Robert Lovelace’s analogy for how colonization happened in Canada.
I think parts of this can be applied to other ‘settled’ lands, too. Lovelace did a pretty great job, so give it a read!
Click for Chickens: Colonialism for Dummies (a story about chickens to help explain Canadian history) | rabble.ca
One wicked way to reduce your garbage if you are going to hit up a fast food place!
~Watch for the fake french fry! I died.~
https://www.nfb.ca/film/normas_story#temp-share-panel
Norma Kassi’s true story about living off the land and the changes to her environment due to climate change.
It is important to realize that in Southern Canada and the USA, we may not feel the impacts as much as the people in the North or people in countries overseas do. The lands and the people on it are impacted the most, yet they are in no way contributing to the increase of Carbon dioxide and other Green House Gasses in the same scale.
This is a beautiful short film, with an important message:
Tread Lightly
~ <3
p.s. Sorry I can’t get the embed file to work, just click the link!
Mass Blanket Exercise on Parliament Hill during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission‘s Calls to Action.
I should have shared this before Thanksgiving, but it is always important to be thankful for what we have. Everyday! Not just on holidays.
I am gracious for being able to travel to Ottawa this summer so I could hear the stories of survivors at TRC. I feel like things are changing and there is hope for the future. Being a part of this video makes me feel like I’m part of this history! What an honor.
Created by KAIROS, the model of the blanket exercise is used to gain perspective on the true history of Canada; how colonization affected the people who lived here first.
As a Canadian who is living on the land where many consider genocide to have occurred, I think the blanket exercise humbled me incredibly. History books in school lied to me.
This is a very quick activity and is free to use by anyone, anywhere (offices, classrooms, community events etc.) it has even been adapted to be used with grades 1 and up.
No time to make a sign. No time to be a bee! 
But I still marched. I made a difference. One voice among thousands. We shouted
“HEY, HEY! HO, HO! GMOS HAVE GOT TO GO!”
We let our city know what we want:
“SEED FREEDOM”
& when we wanted it
“NOW!”
— — — — — — — —
It was my first time going to MAMTO, yet it felt so natural to me.
All morning I stared at my breakfast, mulling over my food choices. Where they organic? No. Where did they come from? I don’t even want to think about it.
How many GMOs are snuck into the food I eat everyday?
Denial.
I’ll admit it, I know about all the awful pesticides killing our lovely pollinators.
I try to buy local, farm-friendly and organic when I can, but I am unemployed and trying to get to university.
It’s hard to vote with your money when you don’t have any!
— – — — –
Attending events like March Against Monsanto, going to local farmers markets and supporting programs such as Food Share, FarmTOFork, or the Toronto GMO Coalition can still make a difference — even if you can’t afford to buy 100% organic and fair trade products.
Volunteering is a free way to show your support.
*PRO TIP* sometimes you get free stuff!
At the end of the march, I got to hear a few bands play in Christie Pits along with many speakers. I wish I remembered their names. These are real people making change! Some sacrificed their jobs standing up for what they believe in.
It blew me away that one girl (16) started advocating for labeling GMOs when she was just 11 years old!
If she can do it, we all can.
Step up and fight for a world we are proud to be a part of.
♥ A.R.T.T. xx
Some foods are so versatile, you can literally cook up a whole pot and leave it in your refrigerator.
Wild Rice is one of those fantastic foods gifted to us from the wetlands of North America. You can add infinite ingredients to wild rice! Mixing, making and experimenting with different methods. You can bake, steam and fry it. Endless possibilities.
I made a pot of rice for dinner and had lots of left overs. I didn’t want to waste it, so I stuck it in the fridge and the next morning I experimented.
What I made was so delicious. I need to share this with you!
Soooo yummy!
Wild Rice Porridge doesn’t do it justice… so I decided to call it “YUMM”!
My attempts to be dairy-free also makes this vegan. Booyah.
It is really nourishing, so you don’t need much to get fueled.
Yields: 1 large serving or 2 small ones.
INGREDIENTS:
– 2/3 cup Organic [Canadian] Wild Rice
– 1 large pear*
– handful of raw pepitas [pumpkin seeds]*
– mini-handful of chia seeds
– 2 tsp ginger syrup*
– dash of nutmeg, 2 dashes clove, 1/2 cinnamon stick (or 2 dashes)*
– a bit of water recipe
DIRECTIONS:
1. Put all ingredients (except water) into a small pot or pan. Add a bit of water, just so you don’t burn anything.
If you think you added too much water, it’s okay. You just need to cook it until the water evaporates.
2. On med-high heat, stir up all your ingredients. Leave it for a minute or 2 and then lower the heat to med-low. It’s important to stir every so often. Simmer your yummy rice and fruit breakfast until it is warm and you get the desired softness of your pears (or other fruit). Sometimes I’ll add a bit more water if I want my fruit softer, or if it evaporates before I think it’s ready.
3. Put it in a bowl and enjoy the quickest, yummiest dairy free breakfast ever!
Note: I don’t measure when I cook. I’m pretty relaxed and just go with my gut. I bet it will taste better if you do the same. Maybe I use too much cinnamon? Who knows!
*These ingredients can all be substituted for different things. Apples, blueberries, banana, apricot, peaches. Honey, agave syrup, jam. Whatever spices/seeds you enjoy. Mix it up! Food is more fun when you try new things and experiment.
Hope you enjoy this delicious creation of mine :] Please let me know if you try it (did you add anything special?!?)
It is important to buy and support good quality, uncultivated wild rice. In most 
places, only indigenous people are licensed to harvest wild rice. It is important to harvest wild rice a noninvasive way. Traditionally, it is harvested in canoes moved by long poles. By tilting the rice plant over the canoe, the harvester will use a beater stick to gently knock the ripe seeds off and into the canoe… I can’t help but imagine how difficult a person moving around with canoe full of rice seeds would be!
After harvesting the ‘green seeds’, they are usually dried using large vats over an open fire. I spoke to a local harvester in the Kawarthas about Manomin (wild rice) and he told me that after this, he dances on the wild rice to remove the hulls. Once this is done, you do something called winnowing where you essentially toss the rice into the air and catch it again. The hulls will float away with the wind and you will be left with beautiful wild rice grains.
A certain kind of appreciation comes from knowing where your food comes from. The history and traditions that hide in your bowl are things that should be celebrated! :}
Food tastes better when you know what it takes to get to your plate.
I acknowledge the harvesters, water, wind, fire, feet, canoes, grains, fruit, seeds.
Thank you.
I thought this was a really fantastic, lighthearted and educational way to start the necessary conversation regarding GMOs, hormone-fed livestock and pesticide use in agriculture.
Before the play, these kids must have had really great discussions with their teacher about alternative food choices and how they can support local and organic farmers. They seemed really passionate about what they were doing, and proud of the message they sang. It is so important to get children (adults, too!) to be aware of where their food comes from. Who ever wrote/directed this play did a fantastic job. : ]
What we put on our bodies and spray on our land becomes us, as we are interconnected with everything on this earth.
If we do not care for the quality of life in our livestock and produce, what can we say about ourselves?
Source: New MacDonald.
ARISETOTRASH 