Main Stage Events & Food Demos Schedule

Sponsors:

Hemp & Company,
The Good Planet Company

JOIN THE F.U.N. -- Farming in Urban Neighbourhoods

PANEL DISCUSSION: Caroyln Herriot, The Garden Path Nursery; Paula Sobie, City Harvest; Kezia Cowtan, LifeCycles Project; Shannon Cowan, UBC

Global climate change is an enormous concern, and threatens our future global food security. All the food that we import carries a large carbon footprint, and all food that is not organic requires the use of fossil fuels. Growing more organic food locally is a very immediate, simple step that we can all take to contribute to the solution, while also improving our health, and the health of our urban ecosystems. Join our panel of food production experts and activists for passionate dialog and practical tips about how urban dwellers can get started growing their own food.

Participants include:

• Panelist Carolyn Herriot is author of A Year On The Garden Path, a 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide, and President of the Victoria Horticulture Society. She is a regular garden columnist for GardenWise and CommonGround magazines. Carolyn grows her certified organic seeds called 'Seeds of Victoria' at The Garden Path nursery. In 2008 she created 'The New Victory Garden' with info on-line at www.gardenwise.ca, and teaches a new programme, 'Twelve Steps to Sustainable Homegrown Food Production'.
• Panelist Paula Sobieis co-owner and operator of City Harvest, a company that sustainably produces food in urban locations using SPIN-Farming methodology (S-mall P-lot IN-tensive Farming). SPIN is an organic-based growing technique that adapts commercial farming techniques to sub-acre land parcels in rural or urban locations. Its greatest environmental and social benefits come when food is produced close to urban centres where most consumers live. Some home owners rent their yards to SPIN Farmers, however most receive some of the harvest bounty as payment instead.
• Panelist Kezia Cowtanis Executive Director of LifeCycles Project Society, and has a wealth of knowledge and expertise local sustainable food systems and community based programming, urban agriculture and global food issues. LifeCycles is the go to nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating awareness and initiating action around food, health, and urban sustainability in the Greater Victoria community. Lifecylces' work includes: organic school food garden creation and education, community garden creation, aboriginal food sovereignty, redistribution of food assets (to avoid waste) and coordination of food policy work for the region.
• Moderator Professor Shannon Cowan, B.Sc., Ph.D, in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC, does scientific research in crop improvement for botanical medicines, community food security, sustainability and aboriginal health. She is a published author in peer-reviewed scientific journals, international speaker and passionate course instructor in UBC's undergraduate Agroecology program. She is co-founder of EcoReality, an emerging ecovillage on Salt Spring Island, BC.

Natural Chefs Food Demo Theatre

BILL JONES, Deerholme Farm, Cowichan

The POWER of LOCAL FOOD

Join Bill Jones, renown chef, author and educator as we explore the benefits of local cooking. It's a well-documented fact that the time and distance from field to table have a profound effect on the levels of nutrients and flavour. Certain foods also have a pronounced effect on your wellbeing through boosting your immune system and delivering powerful phyto-nutrients. Regional sources of these products will be discussed in an informative and tasty demo. In addition, we explore how local food helps reduce the environmental footprint due to transportation and packaging, support the local economy and preserve our valuable agricultural lands for future generations.

Bill will demonstrate two dishes to dazzle your tastebuds. Deerholme Farm salad with mixed greens, arugula and sweet peas with a big leaf maple syrup vinaigrette. Braised mushrooms with seaweed and herbs in a sweet and sour hemp seed sauce.

Bill is a two-time winner of a world cookbook award, a French-trained chef and owner of Deerholme Farm - a culinary destination amid the wine region of the Cowichan Valley. Please visit www.magnorth.bc.ca for more information.

Main Stage

Sponsors:

Hemp & Company,
The Good Planet Company

JEREMY FISHER

Musical Entertainment

His free-roaming style of battling indifference by staying true to his artistic sensibilities eventually led him to Aquarius Records, the new address of his third release, Goodbye Blue Monday.

Jeremy's music and writing compels the listener to take a stand and look a little closer. Like some of the most prolific musical journeymen that have influenced him - whether he is compared to JJ Cale or Neil Young or even Paul Simon - Jeremy finds truth and meaning in the details and his songs are the engine that drives his artistic expression and exploration.

Visit www.theRealJeremyFisher.com for more info.

Main Stage

WHAT are GE FREE ZONES, and WHY do we need them?

