.” The discussion started from there.
It took a year of researching, designing, branding, planning and a $25,000 investment to roll out the first truck. Last summer they worked the truck themselves for a month and then hired a crew.
The goal of the truck is an authentic farmers market experience. “To have a little bit of everything,” says Frederic, “so when you get there you can actually get your milk, your cheese, your meat, your vegetables and bread and you go home and have a nice meal. You wouldn’t have to go anywhere else.”
Respect for local farmer
Respect for local farmers is at the heart of their business model. “Back in the day when you were a farmer you were a pillar of the community and now it’s almost like you get looked down on,” Frederic says. “And the retailer is the one who owns the market, dictates what they want to pay for stuff. The one they’re squeezing out is the farmer.”
By contrast, The Farmers Truck sources those farmers as directly as possible and their sources are never more than 160 km (as the crow flies).
Timing is right
The timing of The Farmers Truck business is right not only for consumers, but for local farmers, too. “There have been a lot of changes in food in the Maritimes,” Mathieu says as we’re driving back to their warehouse for more produce for the next rush. It’s the first day of the new season.
For example, Sobeys bought Co-op, he says, and all the contracts for medium-sized farmers got washed away. “All of a sudden all those medium-sized farms are competing with small farmers.”
Back at the warehouse I get the tour. The warehouse is huge and he shows me where their portion is, but there are no walls separating the other spaces. Everything is just getting started at this new location just a couple of minutes from where the truck was on St. George and Cameron. There is a walk-in cooler with a couple of shelving units and there is a space back in the main area where he has a foldout table for a desk.
This is Mathieu’s domain. “Fred is the marketing expert and I’m in charge of logistics,” he says. Mathieu is the one who connects with farmers, a job he obviously relishes, being a farmer himself. However, he has taken the year off farming to put himself completely into The Farmers Truck business.
While he is getting supplies to restock the truck he explains how none of the food will be wasted. If there is anything that doesn’t get bought and won’t keep, the staff can take it or it will go to the new Community Food Centre in Moncton.
New generation of entrepreneurs
These two guys are the new generation of entrepreneurs. They are in it for the money, for sure, and they use all the technology and social media they can; but they believe they must also be doing good for their community. Frederic says they intend to be a B Corporation business whose members are socially responsible. But again, they are a business first.
He says there have been many mobile markets, but most are charities that target food deserts, that is, areas that don’t have access to good grocery stores. While he applauds the idea, he believes that for the business to be sustainable, it must be run as a business.
Franchise opportunities
However, Frederic says, “We don’t want to be in the operating of the truck. Our goal is to franchise.” “We are a retail solution company,” Mathieu says. “The idea is that we are making a product which is a truck and we will make a brand.” Their big goal is that you will be able to buy from a Farmers Truck anywhere across North America.
The core of that franchise, though, will be local sourcing, that is, no industrial food hubs. “Our mission is buy local, sell local. It’s nonnegotiable and we’ll enforce that on our franchisees,” Frederic says. “
Frederic says, “The long term plan is to, say, have a little co-op of farmers, five or six farmers, and all together they have one truck that they supply and basically they make one-hundred percent of the profit.”
But, he says, “Some of the franchisees won’t be farmers. Maybe they will be young kids who believe in the idea. You can make a decent living having one of these trucks, and encourage your local economy.”
And in the off season, there will be an online store with home delivery to keep franchise owners going when it’s too cold to wait at a truck on the corner.
For now, though, there is only the Moncton operation and they’re still using the first truck they started as a bootstrap operation. But on July 1 the new improved truck should be ready and it will have, among other things, the ability to sell meat.
Tracking them down
Proof of their natural popularity is they barely have to advertise. Most of their marketing is done through their Facebook page where you can track down their location on any given day.
They believe people love that farmers market experience, of buying local and getting good food, and that they will make it part of their grocery buying routine if the The Farmers Truck route is consistent.
A Gallery of Food Truck Photos
Nov 14 2018
Garden Art Lesson Plan 2 where we paint flower pots
By Elaine and Archie • art, children, food movement, food security, garden art lessons