Town & Country

December 2017

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Country Town M A N I T O B A Editor: Pat St. Germain – pdstgermain@gmail.com & Grow North participants from several communities gathered at the Setting Lake camp to share information about gardening, beekeeping and other topics. Caroline Sanoffsky (in plaid shirt, below right) teaches a session on gathering medicines. Photos by Melanie Mcgillis courtesy of Food Matters Manitoba Saturday, December 2, 2017 The Northern Manitoba issue WHY LYNN LAKE IS THE SPORTFISHING CAPITAL OF MANITOBA. WHY LYNN LAKE IS THE SPORTFISHING CAPITAL OF MANITOBA. W ith clean lakes speckling the landscape and pristine rivers meandering throughout the area, the Lynn Lake area is home to some of Canada's biggest trout, pike, and pickerel. And with rolling eskers and the untamed northern boreal forest making up the rest of the landscape, the majestic beauty of nature in every glance will exceedyour imagination. Local lodges offera wide range of services, and free camping is available at two roadaccessible campgrounds complete with boat launches. And if you can't wait until summer to visit, the area is blessed with naturalbeauty year- round, "which our local tourism operators and outfitters would love to share with you. Whatever your outdoors pleasure, Lynn Lake awaits 'At the end of the road'. Brochures: Call (204) 356-2418 or visit www.lynnlake.ca See for yourself S haring is the hallmark of small communities, and it could come in any form: Sharing food, culture and traditions, or even the kind of on-the-ground know-how that people need to get by and to succeed. Grow North is a regular gathering of knowledgeable people and presenters who come together to do just that. The most recent Grow North conference took place in Wabowden over three days in August, with participants from Split Lake, Baden, Grand Rapids, Lac Brochet, Nelson House, Wabowden and Winnipeg. "We pick the go-to people in those communities and we bring them together and get ideas on something to do with healthy living that they'd like to take back to their communities to share," says Caroline Sanoffsky, administrator for the Bayline Regional Round Table. Workshops included a food handlers certification course; beekeeping in the North; community gardening and greenhouse basics; a co-op market panel discussion; and harvesting food and traditional medicines from the land. Past Grow North subjects have also included poultry-raising and commercial fishing. The Wabowden event was put together by three coordinators — Sanoffsky, Food Matters Manitoba community food facilitator Amanda Froese and Jessica Burton, from the Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC). Their organizations work to increase food security, foster community networks and develop community gardens, among other projects. "I have 12 communities that I work with in the North, and Food Matters and NACC also work with a number of their own communities," Sanoffsky says. Participants gathered at a camp at Setting Lake Park. The bulk of information concerned life on the land and the camp facilitated the kind of hands-on learning that Sanoffsky says is crucial. "When you're in MTS Centre or a town hall, you're not going to show someone how to set a net for catching a fish," she says. Providing the workshops is just the first step. Sanoffsky says people go back to their home communities and schools to share their new skills, especially cooking with traditional foods. Post-event, community members are invited to provide feedback. Surveys are taken by the Grow North participants, who are equipped with printed materials to support what they have learned, and the information is compiled in a report. The latest report noted that the food handlers course, gardening and greenhouse basics, and harvesting food from the land provided valuable knowledge that participants planned to share. "The new skills that they picked up and that they wanted to take back is how to pick the medicines off the land; how to smoke fish; and how to prepare the medicines (harvested from the land)," Sanoffsky adds. "A hundred percent of participants said they were very likely to share all of these things that they learned at this Grow North with the members of their community." Sanoffsky says participants appreciate the opportunity to learn from people from different places all over Manitoba. "Everybody can make a pot of chicken soup and everybody makes it taste a little different," she says. "So when we come together and we share all these different ideas, you can just see the light bulbs go on when they look at each other and say, 'Hey, I can try that!' "I think that's the main idea behind doing this — for all our people to share common knowledge." FOOD for THOUGHT SHARING KNOWLEDGE AT GROW NORTH Workshops included a food handlers certification course; beekeeping in the North; community gardening and greenhouse basics; a co-op market panel discussion; and harvesting food and traditional medicines from the land. Learn more about Grow North conferences and other events at www.foodmattersmanitoba.ca.

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