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.

Getting into the Flow with Waterlution and the Lab 2010

I'm catching up on my blogging here - I'm almost a month 'behind' in getting this out which tells you a lot about the last month.   Rich in experience and only now taking the time to write out reflections or share the adventures.

The 18th-24th October gave me the chance to bring together the content of my Master's programme and thesis with the experience I've had in hosting and facilitation.  
The Canadian Water Innovation Lab 2010, an 'unconference' hosted by Waterlution started with about 40 of us gathering together at the Banff Centre for the Arts to build our hosting skills and to connect as the team that would then be a platform for the 180 others we would meet up with at Camp Chief Hector.  This Pre-Lab allowed to enjoy being a participant and to reconnect to the kind of process and hosting work that I had been doing 'pre-MSc.'  It was a good way to settle back into this role and to 'dust off' some of the skills that I had left a bit on the side shelf while working on my masters.  It allowed me to observe where I want to be engaged and also what I am comfortable with letting others take on.


Then there was the Lab itself.  The article below (from the East Central Alberta Review, 11 November) and the videos that can be found on the Waterlution site (I would say start with Part 5 & 6) can give you more details on it.  From a reflection point of view I am left with two key points:
- how important the process is: the process of connecting with others, exploring together and co-evolving into our new ways of being.  Many of the participants were experts in their field of water but the main challenge has been the engagement with others, the communication flow and the (lack of?) deep dialogue
- how much I have learned about food, agriculture and the Alberta context:  felt good to get feedback and response to the thoughts that have been crammed into my head and on to paper through the process of my thesis


It was an amazing experience to step into right out of the Master's - a uniting of my work (content and process)  and a connecting to so many more amazing individuals from this land (and waters :) ) 

Click to enlarge

A Harvest of Plenty

On the 9th of October I once again found myself in the presence of inspiring food revolutionaries who are doing the bold thing of growing and eating good, healthy food that nurtures those that eat it as well as the ecosystems that it is produced in.  When I made my intent clear to move home to rural Alberta I was constantly met with doubtful looks and probing questions about how I would fit in.  The rural folk are not known to be as widely travelled or as liberal in thought as I guess most of people perceive me.  I kept assuring people that I was positive I would find some others 'like me' - it might just take some time and some openness on my part.  Well - it didn't take long (see the post from my first week home. ) and they aren't as rare as some would think.  


Last Saturday, the weekend of Thanksgiving which was perfect timing to celebrate and discuss ways of making access to good, healthy food a possibility for all, roughly 20 of us met on a farm near Castor to participate in one of the many Kitchen Table Talks that are being held across Canada, as part of the People's Food Policy.  I had been in touch with Kathleen - the host of the event - and was surprised and delighted when she asked me to facilitate with Eva.  I enjoyed being a part of the process and especially in being a part of the harvest of key experiences and ideas that are relevant to Canada's food policy.


As we introduced ourselves, stories began to unfold.  Men, whom on first glance one might paint as the typical redneck farmer, broke down as they talked about the concern they have for the children of the world and the responsibility they feel for providing families with nutritious food.  The women shared the pride they felt when they could look at the table of food in front of them and say "all of this was grown on my farm."  


It was a day of shared laughter and frustrations.  These were producers and consumers who are taking possible legal risks because they believe in the private right for a consumer to purchase food from a producer they trust without the heavy regulations (that ARE necessary in an industrialised food system) getting in the way.  And we were all people who loved to eat healthy food that tastes great, which is exactly how we ended the day.

They are my heroes, my inspiration, and my kind of people.  I can only hope to be a part of the next generation of these rural, food revolutionaries.