Tuesday, May 18, 2021

May 2021 updates

School gardening with Cornucopia Project is in full swing! In addition to coordinating this and other programs, I'm educating in the garden again and it is a blast! Please keep Cornucopia Project in mind for NH Gives, June 8-9:


I am also now directing the NH Gleans network, and will be convening the regional leads to kick off this year's efforts in the next few weeks. More info: www.NHGleans.org.

Dissertation writing continues, and I've been accepted to present at the Critical Autoethnography virtual conference this fall (September 30 & October 1). My proposal:

What holds my creative and critical autoethnographic attention in this bubble moment is the imperative to get all these working identities pulling as a team. To grow the food and sustain the systems to survive, we need to build the soil. To build the soil, we need to commit to place. To commit to place, we need to nurture our ‘selves’ - the gardener, the builder, the knowledge-keeper, the healer, the visionary, the pragmatist. Encourage in each a sense of meaning in the resilience imperative at hand. Draw from each to nourish the possibility of a culture that supports belonging.

And the work at Hindsight Gardens continues. Potatoes, onions, peas, corn, squash, tomatoes, peppers, beans, carrots, swiss chard, kale, lettuce, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, garlic. Blueberry, cherry, beach plum, honeyberry, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, peach, nectarine, hazelnut, black walnut, butternut. Rhubarb, rose, hawthorn, lemon balm, oregano, thyme, marjoram, cilantro, sage, parsley, celery, sumac. Hops! And twenty-seven laying hens and a very handsome rooster. 

Always open to connect.

Monday, March 15, 2021

Monadnock Farm Share, Racial Equity Challenge, Community Listening Project, Seedling Sale, and Network Cafes

 Food system happenings for Spring 2021:

Join NH Food Alliance on the first Friday of each month from 12-1pm for lively conversation and learning with partners across the food system. Topics come from our network partners and often lead to offline collaborations and projects, turning talk into action. Register here.

Friday, February 12, 2021

NH Food Alliance Statewide Gathering and February events & resources

NH Food System Statewide Gathering

The NH Food Alliance hosts this year's NH Food System Statewide Gathering, March 11-12, 2021. REGISTER HERE

The NH Food System Statewide Gathering is the only event in New Hampshire bringing together individuals, businesses, and organizations across sectors who are dedicated to growing an improved local food system that works for all in the Granite State: people, businesses, communities, and the environment. Under the theme “Harvesting the Momentum: The Power of Local in Building a Reliable Food System,” the Statewide Gathering will provide a forum to share the innovative food and agricultural responses to COVID-19 that developed across the state and explore more opportunities to emphasize the “power of local” in building a resilient and vibrant future for the NH food system.

The 2021 NH Food System Statewide Gathering's agenda features a variety of roundtable discussions, a Meet New Hampshire Makers virtual tasting event, a keynote address by Laura Brown of Fox Point Oysters, and Closing Notes & Call to Action by Evan Mallet of the Black Trumpet.


The 2021 NH Food System Statewide Gathering is presented in partnership with Sustainable UNH, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, UNH Extension, the Cooperative Development Institute, Greater Nashua Food Council, Vital Communities, Genuine Local, Seacoast Eat Local, Belknap County Conservation District, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, NH Farm to School, and Co-op Food Stores.

EVENT CONTACT: Colleen Stewart, colleen.stewart@unh.edu

Also through February: 




Tuesday, December 1, 2020

December update

Starting this month, I'll be engaging in eight weeks of Move Forward dissertation coaching with Katy Peplin of Thrive PhD. I participated in two webinars for #AcWriMo (Academic Writing Month) in November and highly recommend this blog.

This will support my research/writing plan for December and January. The other part of my plan is a shared "peer power" calendar for co-working sessions. These are open to all researchers, writers, educators, and students, with an open agenda focused on individual goals. Please join me or offer a time that works for you.

Also this month, I'll be completing a Campus Compact fusion course: Enhancing Online Education through Community-Based Learning, with Maine Campus Compact in partnership with Campus Compact for New Hampshire and Campus Compact for Southern New England. The course will be a chance to strengthen:

  • community-based and problem-based learning pedagogy
  • modeling online learning tools, techniques, and technologies
  • engaged online teaching and building community online

 Other activities coming up in December:

Thursday, December 3: Stories From the Field: Celebrating our Local Food System in Words, hosted by Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition.

Friday, December 4: Viewing and discussion of Maxima, a documentary about an Indigenous woman’s fight to protect her farmland in Peru from the world's largest gold producer, with the film's director, Claudia Sparrow, through Antioch University New England's Environmental Studies Department.

Wednesday, December 16: Food Access Advocacy Coalition (New Hampshire Food Alliance)

Want to co-work or collaborate? Let's connect.


Monday, November 16, 2020

Published in JAFSCD: Framing the fight: Food, history, and meaning in the mess

I was invited by the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development to review Food Fights: How History Matters to Contemporary Food Debates, edited by Charles C. Ludington and Matthew Morse Booker. My review published this month discusses how a historical perspective on food systems reveals "tension and convergence, missed opportunities, best-laid plans, and unintended consequences." 

The takeaway: "By partaking in more nuanced debate framed and informed by history, readers may find themselves less inclined to accept an oversimplified version of our current food reality and instead embrace a more meaningful, messy one."

If you know of an institution, course, or discussion group where this work could contribute, let's connect.  

Gerrior, J. (2020). Framing the fight: Food, history, and meaning in the mess. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development10(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.101.022



Friday, November 13, 2020

Monadnock Region, New Hampshire, and New England Food System Happenings for November 2020

Friday, November 13: Restaurants and COVID-19 Relief 

Presented by New Hampshire Food Alliance (NHFA)

Online event: Register here.

Subscribe to the NHFA newsletter here.

Monday, November 16: New Hampshire Agriculture Policy Forum

Presented by NH Food Alliance and Monadock Farm & Community Coalition (MFCC)

Online event: Register here.

More about MFCC events here.

Tuesday, November 17: Authentic Communication

Presented by Erin Allgood through Hannah Grimes Center

Online event: Register here.

More about Allgood Strategies here.

Tuesday, November 24: Indigenous Food Sovereignty (Sankofa Series)

Presented by Stephanie Morningstar through Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG)

Online event: Register here.

Get NESAWG updates here.

Saturday, November 21 - Sunday, November 22: Stonewall Farm Fare

Presented by Stonewall Farm. Details here.

More about Stonewall Farm here.



Monday, September 21, 2020

NH Farm to School Conference presentation

I co-presented an online workshop on Outdoor Learning Activities at the NH Farm to School Conference on October 8, 2020. Session information available here.