What System Do You Want to Eat From?

My latest article in The Chautauqua, sharing thoughts from my trip to Sweden and relating them to home.

I was fortunate enough to be on the road a lot in June - for work and for personal reasons.   One of the events I was fortunate to join was the Tallberg Forum in Sweden.   This forum started 30 years ago when a Swedish gentleman invited close peers together to explore the question "How on Earth can we all live together?"   Since they didn't find the answer that first year, they kept meeting.   It is now a forum of around 300 people, exploring new understandings coming from science, society, politics - looking at the big challenges of our time and seeking ideas that are holistic and continue to move us to living better on this Earth, together.  

This year's theme was technology and I was happy to see one morning group dedicated to Food.   After hearing thoughts from financiers, bureaucrats and even a farmer (imagine, listening to a farmer's thoughts!) I was getting a bit antsy.   There was a lot of talk about use of technology to make food production more efficient, productive, sustainable but it felt like we weren't really dealing with the big questions underlying the use of technology and our food system.  

The last speaker addressed this unease.   She spoke about the big choices in front of us and told the crowd that we need to be thinking about WHAT food system we want to be eating from and not just if it can feed us.   She pointed out that we are increasingly handing over the power to make decisions about what we eat and how it is produced to a small, select group that are usually physically very distant from our immediate reality.   This is a completely different food system than that which sustained us through the majority of human history.   While there is a question of how we can feed our entire population, we can not forget that we also must ask (and answer) WHAT we want to be eating and from what system.

Coming back to Canada, I heard about the recent video "Tough to Swallow" released by the AUPE that 'showcases' the food system that feeds seniors in long term care facilities in Alberta.   This video focusses specifically on the change in menu at 78 hospitals and nursing homes EACH with fewer than 125 beds -   in this video Stettler was one of the facilities visited.   The idea of a regular menu that rotates for 21 days and repeats isn't a bad idea itself.   However it goes back to the question of what system delivers that menu.   Centralizing purchasing, preparation and packaging the food was supposed to save money while still delivering 'good food.'   Health professionals in the video are speaking out because they believe the food is poor in quality: both palatability and also nutritional value.   And as for the saving money, that is also coming under question.   I am not going to tell you all the details of the video, you can watch it yourself at www.yourworkingpeople.com - what I want to do is have you pause and think about what food you want to be eating and how you would expect that food to be produced, processed and delivered to you.   And then to look around you and see if that food is what is there in our hospitals, care facilities, & schools.  

I am fortunate enough to have not spent anytime in hospitals nor have family in long term care, nor do I have children.   I do have friends who take food to their parents in long terms care because the food served is not supporting their well-being and know that locally their are mothers who are fighting school policies to change the kind of hot meals served to their children and so believe this video holds valid complaints because I have heard them first hand.  

It may be easy to dismiss these residents' complaints - if they have dementia and can't remember what they ate, why does it matter?   For me it does.     Life turns on a dime and it could easily be me or another loved one that is being served from a system that only sees value in food when it brings down budget expenses or makes the middle man a buck.    As well, I do believe that a society's values are measured by how it treats its most vulnerable and so I am picking up the phone to call Alberta Health Services Patient Services (1-855-550-2555) and to my MLA to voice my concerns and tell the government that I think this is an important issue.   I know this is a small step to take, but as a politician once told me: leaders need followers and if we expect change, we need to ask for it and give our leaders some thing to stand on and speak to.   If you care about the food system and what we are feeding our seniors, children, ourselves and don't want to see this issue buried among other youtube videos of cute kittens and bad singers, I hope you take the time to call as well.  

If anyone is interested in exploring how we can do more, together, in our community with regards to issues like this, I am always happy to connect.  You can reach me at brendabarritt@gmail.com or 4037472217.

Building Bridges for Islands: GFSA Blog

I wrote up a reflection for Growing Food Security in Alberta on the recent Joel Salatin presentation's that we attended in Lacombe and Coronation and it was just posted on their blog:

“We’re building bridges for islands in the prairie.”

That was the feeling in the room in Coronation as people began to arrive to hear Joel Salatin, of Polyface farms (http://www.polyfacefarms.com), speak.

For farmers who are looking to raise livestock and produce food in ways that are rooted in ecological principles, Joel is somewhat of a role model. His books like “The Sheer Ecstasy of being a Lunatic Farmer”, “Salad Bar Beef”, and “You Can Farm” have provided inspiration, motivation and laughter. His story about his farm is a positive one as he shows the growth in healthy soil that has occurred under the stewardship of his father, himself and his children. Plus the farm is supporting three generations of the family (generation number four growing up there too) and 20 individuals. This is not the common story on farms in the USA and Canada.

For my husband and I, the chance to see Joel without having to travel very far was an excellent opportunity to also have our parents and siblings get further insight into our line of thinking. We attended both the Lacombe evening presentation with all of our parents in tow. Then the next day we drove out to Coronation with his mother and sister. Events like these are not 100% about the individual giving the presentation: they are about the conversations you have with people at the event and with your partner when you get home.

