2017 Feast on This! Film Festival

Sharing from the Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition: Join the Monadnock Farm and Community Coalitionand the Monadnock Food Coop for the  2017 Feast on This! Film Festival featuring films screened at the Los Angeles Food & Film Festival + featuring Real Food Media's  POPUP Film Festival FILM SCHEDULE *****   JOIN MFCC as we honor LOCAL FOOD HERO, FARMER JOHN'S PLOT, who is dedicated to educating, empowering and employing the next generation of farmers, while providing sustainable food to our surrounding communities. Honor follows screening of Real Food Media's POPup Film Festival on Saturday, November 11, 2017, 7pm - 9pm at The Hive at Hannah Grimes Center. (See Film Schedule) ***** Our films educate our community about the diverse issues affecting our national, regional and local food and agricultural systems.  We chose films that will spark conversation and action around building stronger local, regional and sustainable food systems. Suggested donation: $10/a film or $30/festival pass for sell at film venues.  All proceeds underwrite venue and film rental costs, and to the Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition.   Thank you to our generous sponsors! FESTIVAL SPONSORS: EVENT SUPPORT:   FILM SPONSORS:    PRODUCER: LOCAL FOOD FIGHTERS:   FILM DONORS: Dave Lavigne, Waste Management Anonymous Hoffman Family FESTIVAL PRODUCERS:  11 Industrial Park Drive Walpole, NH  03608 www.mfcommunitycoalition.org Facebook: /SupportMonadnockFarms Twitter: @MFCCoalition

Cultivating Community photovoice project

Cultivating Community: 

Portraying work in local food system issues as experienced by people in the Monadnock Region

Jess Gerrior, MS - Antioch University New England

Project Description:

This project involves people in the Monadnock Region who are engaged in work around local food system issues. Whether farming, gardening, educating, purchasing, or advocating for a more just, vibrant, and sustainable food system, there are many ways people experience this work. "Cultivating Community" is a doctoral service learning project focused on what their work entails, what it takes to do it, why they are involved, and what it means.

"Cultivating Community" events are informal gatherings for people engaged or interested in work around local food system issues. Participants are invited to share and discuss their perspectives. My role in the project is to facilitate the creation of a realistic portrayal of participants' work, which will be a new, shared resource: a mobile display of images and narratives that gives voice to those most deeply involved in the issues of local food systems.

This display will be housed by Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition (MFCC) so as to be accessible to the wider community of stakeholders, through events such as the Feast on This! Film Festival and partner organizations’ activities. It will offer a new way for participants, policy-makers, and change agents to connect with each other and communicate the nature and value of the work that is happening (and needs to happen) around local food.

The project is a response to a community-voiced need for better cohesion and synergy among various regional food efforts. The vision articulated by Food Solutions New England (FSNE) to grow 50 percent of the region’s food locally by 2060 is about more than getting enough to eat; it is “a future in which food nourishes a social, economic, and environmental landscape that supports a high quality of life for everyone, including generations to come.” MFCC’s mission and strategic plan are aligned with this vision and represent the combined efforts of over 73 member organizations, who will be able to lever this project to build capacity toward their respective missions, e.g., in fund raising, educational programming, or evaluation.

Aside from bringing scholarly inquiry to the on-the-ground work of local food systems, a hope for this project is to widen the "lens" for others to see themselves in this picture.

Invitation to the community:

(1) Any time you are engaged in gardening, farming, composting, cooking, educating, organizing, writing, or pretty much anything related to local food issues that can be photographed... 

• send me photos (new or old) and/or 
• let me know when I can photograph your work. I am happy to offer some hands-on assistance with your work in exchange for the opportunity to take photos. 

(2) Throughout October and early November 2017, join me and other community members to share about the stories and experiences behind the photos. The project calendar is listed here and on Facebook; you're welcome to share these links. These informal conversations, centered around your perspectives on local food system issues as you experience them in your work, are meant to be informal and fun. 

• If none of the dates listed on the project calendar work and you would like to offer another gathering over over tea, potluck, campfire, or any other occasion, click here to CONNECT.
• These gatherings are open to anyone who identifies with work on local food issues in the Monadnock Region, whether or not you have photos to contribute. 
• If you are traveling, it's always a good idea to call/text in advance to confirm: (603) 785-1759.

Mid-October update: 

As of this point, the Cultivating Community project has incorporated the Harrisville Farmers' Market, a locavore potluck, Community Garden Connections' Harvest Fest, the Cheshire County Conservation District's Dirt! film series, Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition's policy forum, gleaning at an apple orchard, packing produce boxes at The Community Kitchen, and other activities related to the work people are doing on local food issues in the Monadnock Region.

A Facebook page has been created for the project along with a series of event pages that can be shared. Please feel free to invite community members and attend whether or not you have photos to contribute.

