Newsbites Archive

Indoor Seed Starting Workshop | Register Now!

In partnership with Capital Greens, we’re hosting this workshop where you’ll learn how to get nearly 100% germination, and how to create the ideal conditions for your seedlings to grow into strong, healthy, high-yielding vegetable crops!

WHEN: Two identical workshops: March 30 and 31 from 1-2:30pm
WHERE: Online
COST: $10 per person
(If payment is an issue, participants can attend for free at the registration pages below) 
RSVP: For March 30th, please register at http://justfood.nationbuilder.com/indoor_seed_starting_workshop_20200331

For March 31st, please register at http://justfood.nationbuilder.com/indoor_seed_starting_workshop

These workshops will be hosted by Just Food with community partners, and will be provided at cost ($10/person).

*Note that there will be a chat feature which you will be able to use to ask questions during the workshop!

The webinar will begin with a ~30-minute “classroom session” (to get you up to speed on some of the theory) followed by ~1hr demonstration in you’ll be shown how to prepare your growing medium, fill your pots, plant your seeds, and then care for your seedlings.

A hands-on tutorial with face-to-face interaction would be better in terms of education, but we feel an obligation to do our part to protect the vulnerable people in our community, and to slow the spread of this virus.

Transforming and Sustaining Local Food: Ottawa’s 2020 Local Food Networking Event

WHEN: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO COVID_19 CONCERNS AND CAMPUS CLOSURES
WHERE: Restaurant International, Algonquin College School of Hospitality
COST: $0 (Lunch included) *Parking is $4/hour
RSVP:

Join us for the Ottawa Local Food Networking Event for farmers, chefs, food retailers and processors on Monday, April 6, 2020 from 11:00am – 2:00pm (previous date March 10). 

Presented by the Algonquin College School of Hospitality and Tourism in partnership with the Egg Farmers of Ontario, Just Food, City of Ottawa and Ottawa Tourism.

RSVP required: priority will be given to local farmers, chefs, retailers, and processors.

Free lunch, courtesy of our sponsors!

Highlights

• Presentation from the Mayor on the new Rural Strategy and Action Plan
• Highlights from local food regional innovators on sustainability including a keynote by David Beking of Beking’s Poultry Farm

February 2020 Newsletter

News and Events in the Ottawa Region  

Just Food News and Events 

1. Fermentation Training – LAST CHANCE to Register for First Session  

2. Feb 28 | Agri-Art Tour 2020 Information Sessions

3. Mar 7 | Ottawa West Seedy Saturday

4. Apr 18 | Ottawa East Seedy Saturday at the Just Food Farm

5. Learn to Keep Bees with Success | Registration Open for 2020!

Other News and Events 

6. Mar 14, Apr 4, 18 and May 2 | 2020 Urban Organic Gardening Seminars

7. Permaculture Meetup Group in Ottawa

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If you received this monthly newsletter from someone else and would like to receive it directly, sign up here. If you have a food or farm-related event or issue that you would like posted on this newsletter, send a request to info@justfood.ca.         

Although all volunteers and community partners of Just Food want to ensure Ottawa has a vibrant, accessible, sustainable food system, we have many diverse perspectives on how to get there. Just Food welcomes this diversity and believes that it is through working collaboratively with different opinions that we will arrive at a healthy food system for all. Any information that Just Food sends can include information from different community members and community partners and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Just Food.  If you ever have a question about any information listed here, please do not hesitate to e-mail info@justfood.ca or call 613-824-7771.

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1. Fermentation Training Sessions    

Last chance to register for the first session starting March 4 (postponed from Feb 26 due to weather). Registration for Second Session is still open.

WHO: People who sell food or are planning to sell food
WHEN: First session is three Wednesday evenings:
March 4, March 11 (and the third date TBD together with participants on March 4) – 6pm to 9pm  
Second identical session is two weekends:
April 25 and May 2 – 10am to 3:30pm
WHERE: Just Food Farm (2391 Pépin Court – Bus #25 and free parking) 
COST: $110            
RSVP: Click here to register

Topics include:

• Non-alcohol fermentation and its potential for incorporating into your existing food/farm business
  
• Lacto-fermentation such as making kimchi and tabasco style hot sauce
  
• Fermenting beans and peas for making miso and tempeh
  
• Grain fermentation varieties, including no-sweetener-added desserts such as sweet rice ferment or jiuniang, and using grains in vegetable lacto-fermentation
  
• Daily ferment such as kefir
  
• And many more…

Please contact chigarden2015@gmail.com if you have any questions about the event.

2. Feb 28 | Agri-Art Tour 2020 Information Sessions

WHEN: Friday, February 28, 7-8:30 pm
WHERE: Just Food Farm Red Barn, 2391 Pépin Court, Ottawa

Join the Eastern Ontario Agri-Food Network and Just Food for an information session that will interest farmers, processors, food producers, artisans and artists across Eastern Ontario. The Agri-Art Tour 2020 will take place from September 3-5 across eastern Ontario, if you are interested in hosting or being a vendor at a host location, come to the info session above.

For more info contact phil@justfood.ca and see the poster here.

3. Mar 7 | Ottawa West Seedy Saturday 

Come and stop by the Ottawa Seedy Saturday on March 7! 

