counter-protest update

friends

thanks to everyone who braved the rain & mud and came out last night. grandview park was filled with community members dancing and cheering the carnival band, community leaders & politicians. but most importantly, grandview park was filled with love. it was so inspiring to see people come together in the name of love. i saw people being moved to act in the name of love. as i walked down commercial drive on the way to grandview park, carrying my 'love is always the answer' sign, some people stopped what they were doing & joined in, some people cheered as i walked by.

our collective love took up all the space - there was no room left for hate & intolerance. the westbro baptist church did not show up.

love & laughter,

paula

counter-protest @ havana TODAY 5pm - celebrate love!

friends & lovers of peace

today @ 5pm i will be at havana theatre- celebrating love. the westbro baptist church is coming to vancouver to protest the laramie project @ havana. i am joining others in a counter-protest - protesting the hate. i am choosing to celebrate love rather than to hate the haters. i hope you can join us - the carnival band will be there and i will have a 'love is always the answer' sign. together we can create a transformation & actively participate in making a world full of love & acceptance. please help spread the word.

details:
today november 28th
5pm
havana - commercial drive across from grandview park

background:
in 1998 mathew sheppard - an openly gay youth @ the university of wyoming - was beaten & murdered. the laramie project is a play which depicts the reaction to mathew's murder & has become a powerful tool in combating homophobia. it is performing @ havana - opening tonight. the westbro baptist church, lead by rev. fred phelps - has arrived in vancouver to protest @ havana today.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/11/19/bc-westboro-church-protest-vancouver-laramie-project.html?ref=rss
http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20081105_laramie-project-vancouver.pdf

love & laughter,

paula

vow for peace

food security panel

Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 6 – 9 pm

Collingwood Neighbourhood House

FOOD SECURITY – A Community Panel Discussion

Food Security is on everyone’s mind today. Questions such as: What is food security? Is our food safe? Is it affordable? Is it nutritious? We want to make safe decisions around food and here is an opportunity to learn more about food security. The Food Security Institute team at Collingwood Neigbourhood House wants to continue to increase community awareness around the safety of our food sources and the methods of improving the food chain link. Join us to learn more – to plant ideas and to consider initiatives around this very important aspect of our lives.

David Tracey – owns and operates Eco Urbanist, is a certified tree care expert and the Executive Director of Tree City. David coordinates the Vancouver Community Agriculture Network project together with City and public health officials to create more community gardens, especially among people lacking access to healthy, affordable food.

Paula Luther – is the Project Manager for the BC Farmers' Market Nutrition and Coupon Project. The project assists lower-income families in accessing food, promoting fresh BC-produced farm products and supporting BC local farmers. She is also a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and has been working on community food initiatives in Vancouver for over 10 years.

Heidi Sinclair – has been the coordinator of the Renfrew Collingwood Food Security Institute since 2005. She has an extensive background in growing food, and creating welcoming and educational experiences around food for participants and has been involved in creating leadership amount initiatives such as community gardens, rooftop garden and community kitchens.

Moderator: Charito Gailling, Community Developer, Evergreen Community Health Center

peace

"Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible" - Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

