[WRFoodNews] April 8, 2010 Waterloo Region Food System update

[Marc Xuereb]

Please find below the latest update on Waterloo Region's food system as described on the website of the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable at www.wrfoodsystem.ca.  Join discussions of the topics below and many more on our Discussion Forum<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=forum/view_forum&forum_id=10001>.

Edible Cities event a Success
Almost seventy people attended the Roundtable's Healthy Food System Series<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=69> session on Edible Cities on March 29th.  Panelists talked about urban chickens, sharing backyards, community gardens, and identifying edible plants within cities. See Roundtable Co-Chair Ellen Desjardin<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=view_profile&member_id=25>s<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=view_profile&member_id=25>' summary of her experience of the event, and add your own, on the Roundtable's Discussion Forum<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=forum/view_thread&thread_id=10444>.

Sharing Backyards in Kitchener-Waterloo
One of the panelists at the Edible Cities event was from K-W Urban Harvester<http://kw-uh.wikidot.com/>.  This group has set up a website designed to make it easy to connect people who are willing to have others garden in their backyard with people looking for land.  They have designed a pamphlet<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=manage_secure_files&mode=getdocument&doc_id=10400> and have a website<http://www.sharingbackyards.com/browse?jump=kitchener,+on> allowing anyone to list their property or indicate that they are looking for land.

Foodlink Launches new Blog
Foodlink Waterloo Region has launched Local Dish<http://www.foodlink.ca/index.php?p=blog>, a discussion about all things fresh and local in Waterloo Region.  Recent blogs cover the upcoming Taste of Woolwich event, being the Organic Farmer's Daughter, the arrival of this year's greenhouse-grown veggies, and a review of An Apple a Day.

New Institute for Food Processing coming to Waterloo Region
Conestoga College is building a new Institute for Food Processing Technologies to train people to work in the food processing sector.  Luis Garcia, the Chair of the new Institute for Food Processing Technologies, made a presentation<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/files/www/Conestoga_Institute_for_Food_Processing_presentation.pdf> to the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable at their meeting on March 24th.  The College intends to build the new Institute on land across the 401 from its Doon Campus, and will open in September 2011.  You can view the full presentation<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/files/www/Conestoga_Institute_for_Food_Processing_presentation.pdf> in the Meeting Highlights<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=42> section of the Roundtable's website, and you can read a recent article on it in the Cambridge Times<http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news/local/article/622145--creating-the-world-s-kitchen>.


Mobilizing Community Resources around Food Issues

Several people who participated in last November's Waterloo Region Food Summit<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=61> met on March 2nd to discuss how best to mobilize resources to move forward on many of the directions identified in the Food Summit Declaration<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=forum/view_thread&thread_id=10365>.  Laura Gorman<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=view_profile&member_id=114> helped organize the meeting and posted a summary of the meeting on the Discussion Forum<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=forum/view_thread&thread_id=10425>.


Upcoming Food Events
Full details on upcoming food-related events in Waterloo Region can be viewed under Upcoming Events<http://www.wrfoodsystem.ca/index.php?p=9> on the Roundtable's website.  To share news of your event, email details to the Roundtable's Site Administrator<mailto:xmarc at region.waterloo.on.ca>, who will post it to the website.  Some upcoming highlights include:

            Taste of Woolwich - Monday, April 12, 5-8pm, Calvary United Church, St Jacobs
            Intro to Organic Gardening - Saturday April 10, 1-3pm, Little City Farm, Kitchener
            Film Screening: The Garden - Saturday April 17, 1:30pm, KPL Main Branch, Kitchener
            Walkable Local Foods - Tuesday, April 27, 7-9pm, KPL Main Branch, Kitchener

Marc Xuereb
staff support to the Waterloo Region Food System Roundtable
c/o 99 Regina Street South, 3rd Floor
Waterloo, ON N2J 4V3
519.883.2004 x.5872
MXuereb at regionofwaterloo.ca<mailto:MXuereb at regionofwaterloo.ca>
[Note new email address: please start using this one.]

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