We're making a film!
...a cross-sector, community-based, participatory, documentary, media project, to be exact.
We are raising awareness of issues around food-sovereignty and security in Southwest Newfoundland (SW NL) through a knowledge-exchange partnership between local residents in Port-Aux-Basques, Codory Valley, the New Brunswick-based Hayes Farm, DOCTalks Festival & Symposium. and collaborators atMemorial University.
Residents of SW NL have garnered community support to create farming/gardening spaces and are growing organic vegetables to meet the region’s market demands.
The Hayes Farm is assisting this effort by providing specialized consultation and guidance in regenerative farming practices.
DOCTalks Inc., through its NL chapter, is producing a broadcast quality, knowledge-based, documentary film that follows SW NL community members as they undertake this project.
The resulting film, "Lights, Camera, Grow!" will help add SW NL's voice to the current discourse on food security in the province by promoting small-scale, organic farming in NL to new audiences. The project is also transfering an “agri-preneur” skill set to stakeholders that they can use and further develop in successive growing seasons.
Want to be a part of this unique opportunity? Contact us!
Why community gardening matters: some personal statements.
by Melissa Samms
What is your story (organization & social issue) and why is it important to share it with others (e.g. your community, province, Atlantic Canada, etc.)?
Establishing a teaching garden and farm in my area would be an amazing way to engage the local population to pass down knowledge some people don’t even realise we’re losing. In discussing the matter with my own father, who grew up on a small farm, it was apparent that he knew a lot about the processes of homesteading that I had never heard from anyone before. Things like when to cut your wood so it doesn’t rot quickly, how to stack it so it seasons well, when to plant and harvest in our area, and even the type of manure and the difference it makes. To be able to re-establish that knowledge and teach it to others would be an amazing way to look to the future of our communities in Codroy Valley and throughout the Southwest Coast. In a larger scope, food security in Newfoundland and Labrador has become tenuous over the last few decades. The province has become very reliant on external food sources, despite the fact that there is excellent farmland in many areas, including my own. There are two grocery stores in Port-aux-Basques, and only stocks selected produce from within the province – mainly root vegetables. So, when the boat gets delayed (which is often in winter), produce supplies deplete pretty rapidly. To be able to mitigate the risks of food insecurity in any way would be extremely beneficial to my community, region, and (hopefully, eventually) my province, as well as personally fulfilling.
How does Your Organization Propose to Raise the Profile of your Social Issue?
Identify your “social issue” – Food insecurity is a huge problem in Newfoundland and Labrador. While there are few “food deserts” in the province, there are a lot of what have been termed “food swamps” – when processed foods are easily accessible, but fresh produce and other healthy foods are difficult.
How and who does your “social issue” affect in the community? Nutrition is a critical component of any community or society. Food affects the stability of entire nations because food is the primary qualitative (and quantitative) component of life. You can have as many other programs and jobs as you want, but if the population is hungry it won’t help. If a population is sustained on low quality food, as in the “food swamps” of Newfoundland and Labrador, their quality of life is greatly affected by impacting people’s health. Removing people from the process of growing and cooking food increases reliance on low quality, heavily processed food, and removes the sense of autonomy from the most fundamental choice that people have – what to eat. This affects low income portions of the population the most, as fresh vegetables and wholesome ingredients are often more accessible to people with more disposable income. In my opinion, food choices should not be dictated by disposable income and should be accessible at all levels of society and economic classes. In Newfoundland and Labrador, this issue is exacerbated by the high cost of produce, particularly in winter. The disparity in the availability of food in my province is staggering; when I lived in St. John’s for a few years, it almost didn’t matter how late the ferry was. If I went to the grocery store I could find anything I needed. Meanwhile, grocery stores in Port aux Basques were running out of produce entirely.
by Roshni Caputo-Nimbark
What is your story (organization & social issue) and why is it important to share it with others (e.g. your community, province, Atlantic Canada, etc.)?
We are relatively new to the Codroy Valley, having relocated here from St. John’s in 2017 to grow our own food, live simply, and learn about permaculture. We decided to open an eco-hostel (Bert Bark Inn) last year to provide a healthy space for tourists to stay and be inspired to use more sustainable practices in their own lives, and of course to make some income. Throughout the process, we have been warmly welcomed into this tight-knit community and cultivated friendships, providing us a glimpse into some of the habits of our new acquaintances with regards to work, relationships, philosophies, consumption, and pastimes. While the transition out of the city and away from our closest friends has not always been easy for us, we are confident this is a community with which we can learn and share immensely.
Some of our dearest influences have been the Slow Food philosophy, transformative economies, degrowth, alter-globalization, and Zapatismo. Basically, we believe sustainability related to both personal and environmental health must be achieved at a local or regional scale through a real desire to live intentionally and foster a happy, healthy community. In our opinion, that entails shifting away from consumer capitalism and corporate agriculture and toward cooperative-type economies centred around organic, small-scale food production/consumption and locally and/or sustainably crafted consumer items. We believe a variety of folklore activities may play a large role in facilitating and sustaining a shift from a conventional lifestyle where good quality of life and health have been supplanted by addictions to technology, substances, and processed foods, which continue to produce environmental and health-related problems up to the global scale. In our view, regaining access to traditional knowledge as well as collectively designing new sustainable pathways are key components in the shift toward living intentionally with a heightened awareness about the connections between our community practices, our health, and the local and global environment.
How does Your Organization Propose to Raise the Profile of your Social Issue?
Identify your “social issue” – Lack of education regarding sustainability. What does it mean? Why should we care? Making the connections between what we consume, what’s happening to our health, and the multifaceted environmental and social shifts we are witnessing both locally and globally is a conversation we need to have as a community. The fact that we have food swamps needs to be problematized, fast food restaurants need to be replaced by healthy food options, people need to start questioning conventional farming techniques. We need to start talking about all these issues and get creative (and have fun!) as we rewrite our story.
How and who does your “social issue” affect in the community? – Everyone is both the affecter and the affected. We want to take part in creating a space where these conversations can be had. At Bert Bark Inn this summer, we plan to host a variety of events (there will be a calendar of events on our website) including workshops on permaculture techniques, no-till gardening, fermentation, preserving, vegan cooking and baking, nutrition, various forms of handcrafting, pottery, and hopefully some cultural exchange workshops as well. We also will host many healthy physical activities like ultimate frisbee, soccer, bocce ball, kayaking, swimming, hiking, cycling, as well as daily stretching and meditation. Cultural events will include nightly film screenings in our movie theatre, musical performances, dances, trivia nights, and weekly dinners. Everyone is invited to these events, locals and tourists alike. We always encourage suggestions from the community on more events we should (or shouldn’t) host and will gladly provide a space for anyone who would like to teach, create, or perform.
Filming/Interview dates:
- June 1st: garden planting sessions around SW NL
-
August
1421st.
Interviewer: Roshni Caputo-Nimbark
Interviewees:
- in community: Melissa, Renee, Harry, Roshni, Nelson...
- Food First NL?
- Mark at Hayes Farm
- Anne T.
- Caroline P (Community Health)
- Food sovereignty researchers?
We are also looking for local musicians for the soundtrack!
Film your own experience!
Videos from your own cellphone or personal cameras are welcome and we'll add them to the final documentary as needed. So, take out your iPhones and get shooting! This page and this video have some great tips that you can start using right away. Below is a slide presentation by Paul De Decker about how to use your cellphone to shoot videos for the doc.
