Harvest Moon Society Newsletter
Fall/Winter 2022

Spring, summer, and fall are spent focusing on our programming and working in the garden, greenhouse, and grounds. Winter is all about planning, preparing, and applying. The HMS board and our various committees have been hard at work applying for grants, planning projects, and dreaming big.

Here is what’s going on behind the scenes!

Education Meeting

On November 19, the Harvest Moon Society’s Education Committee met in Clearwater to discuss ideas for our winter and spring Community Workshops, evaluate our Summer Programming, and begin brainstorming for next year’s Festival Workshops. Some ideas that came from those discussions include:

• We’re looking to build on the success of our Fibre Arts Series from last year. The “Working with Raw Fleece” workshop was well attended as was the Mending Circle, Knitting & Crocheting day, and making Macrame Plant Hangers with Karen Potter. Jennifer’s “Low Carbon Wardrobe” workshop at the Festival was really great. Are there any workshops that could fit in the Fibre Arts Series that you’d like to see?

• Other ideas that we’re chasing down include deep winter greenhouses, root cellars, knife sharpening and making, snaring and trapping, and how to lead a community meeting or how to start a community garden.

If any of these ideas are of interest to you, or if you have some ideas that you think would be of interest to us, please reach out to info@harvestmoonsociety.org

Canada Community Revitalization Fund - Lessons from the Land Trail

Back in January, Harvest Moon Society learned that our proposal to the Canada Community Revitalization Fund (CCRF) had been accepted! We had put in a funding request through Prairies Economic Development Canada to revitalize the Lessons From the Land Trail that is on the north side of Clearwater, through the riparian area along the Cypress Creek. The trail has become a much loved space over the past 20 years and it was in need of some love. This funding has allowed us to purchase some benches and rejuvenate the bridge with a new cedar top. We’ve also engaged Heather Hinam and Second Nature Creative Interpretation to help us create an updated brochure and develop some interpretive signage to make our trail a little more educational. 

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the images being included:

Building Sustainable Communities Fund (Washroom Project)

Another large project we’ve been working on for awhile now has been the Washroom Renovation Project. With funding from the Province of Manitoba’s Building Sustainable Communities program we were able to begin overhauling the old washrooms. We’ve still got a ways to go to finish the entire project, but when it’s done we’ll be much more accessible and inclusive and we’ll have updated plumbing, new showers and be gender neutral.

Tree Canada Treemendous Communities Grant

With planning help from Morden Nurseries and Pembina Valley Watershed District we’ve put together an application that we’re really proud of to the Treemendous Communities stream of Tree Canada’s Community Tree Grants. We have many ash trees bordering our property and the Ash Borer Beetle has been confirmed in Winnipeg so it’s only a matter of time before the infestation reaches us. We’d like to start replacing them and we’re hoping this program can help. We’ve put together a proposal to replace some of these trees with a variety of native species including paper birch, basswood, bur oak, larche, and trembling aspen. To try and encourage some biodiversity on our grounds we’ve also included some native edible shrubs in the proposal: saskatoons, buffaloberries, highbush cranberries, and hazelnuts.

Covers & Co Small Community Fund

Our friends at Covers & Co have started an amazing program with their Small Communities Fund where they’re donating $5,000 monthly to help regenerate small farming communities. We’ve applied in the hopes of using the funds to purchase a new event tent to use in Clearwater and other neighboring communities. It was a bit of an adventure putting this video submission together but we’re quite proud of the final product.

Harvest Moon Society Scholarship

Harvest Moon Society is excited to offer three (3) scholarships of $500 each to youth aged 17-21 who reside within the boundaries of Manitoba for furthering their knowledge or education related to regenerative agriculture, sustainable food systems, and environmental stewardship. Examples of further education may include, but are not limited to: tuition at an educational institution, and/or registration for a course or conference. 

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of judges from the Harvest Moon Society. Deadline for application is April 30, 2023. Successful applicants will be notified by May 31, 2023.

To apply, please answer the following question: How would you use $500 to further your knowledge or education in the areas of regenerative agriculture, sustainable food systems, and/or environmental stewardship and why is this important to you?

The format of your application is up to you: you could answer in an essay, video, slideshow, or in any other format in which you feel comfortable. We ask that you limit your application to the equivalent of 2 written pages or 2 minutes of video/audio.

Applications can be submitted at www.harvestmoonsociety.org/hms-scholarship.

Become a Member of the Harvest Moon Society

HMS has always been based on having an active membership who are involved in the planning and development of the organization but over the last few years we’ve gotten away from that and it’s time to refocus! Would you like to become a member of the Harvest Moon Society? It’s never been easier. Becoming a member allows you to attend our Annual General Meeting and have a say in the direction of our organization through the development of our by-laws and electing our board members. 

If you’d like to join, just fill out this form on our website.

Green Team Hiring

The Harvest Moon Society is seeking to fill summer positions at the Harvest Moon Learning Centre in Clearwater, MB under the Hometown Green Team program.

Duties:
Duties will include grounds maintenance (mowing, etc.) assisting with summer educational programming, and gardening related activities.

The successful candidates must meet all Green Team requirements including:

• Be a youth aged 15-29
• Have a Young Worker Readiness Certificate if 15 years of age

There is flexibility in the number of hours and scheduling up to two full time positions at 35 hours per week for up to 16 weeks (May through August) dependent on approval of funding. 

Accommodations at the Harvest Moon Learning Centre may be made available for qualifying candidates.

Apply to info@harvestmoonsociety.org

Coming up…

HMS Annual General Meeting

Harvest Moon Society’s Annual General Meeting will be held Saturday, February 4, 2022 at the Harvest Moon Learning Centre in Clearwater. We’ll be having a catered lunch beforehand and beginning the meeting around 1pm. Send us an email to register. The dorm rooms will be available if anyone wants to stay overnight. There is a good chance that there will be some “camaraderie” shared in the evening and possibly into the later stages of the night. 

Seed Exchange

Join us, near or far, in a community seed exchange - swap seeds you have saved or stock up on new varieties.

Mail us your seeds and a $5 donation and receive seeds in the mail. Or a $30 donation if you don’t have seeds to share. Don’t forget to include your return address.

Deadline is March 13th

We also have some grow lights that we’ll be setting up at the HMLC. If you’re interested in doing some seed starting, let us know!

Finally…

We’d like to send out a great big THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to the Harvest Moon Society throughout the year, especially those who added-on to their Festival ticket purchases where we received such an overwhelming response! These donations go towards keeping our Learning Center evolving and growing and we are very appreciative. 

Do you need a space for your next event, meeting or retreat?