2023 Work-for-Produce program

Want to REALLY know where your food comes from? Come help us out on the farm in exchange for fresh produce this summer. Keep reading for full details.

“Get Dirty to Eat”

2023 Farm Work-for-Produce Exchange! Share in Knowledge, Soil and Hope

This season we will be offering people the opportunity to trade labor for produce. We have very specific tasks that we need help with and we know that we will have a labor shortage this season. Mandy’s farm, on a good weather day, is a fun place to enjoy working hard and finding your own peace. One does have to be mindful of wasps, but other than that it is a place where you can enjoy the soil, the sun, the wind, and all that nature brings!

What to Bring for a Volunteer Session

• Drinking water (our well water is also available, depending on your constitution)

• Sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat

• Bug spray

• A few pairs of work gloves

• Layered clothing for cooler mornings and hotter afternoons

• Optional: Small bluetooth speaker for music. Headphones get in the way of communicating.

A Typical Work Day

• We usually go from 8 am to 5 pm with breaks as needed.

• Please bring your own lunch or you can stop and go eat at the Gathering Place Co-op.

• Pitch your tent if you would like to stay for a few days. Showers and kitchen available.

• Mandy’s day doesn’t end when yours does, if you stay you will have time to relax and enjoy the farm. There are great places to walk, bike, read, and visit.

The Fine Print

• To prevent the threat of Avian flu to our flock, all shoes and tires need to be bleached before entering the yard. There is a spray bottle at the mailbox.

• There is no minimum time commitment necessary; however, volunteering once a week is nice if you can make it. This helps you get orientated and then you can work unsupervised when necessary. Regular visits allow you to see the progress of the crops and animals throughout the season.

• Farm work is physical and days are long. You may come and find that your body can only handle a few hours at a time. Do not be put off if it is not a good fit for you! There are other tasks that might be a great fit at the farm for you, for example drying garlic or processing dill!

Mandy is very generous, and we will discuss the product exchange on an individual basis before you arrive at the farm. Youth are welcome but require your supervision! If you are interested in a Work-for-Produce Exchange, please email Mandy at mandy@meadowcreekfarms.ca or call her at 1-780-650-2047. For specific tasks and weekly opportunities, please continue reading below.

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Opportunities Monday through Saturday

May/June

• Weeding Bulbil ( seed garlic)

• Weeding Garlic

• Transplanting onions and tomatoes

• Planting onion sets

• All of the above work requires working on your hands and knees and a lot of bending

• Getting produce ready for market at the Gathering Place Co-op

June /July

• Hand-weeding all produce

• Possible picking raspberries depending on the growth conditions

• Picking dill and preserving it

• Getting produce ready for market at the Gathering Place Co-op

August

• Garlic harvest involves many aspects including digging and drying

• Picking cucumber and beets, making pickles

• Cutting cabbage and making sauerkraut

• Picking and preserving herbs

• Picking raspberries. This involves a great deal of clothing as the wasps are very bad in the berry patch.

• Getting produce ready for market at the Gathering Place Co-op

September/October

• Planting Garlic this involves work on your hands and knees and allot of bending as well as walking and spreading diatomaceous earth

Join the Resistance to Industrial Meat

Dear amazing humans,

My wish for you, is that you are able to embrace the spring and make plans for a hopeful and beautiful summer. As you do this, I ask you to consider how my little farm will fit in to your story. I am currently busy booking birds, ordering feed, raising hogs and making grow plans for the field.

I am asking you, if you can, can you please put down a deposit of $500 between now and July. Chicks, fuel and feed and wages have gone up just a little too much for me to handle production with sales only.

Your deposit will be returned to you in product by between September and Dec of 2023. You will choose what product you would like for your return. I will provide you updates of credit remaining. This would be in addition to your monthly purchases. Deposits can be incremental if that helps.

When you can shake the hand of the farmer raising your food, you are apart of a food resistance movement protesting the mass industrial food industry. For this I say “ Thank you for joining our movement”

“Kevin and I were talking about the essence of food resistance last night. There was a recent article he read in the Globe and Mail about eco kitchen choices and it made no mention of meal planning. Meal planning and sticking to it has been the core pillar of reducing our impact on the planet. Coupled with responsible sourcing which has been hugely supported by your persistence” Alexa Keightley Fort McMurray resident, Meadow Creek Farm Villager

To be informed is the best way you can carve out how we, at the farm fit into your plan and story!

Below is a list of solid resources that will help describe the mass amount of power and profit the industrial processing and retail sectors have. Keeping in mind that the word “ Local” doesn’t always mean it was sourced by a small farm.

• https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/price-discrimination-column-don-pittis-1.6799620

• https://financialpost.com/commodities/agriculture/why-only-three-meat-packing-plants-process-the-vast-majority-of-canadas-beef

• https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/inflation-probe-grocers-competition-bureau

• https://foodpolicyforcanada.info.yorku.ca/backgrounder/problems/reliance-on-exports/

Our April Dates are:

Edmonton South- April 22

Edmonotn North April 29

Fort McMurray – April 24

Let me know what you would like for sausage for the may long weekend, I also have a sale on pork belly, size varies from 3 -10 lbs $11 /lbs .and loads of chicken on sale. https://www.meadowcreekfarms.ca/product-page/clear-out-chicken-breast-sale

Lastly I am curious, I was thinking of getting some smoked chicken breast for you to try, would you like that? Let me know!

There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.

— Seth Godin

Thank you with all my heart

May the force be with you and the wind be

at your back

M

2022 Word of the Year

Friends, it is my hope that you have enjoyed a few special moments over the last few weeks. I have so appreciated and enjoyed the well wishes and stories of the beautiful meals you have shared and it is truly an honor to be a part of your story!

As journalist and author Liz Gilbert suggests, every person has a word. Each year brings us inevitable transformations of one kind or another, and I believe there is power in acknowledging it with a chosen word.

My word for 2022 was inspired by all the characters who choose to participate in the story of Meadow Creek Farms and a movement that goes against the grain.

Eccentricity is the word that is dedicated and celebrated for 2022 and by definition is “unusual behavior that other people consider strange.”

It is an honor to have all of you share in the Eccentricities of building and sustaining a food system and being courageous enough to believe in and discuss a food system that is different than the status quo! One united fist is stronger than five pointing fingers. Together we make a mighty fist!

Thank you for your patience, questions and engagement with our Farm. It is super important to me that you understand we are only ever a phone call away and if you ever need a place to find peace or enjoy your own eccentricities, you are welcome to visit us! There is always a lot to fill the senses and the imagination at our little nook in the north.

Without you, we would have no Farm or Gathering Place Co-op! THANK YOU with all my heart, and I wish you a fun, creative and loving 2023!

May the force be with you,

M