Nourishing our communities
May 7, 2020.
Hosts: Jason Doiron and Duncan Ebata. Guests: Rébeka Frazer-Chiasson, Sally Bernard
Why it matters
As the pandemic exposes inequities and vulnerabilities in our local and global systems, food is on the collective mind. We have a unique opportunity to use this moment to strengthen the food stories we want more of in our communities. Food has the potential to be at the centre of how we gather and how we share our love. Food is essential to how we nourish our bodies and also our communities and families.
Stories
Duncan and Jason invited two food producers to talk about their relationship to the land they cultivate and the communities they feed with more than food.
Rébeka Frazer-Chiasson, co-owner and founding member of the Ferme Terre Partagée Cooperative in Nouveau-Brunswick, is passionate about food sovereignty and knowledge sharing. She is also president of the National Farmers Union in NB. Rébeka spoke about the connections between land, family, community and food. In 1886 her ancestors arrived from Cape Breton to farm the land that her family now lives and works on. She said this continuity made it easy for her to sense the triumphs and challenges they faced and to grow her own family circle and their wider farm community.
Sally Bernard and her husband Mark transitioned his family’s potato farm in PEI to organic grain production and what is now Barnyard Organics. They are raising four children on the farm while growing and milling organic grain and raising organic meat chickens and laying hens. Sally described how the pandemic has led to a sudden spike in interest in backyard chickens (which they rent!) and growing food. She is hopeful that this will lead to greater understanding of the importance of small-scale farming, which is more agile, sustainable and robust than centralized supply chains.
At the end of our session, Coco Love Alcorn, a much-loved presence on the Canadian music scene, improvised with phrases in the chat-box “harvest.”
Below are some of themes from the harvest. See the full transcript.
What struck us
Delight and surprise
It’s not just what we eat, but what our food eats.
I love food. I enjoy it more everyday.
Rental chickens! Love it!
Appreciating small-scale farmers
Small-scale farms for agility and deliciousness!
A deep appreciation for the commitment, intelligence, and hard work of local farmers.
Food connects and heals
Food is a universal language.
Nourished by these stories.
Ancestral food and farming practices support personal and collective healing.
Food connects generations, friends, family, stories, memories.
Connection itself is nourishing
It’s time for real change
We need more hunger for change!
This is the moment. Let’s speak our dreams for food wholeness and act on change.
Deep local roots enable present and future fruits.
We are at the start of a permanent shift in how we relate to our food supply, triggered by increased necessity and the realization that the existing consolidated supply chain model is too fragile, currently broken, and does not meet our needs.
What we’re called to do
Increase local food production
Continue my foraging and gathering, learn more about growing what I eat.
Grow food and further inspire future food growers.
Ensure that more young people can go into farming.
Grow our local food capacity.
Support the protection of farmland, the ability to pass it on to younger farmers, and the ability of farmers to share knowledge and best practices.
Create small organic farm incubators.
Educate ourselves and our communities
Raise awareness that good food costs money and labour.
Learn more about our ancestral origins and food practices.
Strengthen stories of local interconnections.
Build a movement, starting now
Form grassroot connections, support farmers with physical labour and purchasing, write government officials with priorities, work locally.
Join with others to rebuild a broken system.
Create a food-related web of connectivity and learning.
Harvest learnings from this challenging moment and model ambitious, positive, inclusive change.
Convene conversations so this opportunity for change doesn’t get lost.
We have the opportunity to be part of a very important movement and the time is now.