A Harvest Moon visible all year

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This article was published 19/11/2022 (1373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘Healthy land, healthy communities.”

That’s the motto of the Harvest Moon Society (HMS), which operates in and around the town of Clearwater, a 2 1/2-hour drive from Winnipeg. Located in the Pembina Valley, the small community is doing big things through the charitable organization, bustling year-round with planning and activity.

The society hosts the popular Harvest Moon Festival in the fall to celebrate the talents of local artists, the harvest of area producers and the beauty of the region, and to build bridges between rural and urban communities. The festival brings in more than 2,000 patrons annually and the revenue provides a boost to Clearwater organizations and businesses.

Throughout the year, the society also holds a variety of interactive community workshops on everything from cooking and yoga to fibre arts and planting. Participants can learn about tree health, share seeds and perennials, and gain skills on how to work with raw fleece, knit and crochet. In the summer, there’s educational programming for children. Various year-round university-related programs use the facility, and plans are underway for an artist residency.

Harvest Moon co-ordinator Dustin Mymko appreciates collaborating with passionate, dedicated volunteers, some of whom have been giving their time to the organization and its causes for more than 20 years.

“It’s really inspiring,” Mymko says. “We’re extremely welcoming, accepting and inclusive. We’re also passionate about food systems and working in the right direction. We have a great facility in Clearwater with dorm rooms, a commercial kitchen, classrooms, rainwater collection system, greenhouse and ‘secret garden.’ It’s a great place for gatherings, retreats and we’ve even hosted a couple weddings over the last few years.”

Most of the volunteers start out coming for the music of the Harvest Moon Festival, learn more about the society and its vision and then decide to contribute their time.

“We have a board of 12 that are all volunteers. Our education committee that plans our programming contains an additional eight volunteers. There are also another dozen or so volunteers from Clearwater and the surrounding area that put a lot of effort into helping maintain our grounds (gardens and greenhouse, especially) and the Lessons From the Land trail on the north side of town,” Mymko says.

Through partnership and consultation with the local Clearwater residents, the society purchased the town’s elementary school, which closed in 2001, and converted the building and grounds into the Harvest Moon Learning Centre, officially incorporated in 2003.

Founded in the spirit of co-operation, the centre’s programming aims to create a world in which healthy land and communities are celebrated by everyone, leading to equitable food systems, a sense of place and care for the environment, now and for generations to come. People from Cartwright, Mather, Clearwater, Crystal City, Pilot Mound and beyond attend workshops. The university programs see many students from Winnipeg, and international locations, taking part in courses and experiencing rural life in Manitoba for the first time.

Community connections with various organizations and institutions, including Prairie Spirit School Division and the University of Manitoba, have enabled a diversity of educational programming for all ages.

“HMS is an educational organization that strives to provide environmentally mindful programming,” says Mymko.

“Some of that we try and put together ourselves and some of it is through collaborations with other groups and organizations. Our facilities allow for groups to come from the city to experience rural life and natural environments.

“Trying to bridge the gap between urban and rural life is important to us. For example, we recently had a group of architecture students from the University of Manitoba come stay at the HMLC for a week while visiting the Dogs Run Farm and Fresh Roots Farm to get a little taste of farm life and to learn about incorporating sustainable food systems into their planning.”

The volunteer-led organization has a staff of three, with additional workers hired for summer programming.

“Together we maintain and animate the Harvest Moon Learning Centre and the Lessons From the Land hiking trail through the riparian area on the north edge of Clearwater,” Mymko says, adding summer programming features New Moon Youth Camp, a day camp for kids between the ages of seven and 11 that runs over three days.

The camp is full of environmentally minded programming such as Food Miles, where the kids bake cookies and learn about the distance each ingredient travels to learn about the importance of sourcing local ingredients. And there are New Moon Youth Nights for 12- to 17-year-olds on Wednesday evenings in the summer, where teens cook and share a meal and spend some time engaging in activities designed to improve self-confidence and teach leadership skills.

HMS has worked with Swan Lake First Nation elder and historian David Scott to host a series of truth and reconciliation conversations, alternating between Clearwater and the First Nation, where people learn about the history of the Indian Act and the treaties (particularly Treaty 1) and have discussions.

“Dave has also been gracious enough to spend time speaking with the artists who’ve come through our residencies discussing Indigenous perspectives on land stewardship and so much more,” Mymko says.

The society has been building connections with other like-minded organizations and groups for collaboration support and will continue to make that a priority.

“United Community Arts in Pilot Mound is one example, as is Pembina Valley Watershed District,” he says.

“We also work with Prairie Spirit School Division for field trips and our annual EcoChallenge. We tried this year to work with the Manitoba Association of Schooling at Home to host an HMS field trip but COVID got in the way of that so we’ll have to revisit.”

The Harvest Moon Society is active on Facebook and Instagram and has recently rolled out a new website (harvestmoonsociety.org). Anyone with an interest can sign up for a quarterly newsletter. The educational charity gratefully accepts donations, and tax receipts can be issued. Anyone looking to join a committee or help plan activities can email info@harvestmoonsociety.org.

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