FOS CoP:

Weaving the Regional Threads

The postponement of the AoLC has open up new ways of looking at the Feeding Ourselves Sustainably Community of Practice. Rather than depend on the gathering of the trans-local community to identify its shared questions and practices, we see an opportunity for the FOS CoP seeds to be planted and cultivated regionally. There is already so much happening at the regional level, where learning centers and other learning partners are gathering and sharing knowledge, skills and practices. The community of practice is already present; our work now is to make the many ways it shows up visible, both within each region and from one region to the next. Our intention is to cross-pollinate this learning, harvesting our practice and activities so our learning edges become clear in time for our October AoLC gathering.

Here’s what’s happening in a few places

Europe: Greece, Turkey and Belgium

Filiz is in ongoing conversations with Maria and Sarah about the conscious kitchen. They have also connected to King's Mill in Belgium, the learning center hosted by Judith and Lieven who are very much interested in food and sustainability. Also, in Istanbul, Filiz and her local group are planning to start a community garden/permaculture project and even neighborhood food houses—a traditional place to give food to the poor. Filiz is interested in connecting these initiatives in the region.

Southern Africa: South Africa and Zimbabwe

Southern Africa is hosting a regional meeting the week of May 26—a golden opportunity for sharing learning and practices. As people gather to establish and strengthen their relationships and talk about what matters to them locally and regionally, no doubt food security will be an important topic, especially with the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe. Bob will be carrying this conversation about FOS practices into the regional gathering.

Southeast Asia

There already is an active, vibrant CoP throughout India exploring ways of growing food sustainably and preparing healthy meals. Nitin will be traveling to South Africa and Zimbabwe to join the regional gathering and to share regional approaches—including around food.

North America

Several learning centers have made requests to visit Santropol Roulant on learning exchanges. Debbie, Lauren and Aerin will be traveling there in June. Maria and Sarah are likely paying a visit also this summer. Shikshantar is working now to put together an exchange in July. Melissa of Unitierra would like to co-host a rooftop gardening workshop in early fall. There’s a new prospective learning center in Portland, Oregon, called TLC Farms that has FOS as a central concern. And, at the Kellogg Food and Society Conference, Debbie met several urban agriculture centers, including one in Los Angeles that may be a good candidate for the Exchange. Much is emerging in North America!

As each region explores its own unique questions, context and priorities, we have an opportunity to weave together the patterns and threads that carry over from one region to the next. This is a role that Filiz can play, in partnership with people from each region.

To support this weaving, we invite each region to attend to a few shared questions. There are:

1. What kinds of sustainable food practices are we already working with at each learning center in our region?
2. Where are we already learning or practicing together (across learning centers/partners)?
3. What wants to be shared?
4. What questions would we like to explore, and what skills would we like to learn in this practice area?
5. What is our immediate next step in the context of Feeding Ourselves Sustainably?
6. Is there someone who would like to be a point person or a liaison to Filiz that would harvest what is happening in our region?

We invite you to harvest your thoughts on these questions—or any others that might be important to you—and to share them with Filiz so that she can support the weaving of learning from one region to the next. This will serve us all when we gather in October.

I know I started eating vegetarian for a few reasons, one was because I was taking an environmental conservation class and it stunned me to learn how much land is being used in the US to raise cattle. We talked about all of the environmental implications of using land in this way and I decided it would be an interesting experiment to try to cut down on the meat that I ate. It just took off from there. After a month or so, I didn't have any interest in eating meat. I don't feel like everyone should all of a sudden just stop eating meat. It just happens to work for me. Not eating meat also made me begin to think so much more about what I was putting in my body. I suddenly began to try new foods and eat more vegetables and less processed food.

As I read this book, I can't go to the store without scouring the label of everything I pick up. I can't believe some of the things that we have been putting in our bodies, mostly out of laziness. Okay and partially because we don't want to know where it comes from. We're busy, we're running around and cheap and fast is what works for us. But I'm realizing how much more complicated it is than that. Because in every store that we go into there are so many different options. I may choose the organic option, but that may have been shipped from California, or Argentina. Even if it's organic, some pre-made meals have preservatives and all sorts of other extras in them.

So this question has now become two part:

Why are you opting out?

Is opting out possible with our lifestyles and really, should we bother?

looking forward to hearing from you!

welcome to the online collaboration space of FOS CoP!