(complete article here: http://www.foodsecurityalberta.org/blog/2012/04/01/building-bridges-for-islands/

Writing again

I've recently started to write for a local newspaper: The Chautauqua, a local paper that covers the communities around our part of Alberta.  It's mine own little column so I get to write from my own thoughts, experiences and adventures...  the focus on local food: growing, eating and points in between.  Below is the first article I submitted, as a way of introducing myself as I am quite new to the area:

Adventures in Local Fo-o-od

I grew up on a farm north of Coronation, but as the youngest of 8 children – I got away with doing the least amount of farm work as possible and as soon as I could, I set out to explore other pastures. After 10 years of working abroad, living the typical urban life – I was greeted with scepticism and surprise when I told family and friends that I planned to move back to rural Alberta.

The 'plan' is working out better than I could have imagined: in October 2011 I married Vance Barritt and we are now residing on his mom's farm, east of Alix. We are the proud owners of a small herd of cows, a clutch of laying hens, and a brace of ducks; with broiler chickens, a milk cow, and perhaps some geese to join them in the spring. Pigs and goats seem to crop up in conversation but... I will leave those conversations for now - they just might be content for an interesting column in the future.

I am not a gourmet chef nor am I a master gardener. However I love food – my husband says that when I say 'food' – I add an extra 'o' to draw it out for emphasis. F-o-o-o-d. I enjoy watching my garden flourish, preparing nourishing food for family and friends, and (with my husband) am an aspiring food producer – wanting to share our livestock with our family, friends and wider community. I also enjoy writing when I get to reflect, tell stories and share what I have learned – so I am putting those two (foood and writing) together for this column. So in the months ahead I will share stories and insights from my own experience of growing, harvesting, and enjoying the abundance of great food that we can (and do!) produce here in Alberta.

I look forward to getting to know more of you in the community, as I am a relative newcomer around here and I appreciate you giving me this space to share. Feel free to send in comments and thoughts, feedback is always welcome.

Equity vs. Equality; differences & discoveries

Some of you might know that I have been working on a project with Growing Food Security in Alberta - exploring what it would mean to have a sustainable, equitable, local, regenerative system for food.  This first phase has been about doing a lot of action-inquiry based research: talking to people around all parts of the food system and understanding their thoughts, experiences and ideas.

I recently wrote this blog post for the GFSA blog - reflecting on what we have learned about the E - equity:

Equity vs. Equality; differences & discoveries – SELRS Update

A Feast fit to be Shared

On a rainy weekend in mid-June of this year, my fiance (now husband) and I took off for a few days and nights of planning.  Thanks to the rain and a big tent - we were cozy inside, working on our holistic goals for our life together as well as doing some more immediate scheduling for the rest of the year.  

One of the goals we wrote is:

"We are eating and sharing nourishing food with family and friends."  

We'd already put in a large-ish garden and knew we were going to be raising 200 pastured chickens but we, honestly, didn't have in mind just how we would get to share this food with our loved ones.

At the same time - we were planning our wedding for the Thanksgiving weekend (October 8th) and had met with a caterer who was willing to let us source the foods from our own garden and pastures or from our farmer friends.  Our intent was to have a lovely harvest-style meal: perfect for a Thanksgiving/fall wedding.

These two streams of intent merged over the summer and by the time the wedding day came, we were serving our own beef, chicken, potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabagas and pickles!  Some of the desserts were made with our own fruits and the wedding pie that we cut (in lieu of a wedding cake) came from strawberries and rhubarb that we grew as well.  I also made up small jars of jams, jellies and other preserves for people to take home with them.

The head table had to be set on the stage of the hall, which was a bit nerve-racking for us: everyone could see us so clearly!  It felt like we were setting up ourselves to be king and queen of the night, which wasn't really what we wanted.  But it was a great spot because we could watch the crowd line up at the buffet and could see people coming back for seconds and thirds!  I didn't expect the food to be a big part of the wedding - even though I wanted it to be food I was proud of and felt good about serving.  Honestly - I don't remember the food from other weddings I went to!  So it felt great to see people enjoying and commenting and to still be getting notes from friends (3weeks later) about how they enjoyed the meal.  

There was a great sense of satisfaction in sharing our produce with our loved ones and felt we were living out this goal that we'd set only a few months ago.  It gives me confidence in the direction we are going and means that every time I dig out more carrots or defrost one of our chickens, I am reminded of this special day.  

We are humble in our ambitions to be farmers and food producers - but knowing that we started out our marriage and partnership by sharing our own food with our loved ones, I feel like those ambitions just might be possible and might be already realised, in some small way.

Stirred, not shaken

I'm all stirred up tonight.
By the conversations and reflections I've been having through my work - off the farm and on.
The reality I want so clear, so visible, sometimes almost tangible - yet it (more often than not) feels like dreamcastles built in the sky....
dreams many of us see and want but aren't sure how to get to, now
Yet we're all trying, sometimes together, and talking and doing what we can to live it... live our way into it.
And that makes it worthwhile and possible.

