Harvest Moon Society Newsletter
Summer 2023

It’s been an exciting and busy spring at the Harvest Moon Learning Center! We’ve had a lot of visitors and activity, we're looking forward to an amazing summer, and we’ve got plans rolling on this September’s Festival. Read on to see all the details.

Summer is here!

Maples MET

In early May, Janna Barkman and Clay Scheller, teachers at Maples MET school in Winnipeg, brought out their Grade 10 and Grade 12 classes for an overnight in Clearwater. They toured Halarda dairy farm near Elm Creek on their way out and then did some workshops with Jo-Lene and Lauren once they arrived. They made us a delicious supper, chatted with locals, had a morning pasture hike, and then visited a grain farm near Notre Dame on the way home.

They were a really great group of young people who were interested in everything! We look forward to having a few of them back in fall to help with our EcoChallenge.

Field Trips

As June winds down, so does field trip season, unfortunately. We felt honoured to be chosen by not one, not two, but FOUR classes from Crystal City Early Years School as a destination for their end-of-year field trip. Mrs. Leadbeater brought her Grade 1 class, Ms. Potter brought two classes of Kindergartners, and Ms. Boutin brought a huge class of Grade 2 students (pictured here on the bridge of the Lessons From the Land Trail).

Lauren and Mya and Jo-Lene (and Tom!) had so much fun with these students playing compost safari bingo, making Dirt Cups to learn about healthy soil, and making raft structures and float testing them down at the creek. Thanks for choosing us, CCEY!

We were also pleased to have a group of homeschool students join us on Friday, June 9 for the first HMS Field Trip for Homeschoolers.

If you know a group of students that would like to come for a field trip to the Harvest Moon Learning Center, drop us a line.

Recent Graduate Residency

After a lot of planning, we were really excited to have two recent graduates from the University of Manitoba’s School of Art come stay with us as part of our Recent Graduate Artist Residency. Rae Swan and Alice Hamilton had the perfect approach to their residencies and threw themselves right into the opportunity.

Rae and Alice toured The Dogs Run Farm north of Clearwater where Colin, Katie, and Katheryn toured them around and discussed all aspects of farm life and how DRF came to be and the considerations that go into how a small farm operates in a sustainable, environmentally-minded way. These emerging professionals also delivered a free Responsive Art Making workshop at United Community Arts in Pilot Mound and they gave Artist Talks to an interested audience on their final day with us. They also had an evening of mentorship with professional artists Kyle Scheurmann and M.E. Sparks and pitched in on the field trips, leading a story construction workshop with the CCEY Grade 1s.

Both of these artists explored Clearwater and the surrounding area while practising photography and foraging materials for their sculptures and writing and recording music and creating cyanotypes. These two embody the word “artist” and we’re really excited to invite them back to lead a workshop at this year’s Harvest Moon Festival.

HMS Scholarship winners

We were pleased to have visits to Clearwater from the recipients of our first year of HMS Scholarships. Emily Robb and Kyla McDonald, both going into their third years at the University of Manitoba have both received $500 towards their tuition. Local connections are not a requirement for this scholarship but Emily has family roots in Clearwater and Kyla is from a couple towns over in Cartwright. Congratulations to both of you!

More info on the HMS Scholarship program is available at at www.harvestmoonsociety.org/scholarship.

Chicken Moat

After a couple years with the Chicken Moat vacant, we’re proud to announce that the Secret Garden is once again fully protected! Four older laying hens have found a home between the two fences that keep deer out of our garden.

These ladies have been a real hit with the field trip kids and they’ve provided many a breakfast thus far. We’ve welcomed them in to the Harvest Moon family and named them Iris, Mary-gold, Lilly, and Rose.

Summer Programming

The response to our New Moon Kids Camp this year absolutely knocked our socks off. We’ve expanded to fit as many kids as we possibly can and we’ve added a couple more events in August to hopefully meet some of the demand.

Louise Recreation Day Camps

Wednesdays this summer (from 9am to 4pm) the HMLC will be the venue for the Municipality of Louise’s Recreation Day Camps (ages 5-11) led by Sarah Stephens and Avery Johnson. Registration opens on Wed, Jun 21 and cost is $16/day. Contact the Municipal Office at 204-245-0680 to register.

Dates are:
July 5
July 19
July 26
August 2
August 9
August 16

Cabin Rentals

Are you interested in coming out to stay at the Harvest Moon Learning Center? These cabins were built by architecture students from the University of Manitoba after they reclaimed the wood from an old farmhouse. Here’s a YouTube video of that project.

These cabins are rustic, they have no electricity or running water, but you’d have access to an indoor washroom in the Harvest Moon Learning Center that includes a shower. They can be available for rent for only $30/night . If you’re interested, contact the Coordinator at info@harvestmoonsociety.org for details.

Looking ahead…

22nd Perennial Harvest Moon Festival

The Harvest Moon Festival Board is hard at working planning this year’s Festival for the weekend of September 15 to 17 and there are so many cool things in store.

Visit www.harvestmoonfestival.ca for more info.

Do you want to get involved with the Harvest Moon Society?

Our Education and Facilities Committees are looking for interested members? Education Committee will be meeting shortly to discuss the Festival Workshop lineup. Let us know if you’d like to get in on the conversation. Committees usually meet quarterly via Zoom and are welcoming and accepting places. These committees are a great entry point to get involved in our Harvest Moon community.

We’re also looking for a new caretaker to fill the position at the end of summer. Reach out if you’re interested!