During the week leading up to the Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition's Feast on This! film festival, participants are especially invited to "presentation preview sessions" to weigh in on the "final" product and ensure their collective voice is justly portrayed.

Who am I? I am a doctoral student in the Environmental Studies program at Antioch University New England. My scholarship focuses on community gardening and food empowerment. My roles have included sustainability coordinator, food co-op project manager, home and community gardener, educator, local food scholar, amateur photographer, mother, and master soup maker.

Donahue, B., Burke, J., Anderson, M., Beal, A., Kelly, T., Lapping, M., … Berlin, L. (2017). A New England Food Vision. Food Solutions New England. Retrieved from http://www.foodsolutionsne.org/sites/default/files/LowResNEFV_0.pdf

Campus Sustainability Month at Antioch University New England

Sharing from AUNE's Sustainability and Social Justice Committee: 

Antioch University New England will join colleges and universities around the globe and AASHE, The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, for Campus Sustainability Month!

Week 1:  

• Mon - Fri , Oct 2 - Oct 6   11am - 1pm  - Campus Sustainability Month Tabling!  (Upstairs Lobby)
• Learn more about sustainability efforts at AUNE
• Fill out a survey on FOOD INSECURITY (or fill it out here) to help us determine if students would benefit from a Food Pantry on campus 
• See what we have planned for the month
• Enter to Win an AUNE T-shirt, Sweatshirt, or Compost Pail!
• Friday, Oct 6, 6pm - FILM - Flow (Community Room)

Week 2:

• Wednesday, Oct 11, 11:30am - 12:30pm WORKSHOP: The Story of Stuff: Living Simply (Community Room)
• Friday, Oct 13, 5-7pm, "5 at the Hive" NETWORKING EVENT - "Sustain Service - Feed Hope" with Whole Terrain (at the Hannah Grimes Center, 25 Roxbury St) 

Week 3:

• Oct 15 - 18, AASHE National Conference (San Antonio, TX)
• Tuesday, Oct 17 - WORK DAY - help install a Bike Fix It Station & Repair bike racks (email ssj@antioch.edu for more info & to sign up)
• Thursday, Oct 19 - BIKE PATH CLEAN UP - with Whole Terrain and the AUNE Admissions Office. Two times: 11:15-12:45 and 4:15 - 6pm and join us for happy hour at 6pm! (meet in lobby)
• Friday, Oct 20 - 4:30pm FILM & FOOD - Plant Pure Nation - (Community Room) A variety of yummy plant-based dishes will be served!

Week 4:

• Mon- Fri, Oct 23 - 27:  LUNCHTIME CONVERSATIONS: Updating AUNE's Sustainability Vision (time and location TBD)
• Wednesday, Oct 25 - 6pm- FILM - Damnation (Location TBD)

Week 5:

• Monday, Oct 30 - 6pm FILM (Title & Location TBD)
• Tuesday, Oct 31 - Happy Halloween!  Find your costume in the ReUse Room!

If you have any questions or suggestions for other sustainability events or initiatives, Contact the Sustainability and Social Justice Committee: email ssj@antioch.edu, call (603) 283-2361, visit us in our office (past HR and IT), or like us on Facebook. We'd love to hear from you!

Dirt! Today's film screening and continuing events in October-November

I will be at these events as a participant and to photograph activities as part of my doctoral service learning project. Please join us! Film Screening TOMORROW!  Tuesday, October 3rd at 6:00pm Stonewall Farm in Keene, NH

DIRT! The Movie DIRT! The Movie brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil. Following the film, Keene State Professor, Dr. Mark Long, will facilitate a panel discussion on the topic of soil and its role as the foundation of a healthy food system - and society.

View the Trailer

More events in our Dirt Series! The Natural and Cultural History of Soil is a series of educational events on the theme of soil as the foundation of a healthy food system - and society. Supported in part by funding from a NH Humanities Community Project Grant and a partnership with Professor Mark C. Long of Keene State College, this series of events culminates with two talks by author David Montgomery in early November.   October 19th - Panel & Roundtable Discussion of David Montgomery books: Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, The Hidden Half of Nature, & Growing a Revolution 6pm at Stonewall Farm     November 2nd - Keynote address by David Montgomery at the CCCD Annual Meeting Banquet Dinner 5pm at the Marriott in downtown Keene, NH - $20 for Cheshire County residents!     November 3rd - Free talk by David Montgomery 11am at the Keene State College Centennial Hall, 229 Main St. Keene, NH

Leading up to this event, 50 books by Dr. Montgomery will be made available for community members to borrow at the Keene Public Library and the Cheshire County Conservation District office in Walpole, library card not needed.     To reserve a book or RSVP to one of our events contact the CCCD at 603-756-2988 x115/116 or email lola@cheshireconservation.org