Background

1. Eating Healthy in Nelson House, Manitoba: Promoting Traditional Foods, Gardening and Chicken Production AsfiaGulrukhKamal, Mariah Mailman and Shirley Thompson Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba s_thompson@cc.umanitoba.ca Free, wildcountry foodfeeds the community of Nelson House. George Hunter said, “they have supplied food to almost 1000 [people] all through the year 2008”. Nelson House community wellness center provides educational health facilities, cooking classes for adults and children and also lots of dietary training for diabetes patients. • Background • Like many other remote northern Manitoba communities, Nelson House has limited access to healthy food, such as fresh vegetables, fruits and dairy products. • Objectives • This study asked if in the last 12 months: • was healthy food accessible and affordable (Household Food Security Survey)? • what were the barriers to putting healthy food on the table of NelsonHouse community members? • what gardening and other traditional methods of harvesting provide food to Nelson House community members? • what do Nelson House people need to eat healthier? Methods A door to door household food security survey and interviews of 52 Nelson House households (random sample) was conducted in June 2009 by AsfiaGulrukhKamal. The people interviewed ranged between 18 and 70 years of age. The survey findings were analyzed by Statistical Products and Survey Solution (SPSS). Open-ended qualitative interviews were conducted in order to get a holistic understanding of the problem and the solutions. Participatory video methods were used to record your stories and community engagement. Junk food, low-cost food, is more popular. Can we choose not to buy them? Bella and her family get 12-13 eggs everyday from her chickens. Bella Lenard’s Chicken Coop. Edna Moody also raises chickens. She found out about the project from Bella. Edna says, “It’s a lot of fun and gives you healthy choice of meals”. 31% of the community members often or sometimes worried they would run out of money for food. • Conclusion: • Nelosn House is trying to regain their tradition of gardening. This local food production is important as most community households cannot afford to buy healthy food from the Northern Store. Gardening material and teachings about traditional land activities, food preservation and gardening are wanted. However, most people didn’t know there was training, materials and programs that could make food production more sustainable and generate community development at Nelson House. • Programs are by request, to help actions in communities. Contact for help and supplies: • Northern Healthy Food Initiative (NHFI), Manitoba Government, funds groups like Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC), Bayline Regional Roundtable (BRRT), Four Arrows Regional Health Authority (FARHA) and Manitoba Food Matters to increase access to healthy food and to support food projects. Contacts: JennellMajeran, Manager, Northern Healthy Foods Initiative, • (204) 677-6677, Jennell.Majeran@gov.mb.ca and Jessica Paley, Northern Healthy Foods Initiative, (204) 945-0569, Jessica.Paley@gov.mb.ca. Programs in other communities include: • chicken, turkey (with chicks and feed provided but not chicken coop), goat and other small livestock production, • freezer loans for people to buy freezers to store healthy food, • community or school greenhouse and households receiving plastic for building a greenhouse, • provision of vegetable seeds, berry and other bedding plants, and school grow lights, and • an annual workshop in Thompson called the Northern Harvest Fourm provides free teaching to northern community members about food production and preservation. • 2. Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) provides gardening support to communities giving workshops on gardening and chicken production. Contact: Brian Hunt, (204) 856-9255, Fax: (204) 745-5690,brian.hunt@gov.mb.ca. • 3. Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC) provides seeds, plants, gardening and loans tools for community and household gardens, as well chicken and goats. Contact: (204) 947-2227, nhfi05@mts.net or nacc@mts.net. • 4. Frontier School Division provides Veggie Adventure school activities and greenhouse and gardening expertise for northern climates. Contact: Chuck Stensgards (204) 473-2332, chuckstensgard@hotmail.com). For more information on gardening and chicken production call Bella Lenard (204) 484-2031. • 5. Nelson House nursing station provides health support. Contact: (204) 484-2031. BurntwoodRegional Health Authority could provide community visits of dietitians to teach community people (particularly pregnant women and diabetes patients) about healthy diets and how to cook healthy meals. Contact: (204) 677-5350. • 6. Apply for Green Team, a 100% government-funded program that employs youth to start community gardens, market gardens or help with household gardening. Fill out the application form at: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/youth/employers/hometown.html. • 7. View your participatory video called Growing Hope at http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~thompson4/Movie.html. Findings Prices for healthy food were too high: 31% of Nelson House households said they often worried they would run out of money and not be able to buy food. Many households had hungry children because there was no money to buy food. People couldn’t afford to buy healthy food and children were hungry because there was no money to buy food. • Survey Result • 31% of community households said they often worried they would run out of money to buy food. • 21% of community households could not afford to buy food when food ran out. • 43% could not afford to buy healthy food for children. • Household families sometimes relied on a few low-cost food items for children (28%), couldn’t afford feed children healthy food (43%) and children weren’t able to eat enough (14% often and 29% sometimes = 43%). • 50% of community households garden to improve their access to healthy food. • 50% of community households wanted training in gardening. • 30% of community households wanted training for youth to get food from land and promoting local food will help the situation. 28% of the community people relied on a few low-cost food items for children. What did people sayi? Community members were enthusiastic to learn about gardening and healthy food. “We do have country food that helps us for better access of traditional wild fish and meat, but not fresh vegetables. Then again those of us relying on well-fare cannot go to shop at Thompsonon aregular basis. Wehave to rely on the local Northern Store, which has costly food and not many choices of vegetables.” For the past two years Bella Lenard, the Mayor of the Northern Affairs community, has been involved in gardening and raising chickens. She has received hands on training fromBaylineRegional Roundtable (BRRT) so that she could get more community people involved in gardening and chicken production. She said last year (2008) she had success with eight families growing vegetables and flowers. A community member was growing potatoes in Nelson House. Acknowldegements We thank the Nelson House Band office, especially Lenard Linklater and Violet Turner. Bella Lenard, Mayor of Nelson House, helped us with the survey. Thank you Nelson House community members for participating in the survey. Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research Regional Partnerships Program (CIHR-RPP). Photo credit: Asfia GulrukhKamal.