The Year of the Farmer Steps into the Sun

Hillhurst Sunnyside Farmers’ Market Outdoor Season begins May 15th

When the Wednesday tents go up outside the HSCA, you know summer is just around the corner. It is the beginning of the outdoor Farmers’ Market season! Sure, we might be a little keen, making the move outside the week before May Long weekend, but as a year-round market, our vendors are eager to get out of the confines of our indoor set up, and into the sunshine and fresh air!

To reflect our excitement of being back outside, our Outdoor Season Opener –the first special event of many for the 2019 season- takes on a street party feel.  On May 15th, we make the move; come celebrate local with us from 3-7pm! Our strong line-up of local vendors bring you the best in YYC produce, honey, soap, bread, meats, prepared foods and more. Two food trucks provide great on-site dinner options. Get to know your grower to win prizes, and participate in games with your neighbours! Kids will also have a chance to plant their very own bean seeds to take home and nurture. Local favourite, The Sadlier-Brown Band will be playing the Sweet Beet Stage from 5-7pm. They are a family trio playing bouncy bluegrass, sure to get you groovin’. Our Outdoor Season Opener is a great way to kick off a season of community connection, outdoor play, and healthy habits.

Beyond our Outdoor Season Opener, our Farmers’ Market family gathers in the East parking lot of the HSCA every Wednesday until mid-October when we find refuge from the cold back inside the Hearth Room. Until then, expect to find our tents out there, filled with smiling vendors bringing you their high-quality products no matter the weather. We are so much more than a venue for growers to connect with their consumers, and in an effort to ‘grow a good food community’ we are always coming up with ways to make your Wednesday’s something special that you can look forward to week after week. Each week our Sweet Beet Stage hosts live local talent, our Community Booth gives you the opportunity to engage with important grassroots work being done in your neighbourhood, and our Incubator Booth gives you the chance to test new products all season long. We also have special events planned for each month from our Pollinator Party, to our Teddy Bear Picnic, our annual Salsa Fest and Harvest Fair. Keep up with all these events and more on Facebook.

2019 is our Year of the Farmer and we can’t wait to take this party outside! We will transform your weekly grocery shop from complicated to conscious, and give you a reason to love Wednesday’s again. See you at the market!

Written by Heather Ramshaw, Community Connections Coordinator & Farmers’ Market Manager

Canada's Food Guide - A Welcome Change

The new Canada’s Food Guide is a welcome change from the highly structured and restrictive days of its past. The new guide no longer looks to dictate your diet in perfect portions, but actually act as a guide. The eye-catching new plate diagram is a much easier portioning system to understand, and replaces the old (highly-industry influenced) rainbow. The main recommendation is simple: eat more plants. It isn’t about cutting out meat, dairy and grains, but simply shifting our portion sizes to have the focus be on vegetables and fruits.

These positive, plant and protein focused changes are highly important to the health of Canadians of all ages, however our favourite parts of the new food guide are actually in the additional recommendations. They encourage Canadians to try out some revolutionary ideas: cook more often, eat with others, and enjoy your food! Okay, maybe they aren’t so revolutionary, but they are surprisingly relevant reminders in a time where we applaud being busy, and prioritize convenience over our own well-being. Here are some of our own tips and tricks to help you explore these ideas:

Cook more often:

Cooking takes time, and if that is something you’re short on, try to carve out just a couple of times a week that you commit to cooking dinner- and get the whole family involved if possible! Make it fun by trying a new recipe (pro tip- head to the third floor of our new downtown Calgary Public Library and take out a cookbook to base a whole meal around), play music or listen to a podcast while you cook, or appoint one of the kids ‘head chef’ and allow them to choose the meal plan for the evening. Feeling uninspired? Come by our weekly Farmers’ Market on Wednesday to find some fresh ingredients or chat food with our awesome vendors.

Eat meals with others:

Host a potluck or dinner club with your friends and neighbours! Themes help make group meals easier- choose a culture to explore, have guests bring items that align with the theme, and play music from that country to create some great atmosphere! New to the neighbourhood or looking for a way to get to know some more folks in the area? Every Thursday at the HSCA from 6-8pm everyone is welcome at our Neighbour Night program where you can share in a vegetarian meal, and a fun activity. Additionally, the second Friday of every month we host a Community Potluck- all are welcome!

Enjoy your food:

It seems simple, but when it comes to food- you should enjoy it! Eat what you like. But of course, try to keep the focus on plants! If you don’t like vegetables much, find at least one you do enjoy (at least a little bit!) and look up several different ways to prepare it. Cauliflower doesn’t always have to be steamed and bland… try it as a garlic mash, with chickpeas in a curry, or as cauliflower “chicken” wings. If you don’t enjoy what you’re eating, you’ll cook less, and rely more on processed and convenience foods. Eat local to improve flavour and nutritional value, and try new things! Variety is the spice of life after all.

