MHETA MTS PD Day - Connecting Communities for Sustainable Living

Event is FULL - Currently not accepting registrations

Welcome & Make-n’-Takes

Our day will start off with an opportunity to collaborate, connect and inspire one another. During the morning stroll through our mini market with local vendors, visit the presenters, take time to gather information, resources, and activities to help spark your creativity.

FULL - A1- Ricotta Cheese Making

During this hands-on session with Dustin you will learn how to make small batch Ricotta.

Loaf and Honey is owned and operated by Dustin Peltier. He has 21 years of experience in kitchens, being self-taught. Dustin created Loaf and Honey to chase his true passion, to connect people with food in a new way. Getting people to come back to the days when they knew where the food, they were eating was coming from.

Presenter: Loaf & Honey - Dustin spent a year being mentored by Brother Alberic a monk from the Monastery by Holland Manitoba, who has been making cheese since the 1940’s

FULL - A2 - Food Rescue Programs / Raising Chickens in Schools

Food Rescue Programs (10 - 11 am)

Second Harvest is Canada’s largest Food Rescue charity organization and supports communities through training, education, certification, and best-practice workshops. In this session, you will learn about Food Date Labels, Strategies you can implement to combat food waste, activities to test your knowledge and information about the Food Rescue App.

Presenter: Second Harvest

Raising Chickens in Schools (11 - 12 pm)

In this session, you will learn all about raising chickens in a school setting. You will get to tour our chicken coop and meet the lovely ladies. You will also be sent home with lessons that you can do with your students in your own classroom.

Presenter: Pam Godfredsen

FULL - A3 - Natural Dyes

In this hands-on session you will have an opportunity to learn how to use natural dyes within your classrooms and create your own natural dye piece.

Presenter: Sunflower Knit, Ash Alberg works with public and private schools across Manitoba to bring natural dyeing into the classroom. students in grades nursery-12 experience hands-on learning while connecting with art, science, history, sustainability, and more. There are currently very few resources that exist to teach children and youth how to play with natural dyes, and a lack of simple resources or exercises for teachers and caregivers to explain the basics if they are not already knowledgeable natural dyers themselves. In an effort to make these lessons and exercises more accessible, Ash has developed curriculum and resource packets organized by developmental stages (nursery-kindergarten, grades 1-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, and grades 10-12). Students of all ages can now learn science, art, history, and more through hands-on exercises, and the adults in their lives can guide and support.

In this hands on session you will have an opportunity to learn how to use natural dyes within your classrooms and create your own natural dye piece.

FULL - A4 - Fast Fashion, Mending, and Being a Global Citizen

Fast Fashion, Mending, and Being a Global Citizen - Join Anna-Marie Janzen of Reclaim Mending in a discussion about fast fashion, how it touches every aspect of global issues, and how you can empower your students to dive into underconsumption in their own lives with mending and conscious shopping, and advocate for global change.

Presenter: Anna-Marie Janzen, Reclaim Mending

FULL - B1 - Supporting School Feeding Programs / Sustainable Local Food for School Programs

Supporting School Feeding Programs (1 - 2 pm)

Join dietitians, Clara Birnie and Alyssa Lewis, from the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba (CNCM) to learn about school meal and snack programs, and how they can be a part of school culture, support students, and build community. Clara and Alyssa will discuss various models of school meal programs and how CNCM provides support to ensure their success. Learn why increasing access to nutritious food at school is important, how schools can reduce stigma associated with free food programs, and how educators can talk about food and nutrition to help foster healthy relationships with food. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the power of community partnerships and how working together can enhance programming in the school. This session is intended to benefit educators whether or not they have a meal or snack program at their school.

Presenter: Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba is a charitable organization dedicated to helping school children learn, grow, and succeed by supporting school meal and snack programs. We are unique because we are based in Manitoba – and all the funds we raise stay in this province, reaching children in all regions of Manitoba.


Sustainable local food for school programs: Challenges and Opportunities (2 - 3 pm)

The growth of school nutrition programming presents a significant opportunity for our local food system and schools.

In this session, we will outline some of the challenges and opportunities facing the local food system. We will share our experience as an intermediary working with local food producers, as well as our early experience working with school nutrition programs. We will focus on the opportunity for mutually beneficial relationships between the local food system and schools, and steppingstones for different school nutrition programs to build these relationships.

Presenter: Fireweed Food Co-op is a nonprofit co-op for producers and supporters of Manitoba-grown sustainably produced food. As a co-operative for both food producers and consumers, we are dedicated to creating a larger, more stable market for locally and sustainably produced food in the region, and to make food more accessible to more individuals, families, and community as whole. They envision a regional food system that is collaborative and prioritizes not only regenerative and sustainable ecological practices but fair labour practices, as well as one that is dedicated to increasing the accessibility of food.

FULL - B2 - Mushroom Cultivation and Identification

In this session you will have the opportunity to connect with Tom Nagy. Tom is a restoration ecologist with a passion for botany, sustainable agriculture, and mycology. Tom has experience working as a field botanist, environmental consultant and as a field and operations manager for a certified organic farm. In 2018, Tom began River City Mushrooms; a small-scale mycological interest project based in Winnipeg that focuses on cultivating an appreciation for edible and medicinal fungi as well as supplying the knowledge and tools necessary for a new generation of mushroom growing enthusiasts to flourish. Tom continues to advocate for a greater understanding of how we perceive, understand, and develop relationships with the natural world by writing informative articles and conducting engaging public programs discussing native plant communities, organic agriculture, mushroom cultivation, and wild foraging.

Presenter: River City Mushrooms, Tom Nagy

FULL - B3 - Homemade Salve / Bee Education

Homemade Salve (1 - 2 pm)

Join Herbalist Carmen Germain and learn the art of herbal oil infusions and salve making. Learn how to make your own natural salves that you can add any herbal oil infusion to and create your own blends.

Presenter: Carmen Germain, Prairie Roots Herbal


Bee Education (2 - 3 pm)

In this session you will learn about our school honeybees and the unique learning experience it provides in the classroom for students and staff. We will have the opportunity to harvest honey and look at examples of honeybees and a hive set up.

Presenter: Ashley Taylor

FULL - B4 - Indigenous Food Ways

Presenter: Demian Lawrenchuk, Executive Director of Food Matters MB.

Wrap-up & Reflections