The 100-mile diet interview

	The 100-mile diet Your body will thank you, because local also means nutritious. by Jeff Nield, The Tyee
It's war vegetable season. That's the way James MacKinnon saw the winter months when he and Alisa Smith set out to eat a 100-Mile Diet of local foods in 2005. MacKinnon had once worked with an organic farmer who'd been a child in Europe during the Second World War. The farmer could remember walking the railway tracks to find vegetables that might have fallen off of passing trains: turnips, onions, potatoes, maybe cabbage. Tough foods for hard times. Is eating locally through the winter more a matter of survival than of pleasure or good health? The surprising answer is an emphatic "no." Vancouver-based registered holistic nutritionist Paula Luther is an adherent of year-round local eating for the sake of nutrition. "If we look at what's in abundance right now, we have lots of squash, carrots, things like that, which are actually beneficial at this time of year," she says. These winter foods are rich in beta-carotene, antioxidants, vitamin A -- just the sort of nutrients our bodies need to fight off colds and maintain energy levels for the season. Heavy mileage Luther estimates that 50 per cent of her diet is derived from local sources through the cold, wet months. "It's a bit more of a challenge because I'm vegan, so I'm not eating locally raised beef or seafood," explains Luther. Instead, Luther combines whole grains and legumes to create complete proteins. Both of these foods typically travel to B.C. from the Prairies or points more distant, though both can -- and historically have -- been cultivated on the coast. Luther hopes that the current interest in local foods will lead a local producer to realize the opportunity. According to Andy Jones, the author of Eating Oil: Food in a Changing Climate, a typical calorie of food energy in the industrial food system will require ten calories of input energy. Of course, most North Americans are accustomed to walking into the grocery store and purchasing whatever foods they like without any seasonal interruptions. This is one of the biggest selling points of the industrial food system. It comes at a price, however -- a peach in the local supermarket this time of year has literally travelled from the other side of the world, where the Southern Hemisphere is enjoying midsummer. Producing and transporting the peach will consume many more calories of energy, most of them burned as fossil fuels, than the fruit itself will provide to the person who eats it. According to Andy Jones, the author of Eating Oil: Food in a Changing Climate, a typical calorie of food energy in the industrial food system will require ten calories of input energy. In an extreme example, it takes 127 calories of energy from aviation fuel alone to deliver one calorie of iceberg lettuce to the U.K. from the United States. 100-Mile Diet At the same time, many North Americans underestimate the variety of foods that are available locally through the winter. MacKinnon and Smith, for example, topped up their larder with the following at the December farmers' market in East Vancouver: red and orange carrots; three kinds of potatoes; sunchokes, a.k.a. Jerusalem artichokes or sunroots; fennel bulbs; apples; hazelnuts; Swiss chard; various squashes; beets; parsnips; leeks; eggs; and three kinds of cheese. According to Cynthia Sass, a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and instructor at the University of Southern Florida, one of the most important aspects of eating with the seasons is that it leads people to consume a broader diversity of foods, and therefore of nutrients, rather than repeating the same weekly routine of meals. "People have heard some of the messages about nutrition -- they've certainly heard about saturated fat, whole milk, and fatty meat and all of that -- but they're still missing the significance of variety," she explains. Our knowledge of nutrition is often peppered with misconceptions, says Sass. "We have certain foods in our minds that we associate with different nutrients, and we think if we don't eat that particular food we're not going to get that nutrient. But actually, there are a lot of foods that are rich in these nutrients. So even if you weren't eating, you know, oranges all year round, it doesn't mean you won't get vitamin C," she says. For example, potatoes and cabbage are also potent sources of vitamin C. Ripe is nutritious "I'm a big fan of local eating," says Sass. "When things are grown far away, they're typically harvested early and they're not allowed to fully ripen. Nowadays, we know a lot more about these naturally occurring substances in produce -- it's not just vitamins and minerals, but all these phytochemicals and really powerful disease-fighting substances -- and we do know that when a food never really reaches its peak ripeness, the levels of these substances never get as high." "I always highly recommend that people buy foods at the farmers' market when they're at their peak, freeze them, and then consume them within the next six months," says Sass. Finally, she says, eating from your local landscape doesn't have to mean you can't enjoy the bounty of the warmer months. It only means that you have to plan ahead. "I always highly recommend that people buy foods at the farmers' market when they're at their peak, freeze them, and then consume them within the next six months," says Sass. While most of our grandparents, or certainly our great-grandparents, didn't think too much about nutrition, they did prepare for the coming winter. Pantries full of canning jars and root cellars were the norm. Today, the skills of food preservation are making a comeback. "When you go to the farmers' market, the people who grew [the food] are probably some of the best people to ask because, 'They grow it, they know it,'" says Sass. "But if you can take the time to make sure you have the skill and knowledge you need to fulfil your calorie requirements, then I think it's fantastic. Amazing. Even if we could just get people a little bit closer to that, it would be great." article by Jeff Nield, The Tyee The Tyee is an independent alternative daily newspaper based in B.C. Canada.

creative inspiration

hey kids

the season is in full swing! farmers' markets & gardens alike are bursting with beautiful & tasty delights. looking for new ideas on what to do with the bounty? check this out for a little creative inspiration....