Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance offers this monthly e-newsletter featuring the foundational pillars of the
Headwaters Food Charter
. The Charter was developed in partnership with WDG Public Health and has been widely endorsed. This series aims to keep you informed about issues and events relating to the Charter's 6 Pillars, 15 Goals and 27 Actions prioritized by our communities to enhance our food system.
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Culture and Celebration
We value food as a celebration of our agricultural heritage, cultural diversity
and community connections
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Bringing people together over food
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CHARTER CHECK
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Culture and Celebration
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GOAL:
Local food contributes to a stronger sense of community.
ACTION:
Encourage events that increase knowledge and build skills about agricultural heritage and local foods.
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So many celebrations centre around food. From summer barbeques to Thanksgiving, market snacks and fair food trucks to harvest potlucks, good food brings us together and reminds us to be grateful for the places from whence it comes and the people with whom we share it.
This month we share with you an exhausting - yet not even exhaustive! - list of food happenings, both recent and upcoming.
Feast your eyes and mark your calendars:
Farm to Table
This month we wrapped up our third round of efforts to bring people together with local food and farming folk through community dinners. The first was a Pop-Up Dinner at Fiddle Foot Farm in Mulmur in June of 2018, led by Hub member Nicole Hambleton. The popularity of that dinner inspired the Willing Hearts Winter Harvest Dinner Series at four local restaurants over the winter of 2018/2019, led by Bob Megens. We recently concluded this summer's Farm to Table Dinner Series on three local farms, led by Marci Lipman. The dinners allow us to engage the community and our team members, connect people to the work of HFFA and offer immersive experiences that demonstrate the diversity of the local food system and our hard-working and talented food producers in Headwaters.
These unique dining experiences also, importantly, act as a fundraiser for our Farm to School programs. It is incredibly rewarding to see tickets sell out and additional donations made to the program. We have found benefactors and started some promising relationships through these events. We celebrate the success of these dinners and send a huge thank you to all of our sponsors, organizers, guests, hosts, food producers and caterers. We look forward to seeing you at the table again soon!
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Making life better...together
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Speaking of bringing people together, no one does that better than our backbone organization
Headwaters Communities in Action. Their Annual General Meeting is always a heartwarming digest of some wonderful community-building projects and individuals, and it always delivers something a little different.
Please join us at the HCIA AGM
Tuesday, October 8th, 2019
4:00-5:30PM
Lord Dufferin Centre, Orangeville
Attendees will have the opportunity to pack a HFFA Local Food Club bag with harvest food and a seasonal recipe. You can support Farm to School and take your bag home for $25.
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Celebrating our Agricultural Heritage
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Autumn in Headwaters means harvest time. The harvest season is an opportunity for communities to celebrate our agricultural heritage and local food and farming innovations. Check out these events and special days that put the “culture” in Agriculture!
(Want to volunteer at the HFFA table on the farm tour? Email
info@hffa.ca.)
Many communities in our region celebrate the harvest season with Fall Fairs. The fair season is ending now, but bookmark their sites for inspiration, exhibitors, winners and upcoming events:
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October is Farm to School Month!
2019 theme:
Healthy People, Healthy Planet
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CHARTER
CHECK
✅
Culture and Celebration
Environmental Responsibility
Health and Well-being
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This year, Farm to School Month aims to engage and empower children and youth to learn about actions they can take to promote the health of both people and planet.
Are you a teacher or parent with a passion for food? Follow
F2CC throughout October as they shine a spotlight on Farm to School and share resources and tips for incorporating healthy and environmentally sustainable practices into school and campus food activities. Bring a little farm to your school.
#NourishKidsNow
In our area, dealing mostly with elementary schools, the HFFA F2S efforts focus more on food and farming education and access to local foods than school food procurement.
Join
Local Food Club at a participating school near you. Three seasonal packs are being offered this school year in Fall, Winter and Spring. Order by October 13th for our Fall delivery on October 30th.
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Plan to Save: Reduce Food Waste
Our friends over at Dufferin Waste and WDG Public Health have officially launched the Dufferin Food Waste Campaign – “Plan to Save” in Dufferin. Take a good hard look at how much food is wasted in your household. Knowing is half the battle. Find out more about this challenge on
Join In Dufferin.
The campaign challenge officially began on September 23. Weekly challenges are issued for households in Dufferin.
Food for Thought - Dufferin County
If you have a food business operating in Dufferin, book an in-person interview or complete this
Food for Thought survey being conducted by Dufferin County.
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Ontario Trillium Foundation Grow Grant Workshops
If you have an idea for a Grow project and want to learn how to submit a strong grant application, join the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) for a series of Grow Investment Stream in-person workshops, webinars and telephone coaching clinics. Applications are due November 27th.
These sessions will provide concrete information on what makes a competitive Grow project as well as the common decline reasons. If you are planning to submit a Grow application and have some questions, please join OTF in:
Cambridge - October 2nd Orangeville - October 9th Fergus - October 10th
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100 Debates for the Environment
With agriculture as a major player in the climate change discussion - as part of the problem and the solutions, effecting or affected by it - let's make sure to keep food on the table during the upcoming Canadian federal election by submitting questions and attending the
100 Debates for the Environment event on October 3rd, 7-9pm at Westminister United Church on Broadway in Orangeville.
Food for the Federation
On the national level, Food Secure Canada (FSC) has launched the 2019 edition of Eat Think Vote – a non-partisan, national campaign bringing together communities across Canada to speak with their federal candidates about food security and other important food issues. Visit
eatthinkvote.ca for more information and to participate.
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Striking for Climate
In a related movement, check out the
Global Climate Strike happening this week, including locally organized events. Find registered events near you, or host your own!
Visit
Climate Strike Canada for more local happenings, like the march in
Orangeville today, Sept. 26th, starting at 1pm at David Tilson's office at 229 Broadway.
World Food Day
The Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN continues to spread awareness of the importance of food security and healthy eating. Their message is based on the second Sustainable Development Goal of the UN. #WorldFoodDay aims to address zero hunger through healthy and nutritious eating for everyone everywhere.
The People's Ecochallenge
From October 2 - October 23, create more environmental + social good alongside your peers and thousands of global changemakers. Connect the dots between your values and the impact of your actions.
The People's Ecochallenge (this year's version of the Drawdown EcoChallenge) harmonizes individual and collective action, camaraderie, and friendly competition to create significant collective impact. Over 100 actions within nine Challenge categories await you, include food related challenges.
Register today!
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Know your HFFA Hub members
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This month's newsletter was crafted by Adelle Barr-Klouman, Farm to School Program Coordinator for HFFA, and Jennifer Payne, Acting Chair and Communications Coordinator for HFFA. They live and eat with their families in Mono.
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Was this forwarded to you? Be the first to get the news by joining our mailing list.
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The next meeting of the HFFA Hub is:
Friday October 4th, 2019
9:30 to noon
WDG Public Health
180 Broadway, Orangeville
Everyone is welcome. Email
info@hffa.ca if you plan to attend,
or if you would like time on the agenda.
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The Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance (HFFA) envisions a food system that is productive, sustainable, transparent, and fair; supports the health and well-being of our residents and food providers; and contributes to the prosperous and equitable economy.
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Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance (HFFA) is a project of
Headwaters Communities In Action
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