Symphony of the Soil

Canada’s National Organic Week is the largest annual celebration of organic food, farming and products across the country. We are teaming up with the Canadian Organic Growers to celebrate this week by showing the Symphony of the Soil. This is a 104-minute documentary feature film that explores the complexity and mystery of soil. Using a captivating mix of art and science, the film shows that soil is a complex living organism, the foundation of life on earth. Yet most people are soil-blind and “treat soil like dirt.” Through the knowledge and wisdom revealed in this film, we can come to respect, even revere, this miraculous substance, and appreciate that treating the soil right can help solve some of our most pressing environmental problems.

The viewing will be followed by a panel discussion with Janine Gibson, Gary Martens, Herman Grauer and Gerry Dube.

Janine Gibson is a long time organic food activist. She is an organic crop inspector, and is the current president of the Canadian Organic Growers. She has been the Provencher candidate for the Green Party in past elections.

Herman Grauer is the owner of Nature's Farm and Nature's Pasta in Steinbach. Nature's Farm is a free run, organic egg production facility. Nature's Pasta manufactures gourmet organic pasta. 

Gary Martens is Professor Plant Science at the U of M and lives near Kleefeld. He is passionate about farming in harmony with nature.

Gerry Dube is the manager of Canada's first agricultural composting co-op, Compo-Stages Manitoba Services Co-op, and lives in La Broquerie.

TIME: September 26, 2013 7:00 pm Mennonite Heritage Museum, Highway 12N.
TICKETS: $10 advance purchase at Good 'n Natural, Nature's Pasta or from Eric. $12.00 at the door
SNACKS: Local and organic popcorn and cider available for purchase.

Update: Visit to God's Acres

Last night was a wonderful night to visit God's Acres. We saw many acres of vegetables grown in a chemical free environment. We tried at least 5 varieties of radishes, some that looked like apples and tasted almost as sweet! We also tasted some chemical free strawberries that were wonderfully red and delicious. The Steinnman's are passionate about growing food in a natural way, they sell their food at three farmer's markets and hope to have a store right on their farm.

Currently God's Acres have a strawberry U-pick for their chemical free strawberries. If you are looking to pick strawberries, give them a call!

Green Drinks at the Farm

For the month of July we had a very special Green Drinks at Gary Martens' farm. The kids got airplane rides in Gary's 4 seater airplane and the adults got a tour of the fields and gardens. Gary showed us his field of hulless oats and later over coffee and rhubarb crisp (yum!) we got to try Gary's oat roller. Everyone got to go home with some freshly rolled oats to cook for breakfast. Thanks Gary for such a wonderful evening!

Bee-keeping 101 Workshop

David Dawson gave us an excellent presentation on bee-keeping. Using a toy-size hive, complete with combs and a queen excluder, he explained how a hive works and how to keep the bees healthy and productive. David gave us a cost analysis of what a home bee-keeping operation would cost and weighed the pros and cons of different hive options. Thank you David for such an in-depth analysis of home bee-keeping.

Pasturing Animals Workshop

Introduction to Raising Pastured Animals

Many thanks to Sue Dick of Ivy Hill Farm for an informative and fascinating look at how to raise healthy, natural, pastured cows, pigs, and sheep. We were treated to an evening of information and an opportunity to ask questions. Some attendees with their own experience with pasturing animals also compared notes with Sue and with each other. 

Thanks again to Sue for the great presentation and for generously sharing her knowledge!