I find myself in one of those rare moments where no hope or fear exists.  I don't hope or put faith in succeeding... but I'm not afraid of what happens, then, if we 'fail' - - - It's like there is no succeed or fail.  There just is....  a doing, trying, being, moving forward and creating the path as we walk - - and then we'll see and touch what we create.

Reflection point: SELRS

Monday evening (8 August) we had our inaugural gathering of the SELRS (Sustainable Equitable Local Regional System for Food) gathering in Lacombe.   I am working with Rene Michalak as Community Activators for this project.  It's an excellent role and exciting opportunity to bring my previous work experience and current life path together.  

Below is a personal reflection of our first gathering, it is not meant to speak for anyone else's experience or opinions of the evening.

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I left Lacombe feeling so full, I was empty.  Enriched by the diversity of experience, passion, knowledge in the room - I could leave with a sense that we've the right people around us and I (with Rene) as one of the activators and facilitators will have the role of supporting momentum and not trying to create it (a much  more pleasurable job).  

I also left with some key words settling into my brain.  Alternatives; Choice; Collaboration; Infrastructure; Direction.

Thinking about what impact I see SELRS (as a project having) - it is alternatives and choice.  Alternatives for producers and eaters and those in between - that they have options about where they sell and access their food: alternatives that suit their needs, scale and health.  Which is tied to choice.  And I don't mean a choice in brands where the same stuff is on the inside of the box.  I mean information of the alternatives and options and freedom to choose between them, to take control and decision-making back into our own hands; to remove the dependency on single system food options that make people feel powerless over their food choices and business opportunities.

So - what do we need to create SELRS?

Listening to the group and reflecting on other experiences I've had - collaboration and infrastructure were the headlines I started to see.

Collaboration between producers; between producers and eaters; between eaters; and across all links of the food system.  We need to start with building relationships but we will need to move beyond knowing each other and passing along information or product.  We will need to no longer look at each other as competitors or as a pay check or as a supplier of goods - we will need to start to understand each other better; to acknowledge we have common goals and purpose and by working together, we can be stronger, more creative, more adaptable, more.

What is sorely lacking is the infrastructure to support the collaboration and the system that is built through it.  A healthy system flows and grows and changes through the exchange and responses between parts in the system.  Infrastructure will be needed to facilitate this.  

Another headline or pattern that I can't ignore is direction and red tape reduction from the government.  There is a sense that much of what we'll want to do will be made difficult by the walls of existing policies and regulations or the gaping holes of lack of support for them.  I am not sure, at this time, that this is something we can take direct action on or need to aim at directly.  My sense is that right now we need to focus on what we want to create and be aware of where the walls and holes are surrounding these and then deal with them as they arise.  Rather than trying to remove them or fill them before we have something concrete to offer up.  But that's just my sense right now and I know I am going to learn more about this from our group.

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I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this project because I saw it as the perfect opportunity to be part of building and strengthening a food system that I (literally and metaphorically) want to feed.  I am encouraged, inspired, enlightened, and lightened by the people and conversations that have come around us so far, and so early on.  I know if we keep asking ourselves "What's our next, best step?" and keep walking and learning and actions together - what emerges is going to be relevant, powerful, and necessary.

Substantiate, Re-Iterate, Effectuate

Substantiate, Re-Iterate, Effectuate

Ken Eshpeter, June 2004

I sat down to contemplate

Just how I might articulate

A growing need to enunciate

My concern for our community.

Our system tries to obliterate

Our original sense to co-operate

We no longer seem to appreciate

Our instinct to live together.

The forces work to authenticate

Expanding trends to dissociate

There's an invisible sword to amputate

Us all from one another.

Consumption fails to satiate

Our internal urge to accumulate

Big business likes to manipulate

Our sense of needs and wants.

Religion prays to perpetuate

The myth that individuals communicate

Perhaps they should re-evaluate

Their relationship with God.

Government wants to abdicate

Its role to help adjudicate

I sense it would 'incorporate'

All things that one could need.

Let's hope we don't exonerate

Instead let's hope we educate

Or surely we'll exacerbate

Our chance to make things right.

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Ken was one of our speakers in the ReLearning Community Series that I helped put on this winter in the Town of Viking.  He is a local farmer  - come community arts leader - come train conductor.  He recently sent me an email putting forth these simple questions:


 "I have a question for you. If someone  robbed you on the street you would know immediately that you had been wronged and you would try to seek restitution. Why is it that in the rural area we allow, even encourage, big soulless box stores to come into a community knowing that there sole intent is to steal away retail businesses and therefore jobs and livelihoods from legitimate small business owners who contribute to the community in many ways. Why is this type of theft tolerated? Should we not be launching class action suits as a rural area affected to such an extent? When is theft, theft?"