• Written by Heather Ramshaw - Community Programs Coordinator

Volunteer to be Part of the Bigger Picture

Written by Allison Harrison

Photo taken at our 2018 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner

Volunteer opportunities can be limitless, they can also be fun exciting ways to get involved with something you feel extremely passionate about. What is volunteering? It is the commitment of time and energy, for the benefit of the society and the community, the environment or individuals outside one’s immediate family. It is undertaken freely and by choice, without concern for financial gain.

Benefits of volunteering:

·       help you connect with others

·       energize your body and mind

·       advance your career by obtaining new skills

·       fun and fulfilling.

Connections with others is big in today’s society, networking is one of the greatest ways to advance yourself in life, whether it be to benefit your career or your social life. The skills you gain from volunteering can benefit your career path. Not everyone is able to commit to school on a full or part time basis, but the casual opportunity volunteering can provide can help build a skill you may not have or help in further development with ones you already have.  Seniors benefit as much from volunteering as an anyone else, keeping a commitment can help ward off depression, and give a sense of belonging that may be missing from their daily lives. Children benefit from volunteering as well, it helps foster empathy and a sense of self efficacy, both characteristics that if learned at a young age can boost emotional and cognitive learning.

So how do you pick the right volunteer opportunity for you? Choose a cause you are passionate about. Not only does it benefit you with fulfillment, but the organization also benefits from your enthusiasm and drive. Choose an opportunity that matches your interests, skills, and schedule. Do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone either, that is where true skill building comes into play. Upload your resume on volunteer sites to help those looking for volunteers understand your skills and interests while giving them a general idea of who you are. Stay in touch with those who you have given a resume to, volunteering is no different that applying for a job and those who stay on top of places you have contacted will not go unnoticed.

The experience you get from volunteering is up to you.

Basic principles to keep in mind are:

·       honour your volunteer commitments

·       the time you committed to them is important and necessary and was already planned for

·       stay professional, volunteering is often an assigned role and an opportunity that should be treated the same as a paid position

·       take the opportunity to let the organization know what you like about the role and what you feel could be improved upon when asked

·       you are an important part in helping many organizations and not for profit stay in the game

Here at Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association, we have an extensive and varied selection of opportunities, which can be found by visiting: www.HSCA.ca. You can participate in a range of activities or event such as, food programs, Casinos, recreational programs (such as soccer), Board of Directors positions, committees, supporting seniors and more. For all of the above reasons and more we hope you will consider lending your time and skills to Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association and your neighbours, plus, HSCA hosts a pretty amazing volunteer appreciation dinner you can get an invite to in recognition of your support.

Sources Cited:

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm/

https://volunteer.ca/index.php?MenuItemID=342

https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/developing-empathy-in-children-and-youth.pdf

https://www.volunteermatch.org/volunteers/gettingstarted/

HSCA continues to be a Good Food Organization, joining organizations from across Canada in working towards a healthy and equitable food system.

It’s a good food (and news!) story. HSCA is pleased to announce that we have joined Community Food Centres Canada’s Good Food Organizations program, for the fourth year, to showcase our commitment to offering impactful community food programs based in principles of health, empowerment, and respect. With over 130 other Good Food Organizations and eight Community Food Centres across the country, we are working toward a healthy and fair food system.

Launched in 2014, the Good Food Organizations program offers access to tools and resources, customized training, attendance at an annual conference, and chances to network and promote shared priorities. By working together through a set of shared principles, this important initiative connects HSCA to like-minded and progressive organizations across the country that are using food to tackle problems of poor health, inequality, hunger, and poverty.  

HSCA offers a number of food programs which include, a weekly year-round farmers’ market, community gardens and Fresh Food Basket, a weekly food access program for residents struggling to access fresh food. Good food is present in many of our other programs as well. These include, meals and snacks made from scratch in our childcare programs, and a healthy, vegetarian dinner served at Neighbour Night each week. 

“The Good Food Organizations program provides support and inspiration to organizations across the country — community health centres, food banks, community markets, and many others — that are doing important grassroots food work,” said Kathryn Scharf COO for Community Food Centres Canada. We have seen how when community food programs foreground healthy food in a dignified setting that offers meaningful opportunities for engagement, there can be a profoundly positive impact on people’s health and overall well-being. We want to amplify these outcomes to build a national case for an investment in healthy food for all.”

We are proud to be a Good Food Organization working towards a healthy and fair food system in alliance with Community Food Centres Canada. We are joining a growing network of like-minded organizations across Canada who share a commitment to offering healthy and dignified food programs in their communities.