Forest Meets Farm is a celebration of the wild and cultivated foods of Northern Ontario. For a decade now, Roots to Harvest has used the local food production community to work with young people through employment and education. As our partnership deepened with community partners and knowledge keepers, the draw towards wild foods has grown steadily, and with curiosity and respect, we have begun to explore the extensions of our local food systems beyond the farmer’s fields. Many of the young people we work with have a food literacy that has largely gone unrecognized by the conventional food economy, and Forest Meets Farm is a celebration of their knowledge as well.
As important to the food itself are the people who strive to grow, forage, fish and farm this food. Forest Meets Farm celebrates these individuals as well. Some of them hold the knowledge for their communities, some of them are bridging the divide between wild and commercialized foods, and maintaining the sustainable practices required to preserve the harvests. Others are committed to producing food on the rugged Canadian Shield and nestled in the Boreal Forest.
As important to the food itself are the people who strive to grow, forage, fish and farm this food. Forest Meets Farm celebrates these individuals as well. Some of them hold the knowledge for their communities, some of them are bridging the divide between wild and commercialized foods, and maintaining the sustainable practices required to preserve the harvests. Others are committed to producing food on the rugged Canadian Shield and nestled in the Boreal Forest.