WHEN: Saturday March 7 from 10am to 3pm
WHERE: Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre, Britannia Beach, 102 Greenview Ave
RSVP: For more info, please click here

There will be plenty of fun to be had with a day of garden talks and seed sales, and seed exchanges. 

4. Apr 18 | Ottawa East Seedy Saturday at the Just Food Farm

New in 2020—a second Seedy Saturday event is happening in East Ottawa, brought to you by Just Food in partnership with Greta’s Organic Gardens!!

WHEN: Saturday, April 18
WHERE: Just Food Farm (2391 Pépin Court – Bus #25 and free parking)
COST: Free admission – free workshops
RSVP: Keep your eyes on this newsletter for details

As a complement to the long-running, always bustling Ottawa Seedy Saturday in Britannia in early March (see above), this East end event will give you another chance to find, buy or swap seeds as well as many seedlings.  

If you are a seed vendor and would like to participate, contact info@justfood.ca

5. Learn to Keep Bees with Success | Registration Open for 2020!

Capital Bees is now accepting registration for their Hands-On Natural Beekeeping Program.

The course runs from April through October and is held in the apiary at the Just Food Farm in Blackburn Hamlet. Capital Bees provides the support you need to keep your bees alive and thriving.

To register or for more info, please click here.

6. Mar 14, Apr 4, 18 and May 2 | 2020 Urban Organic Gardening Seminars

The Urban Organic Gardening Seminars are back for 2020!

WHERE: Hintonburg Community Centre, 1064 Wellington St
WHEN: Saturday mornings 9:30am-12:30 pm
March 14th, April 4th, April 18th, May 2nd
COST: One session $20, all four sessions $70
(Discounts are available for students and those facing financial barriers)
RSVP: To register or for more info, please click here

Whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned horticulturist, there’s always something to learn from Canadian Organic Growers’ gardening seminars. Each session has two seminars touching on a different gardening skill such as seed starting, planning, composting and seed saving. 

7. Permaculture Meetup Group in Ottawa 

Learn about permaculture with the new Meetup / Facebook group for the Ottawa-Gatineau area!

This is a discussion and skill-sharing group for all things permaculture including mushroom hunts, local permaculture tours, looking at permaculture applications in our daily lives, experiencing local food, geo/solar greenhouses, etc.

Check out their Meetup group here and their Facebook page here.

Fermentation Training 2020 | Register Now!

WHO: People who sell food or are planning to sell food
WHEN: First session is three Wednesday evenings:
February 26, March 4, March 11 – 6pm to 9pm  
Second session is two weekends:
April 25 and May 2 – 10am to 3:30pm
WHERE: Just Food Farm (2391 Pépin Court – Bus #25 and free parking) 
COST: $110            
RSVP: Click here to register

Topics include:

• Non-alcohol fermentation and its potential for incorporating into your existing food/farm business
• Lacto-fermentation such as making kimchi and tabasco style hot sauce
• Fermenting beans and peas for making miso and tempeh
• Grain fermentation varieties, including no-sweetener-added desserts such as sweet rice ferment or jiuniang, and using grains in vegetable lacto-fermentation
• Daily ferment such as kefir
• And many more…

Please contact  chigarden2015@gmail.com  if you have any questions about the event.

Background: What is fermentation? Why ferment?
Why is Just Food providing fermentation training?

Just Food partners with Chi Garden to provide a fermentation training that covers the history, science, safety, regulations, and techniques of fermentation. This training will take a system-approach and gives the participants an overview and comparison of many different fermented foods in the market as well as a variety of applications and new product ideas.

Similar to sustainable farming, fermentation is about working with good microbes. Some of these beneficial microbes occur naturally (such as in sauerkraut-making) while others were selectively domesticated, and co-evolved with humans for thousands of years (such as in miso-making).

The training session is designed for businesses that sell food, make food for various clientele, or plan on doing so in the Ottawa region. These can include restaurants, kitchens, food processors, grocery stores and farms.

Vegetables, grains, seeds, beans and peas, meat, dairy can all be found in their fermented forms. Come and find out how you can add fermented products into your business for wonderful taste, variety, cost-effectiveness, waste-reduction, innovation, and more!

From kefir to kombucha, from kimchi to miso, fermented foods have been steadily rising as a food trend.

Yet fermentation is much more than a fashion. It re-connects us to some of the most exciting culinary cultures around the world. Fermentation IS culture.

Although fermentation is now associated with cool trendy foods and even fine dining, it was originally associated with affordability. Since fermentation can turn ordinary ingredients into very tasty, safe and nutritious products, it helps empower communities and people with limited means.

Fermentation can also be used to divert food waste, and give new life to end-of-day produce. Fermentation techniques are low-cost, easy to learn and require no fancy equipment or technology.

Fermentation techniques can make food taste great in a way that is safe, nutritious, and preserves much longer. Our ancestors fine-tuned fermentation techniques long before science and understanding of the microbes at work.

Fermentation is an ingrained part of the local food movement. The sharing of global fermentation knowledge has opened up unprecedented opportunities to revamp the uses of local ingredients and turn them into diverse and amazing sauces, condiments, drinks, and staples.