PANEL DISCUSSION: Special Guest: Percy Shmeiser, and Panelists: Josh Brandon, Greenpeace; Tom Rudge, Farmer/GE Free Yukon; Colin Palmer, Powell River Regional Board

• Special Guest Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Bruno Saskatchewan Canada whose Canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's Round-Up Ready Canola. He took Monsanto to the Supreme Court after Monsanto sued him for using their product without purchasing it. Schmeiser never used the product, and the Supreme Court supported Monsanto because their Round-Up Ready Canola was protected by a patent. However, in an out of court settlement in March 2008, Monsanto agreed to pay all the clean-up costs of Schmeiser's contaminated fields, and Monsanto can be sued again if further contamination occurs. Schmeiser and his wife won the Right Livelihood Award in 2007. More info at: www.percyschmeiser.com
• Panelist Josh Brandon is an Agriculture Campaigner with Greenpeace. He serves on the steering committee for Society for a GE Free BC, and is editor of their newsletter. Recently, he acted as a civil society representative at a United Nations led International Agriculture Assessment in South Africa. Josh served on various committees of the National Council for the Canadian Environmental Network including Agriculture and the Convention on Biodiversity. His numerous articles on sustainable agriculture and genetic engineering have been published in national publications.
• Panelist Tom Rudgeis a full time farmer on a mixed organic farm in the Yukon, food security advocate and community market founder. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in Agriculture, and is currently chair of the GE Free Yukon movement. He was instrumental in gathering over 1500 signatures last fall to present to the Yukon Legislature for the creation of a GE free zone. Tom is also the Whitehorse Slow Food convivial chair and secretary for the Whitehorse chapter of the Canadian Organic Growers.
• Panelist Colin Palmer, Director and Chair of Powell River Regional Board for the last 9 years, supported the GE Free Crop zone resolution. He has served in governmental organizations for decades including as Mayor of Powell River, member of the Provincial Environmental Appeal board and alderman. He was a founding member of the Powell River Anti-Pollution Association. Colin owns and operates a commercial printing business in Powell River.

Main Stage

Sponsored by:

Hemp & Company,
The Good Planet Company

SHANE PHILIP

Musical Entertainment

From early childhood moments of drumming kitchen tables and car dashboards, to January 2008's release of his latest album, "In The Moment" Shane's musical stylings have been self-taught and self-motivated every step of the way. Borrowing from folk, reggae, blues and beyond, he blurs the boundaries of expectation and music into an altogether unique soundscape. "We are influenced by everything we listen to, see and do," Shane reminds. "So much of what shapes the music, vibe, content, and overall feeling of the songs is unconscious. I write music that results from everything that goes on in the life I live."

Visit www.ShanePhilip.com/ for more info.

Main Stage

Sponsors:

The Good Planet Company, Hemp & Company

JYOTI STEPHENS, Sustainability and Stewardship Manager, Nature's Path Foods

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: Organic & Beyond

Jyoti Stephens is the Sustainability and Stewardship Manager for Nature's Path Organic Foods, North America's leading organic breakfast foods company. In this role, she works with cross-departmental teams to help manage the company’s sustainability goals of zero waste and climate neutrality. Jyoti sits on numerous advisory boards including the Food Trade and Sustainability Leadership Association. In 2007, she was awarded a competition fellowship with the Royal Society of Arts (UK) and was a runner-up in Metropolis magazine’s NEXT Generation design competition for Beeline, a project for optimizing and supporting local food systems. Jyoti is currently pursuing an MBA in Sustainable Business from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

Nature's Path is a family owned BC based business started by Jyoti's parents, Arran and Ratana Stephens. Arran grew up on his parent's Vancouver Island farm. For the young Arran, the farm and natural beauty of Vancouver Island taught him respect for the planet and sparked a lifelong love of the soil and nature. For more info visit: www.NaturesPath.com

Natural Chefs Food Demo Theatre

NAME OF CHEF

FOOD DEMO

CHEF Bio

Visit website link for more info.

Main Stage

Sponsors:

The Good Planet Company, Hemp & Company

LESTER QUITZAU and MAE MOORE

Musical Entertainment by Juno-nominated Artists

When they are not in the studio, Mae and Lester enjoy working on their organic garden and heritage apple orchard, or tending their flock of motley, but much loved hens. Mae has gardened organically for 35 years and is most at peace when doing just that.

Visit www.MaeMoore.com and www.LesterQ.com for more info.

Natural Chefs Food Demo Theatre

LAURA MOORE, Good for you Gourmet

Whole Foods For your Whole Family

“Our mission is to prepare a wide variety of wholesome, health-supporting and delicious food for clients and their families, using only the finest organic grains, natural sweeteners and locally grown products as ingredients,” says Laura Moore, also known as Victoria’s Green Caterer.

The Good For You Gourmet will teach you how to prepare whole food summer salads. Each participant will receive food samples, learn techniques and recipes, food preparation tips, and have fun. Join us!

www.OrganicChef.ca for more info.

Main Stage

Sponsors:

Hemp & Company,
The Good Planet Company

HAYLEY SALES

Musical Entertainment

While it is true that everyone has a story, Hayley Sales' experiences are so numerous and compelling that they almost sound fictional. The Vancouver Island-based singer has a history that includes being born in the Washington D.C. projects, interviewing the Dalai Lama, traveling the world, accompanying former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic to the Seattle WTO protests, and self-penning and producing her major label debut album Sunseed. Sounds like a full life? Indeed, it is. Even more incredibly, Hayley Sales has just turned 20. In a day and age when many singers have their melodies and lyrics manufactured for them, Hayley Sales is the real deal. Her major label debut, Sunseed is entirely her vision, recorded primarily in her family's Glass Wing Studios. Sales wrote the songs, chose the musicians, contributes acoustic guitar, piano and vocals and is the record's sole producer.

Visit www.HayleySales.com for more info.