Friends of Channel Rock Presents: Food Security Workshop

Dates: September 19 - September 26, 2010

$1245.00 includes accomodation + 3 meals a day.
If you live on Cortes Island or prefer to find your own lodging, you are
welcome to enroll and may participate in all activities of the Food Security Workshop sessions. Cost is $600.00 for the full week. (no meals included)

Joel Salatin became nationally known when written about in Michael Pollan’s book “Omnivore's Dilemma”. Joel is passionate about defending small farms, local food systems, and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm. This idea of ‘Food Security’ has become one of the hottest issues for many of us. How do we support each other in learning how to return the control of our food systems into “our” hands as individuals, households and local communities?

A vibrant and diverse movement of people, who recognize the immediate need of returning the control of food systems into the hands of individuals, households and communities, has bubbled into existence all around the globe in response to a never-seen-before level of dependency on outside food sources.

Join seven of these pro-active people: Joel Salatin, Cec Robinson, Tony Clark, Stephanie Asbeck, Katie Mathieu, Oliver Kellhammer and Robin Tunnicliffe for a week-long workshop at stunning Channel Rock on Cortes Island from September 19th to 26th and delve into a plethora of fascinating topics related to Food Security.

The week commences with Robin Tunnicliffe of USC Canada and Fiesty Field Organic Farm. Robin speaks often about the growing concern of Food Security issues and, as a farmer, entrepreneur and graduate student, her expertise is bountiful. She'll bring and share with us perspectives about the importance of local agriculture.

One of the basic premises of food security is preservation of the environment while providing food, energy and resources for communities. With Oliver Kellhammer, we'll take that a step further and explore one of permaculture's fundamental values of restoring the earth. Oliver will cover some of the basics of permaculture, focusing primarily on the close observation of intact ecological systems to serve as an inspiration for our own designs.

For those who love to bring nature into the kitchen, a day with Katie Mathieu, Channel Rock's chef, will be, shall we say, delightfully palatable! Katie Mathieu has a very practical knowledge about what to do after the harvest. Sharing what she knows about basic canning and fermentation, we'll have hands on fun with kombucha, sauerkraut and salting pickles (which means taking snacks and kombucha mothers home). She'll encourage us to stretch our perspectives about what we consider to be junk and weeds, and help us change our relationship to trash and the forgotten plants at our feet, such as the ubiquitous dandelion! 'Weed' identification, wild-crafting, hardy volunteer crops and a field trip to learn about the free-store/recyling model all fall into this curious and creative day with Katie!

Stephanie Asbeck is a big proponent of knowing where our food comes from by growing as much of it ourselves as possible. Not only does this eliminate much of the guesswork and our dependency on outside food sources, but also reduces the negative impacts of food transportation and high-input agriculture. As head gardener at Channel Rock, Steph will engage us on the topic of small-scale gardening: how, what, where and why to grow food. If your pulse quickens reading about good seed stock, bed preparation, seedling and transplanting, crop rotation, composting, seed saving, harvesting and storage of food, mushrooms, Hugel Pile, orchards, chicken-tractoring, vermiculture, container/urban/square foot gardening or composting, then Steph's workshop will be an absolute feast for you!

Pollinators play an integral role in the functioning of healthy ecological systems. Spend a day with Tony Clark for Beekeeping 101 and learn everything you ever needed to know about keeping bees, such as how to build and maintain a hive and handle all phases of honey production. He'll cover the theories behind environmental, economic and societal impact of Colony Collapse Disorder, honey extraction and much more.

Cec Robinson has pearls of wisdom to share from his sustainable shellfish farm in Whaletown Bay. Watch a real oyster farmer at work, learn how to harvest and shuck oysters, and hear about everything from the flavour of oysters & clams, what they eat, how they live and how to eat them. We'll enjoy a delicious seafood lunch with Cec who's well-known for cooking these ocean-fresh delicacies!

On the second last last day, you spend the day at Channel Rock with Joel Salatin, a 3rd generation alternative farmer from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. As a sought-after writer and speaker, you can glean from his passions as he speaks in defense of small farms, local food systems and the right to opt out of the conventional food paradigm.

On the last day we come together with the Cortes Community in Manson's Landing. Joel Salatin will share some of his “dirt-under-the-fingernails experience punctuated with mischievous humor” as he comes together with our community for an inspiring daylong seminar!

Bring your own knowledge and experience, and join us for a week with these seven speakers. Together we'll cultivate inspiration and ideas to further our movement toward Food Security, the state “in which all people, at all times, have access to nutritious, safe, personally acceptable and culturally appropriate foods, produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially fair.”

Dates: September 19-26 2010

Cost: $1245.00 + $25.00 non refundable processing fee.

Click on the link below to download the registration form:
Food Security Workshop Registration Form - print

Or click on the link below to sign up online:
Click here to sign up online