‘Agrarian After Dark’ seeks to build local-minded connections

Farmers and food producers will meet with Manitobans curious about consuming local products to discuss how the sausage — and the vegetables, honey and grain — is made at a gathering planned for this weekend in Winnipeg.

Harvest Moon Society will host the third annual “Agrarian After Dark” at the Park Theatre on Saturday evening, bringing local farmers, ranchers and historians to the Riverview and Lord Roberts neighbourhoods strip, which co-ordinator Dustin Mymko describes as a “hub” for local-minded shopping.

“We’ve definitely seen an increased interest in buying local, in growing your own food and in the creation of that closer-knit sort of community,” he said Monday.

That interest has only grown as Manitobans have increasingly committed to shopping local in the midst of an ongoing trade war with the U.S., said Mymko.

“We’ve run into problems with our southern neighbour and I think it’s really brought that into focus for a lot of people, knowing where their food comes from and what’s all involved,” he said. “And we try not to be political but everything is politics, and food, most especially, has a heavy political element to it.”

For Marika Dewar-Norosky, executive director of Manitoba Organics and a grain farmer in the village of Newdale, co-organizing and presenting at Saturday’s event is a chance to discuss what she describes as the gambling aspect of farming.

“I think that anyone that’s grown a garden or been involved in growing food has seen that you can put a lot of energy into it and not always reap the benefits from that — and in large-scale agriculture, it’s no different,” she said. “The weather can be your best friend, but it can also be your enemy.”

That truth became especially relevant last year, when heavy rain forced some farmers, like Dewar-Norosky, to reconsider their crops — she said grain initially meant for human consumption will now be sold as animal feed — and others weren’t able to harvest at all.

She hopes the information is useful for Winnipeg backyard farmers and community garden users — and those who may be newer to local shopping, too.

“You might not be buying in a farmers market or (community-supported agriculture), but you’re still engaging in agriculture every single day,” she said.

At Big Oak Farm, a small family-run farm south of Morden with Icelandic sheep, beehives and vegetables, all sales are directly to the consumer — and come with a side of education.

“We have a relationship with the people who eat the food that we produce,” Big Oak Farm co-founder Jennifer deGroot said. “We give them more than the basics about the food, we give them information about how it’s grown and how the weather is affecting us, and different issues around food production.”

DeGroot will discuss an initiative she was part of in 2007, where some 100 Manitobans committed to strictly eating local for just over three months.

The “100 Mile Manitoba” project was a huge success at the time, deGroot said, and many of the people who took part still eat largely local today.

She’s working on organizing a similar initiative this summer. “I just want people to know that it’s doable and it’s not hard,” she said.

Tickets for Saturday’s event can be purchased on the Park Theatre’s website.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca