Community Wide Cleanse a Success, and Fun Toboot

Over 250 people registered for this community wide cleanse, organized by Natasha Zajmalowski and Renee Trapanier. The food was delicious, the company was inspiring, and I feel so light and happy I've decided to keep on it for another week (or maybe until me proposal is submitted). Proceeds from charity given during the events came to FedUp, and will go to cover costs of workshops and buy some of the things on our wish list.

Details on the cleanse:
This week-long event is free and open to all members of the community. To register and receive a free information package, go to www.proactive-healthcare.com. Registered participants will also receive updates on other community events.
Community Cleanse participants are warmly welcome to join FedUp at the following events:
Potluck - May 3rd; When: May 3rd @ 6pm; Where: CEA garden - 1950
We welcome participants of the Community Wide Spring Cleanse (May 3rd to 9th) to our May Potluck. Everyone is welcome; it is not required that you bring a dish that is cleanse-friendly, but please list the ingredients of your dish so cleanse participants know what they can eat. If you wish to experiment with a cleanse-friendly dish, click here to view included foods.
Film Screening - May 8thWhen: Friday, May 8th @ 7pmWhere: 328 Pelissier
Homo Toxicus: A must see for all cleanse participants. It will make enduring the cleanse worthwhile. Feel free to bring a snack to share (please list ingredients).

Souptacular Veg Soup Cook-off

And the winners are...

for our Souptacular Vegetarian Soup Cook-off:
Most Souptacular: Nav Sehmbi- Roasted Butternut Squash in Orange Ginger Curry

Most Unique: Jenne Cox- Springtime Guacalicious (cold soup)
Best Smooth: Rino Bortolin (of Black Kettle Bistro)- Smoked Asparagus Soup
Best Chunky: Jenne Cox- Spicey Nicey Mushroomage

The runner ups (runners up?) were all very close behind! You are all Souper Stars!

View pictures here

We had 70 people tasting 10 delicious soups!

Thanks to all the volunteers, contestants, and attendees for making this event possible!

Thank you Ten Thousand Villages, Taloola Cafe, Downtown Yoga Studio, Be Well Centre, Studio Kelani, Nude Food, and ShopEco for donating such amazing prizes!

Proceeds from this event go to FedUp Windsor and the Windsor Workers' Action Centre.

Next Cook-Off? Super Salad Toss-Up on May 30th!

2008 Workshop Series

VermiComposting: June 29th
Container Gardening: July 27th
Urban Foraging: August 3rd
Cooking with Healing Foods: September 28th
Preserving: October 26th
Mapping Food Access - Canceled
Our mapping project (mapping FedUp gardens and available land for gardening) will continue. We will keep you updated on its progress and provide opportunities in the new year for your contributions and feedback.

1st Annual Vegetarian Chili Cook-Off

And the winners are...
1st for Best Overall: Pride & Joy made by Paul Mann
1st for Most Radical: Hot, Sweet n Blonde made by Merry Ellen Scully Mosna
1st for Spiciest: Hot, Sweet n Blonde made by Merry Ellen Scully Mosna

However, in the interests of sharing we decided to award this prize to the chili with the third highest score overall...
so the prize for Spiciest goes to...
Greenie's 5 Bean and 5 Pepper Screeched-In Chili made by Kelly Greenfield

Thanks to the following businesses for their generous prize donations:
Jones and Co.
The Unique Rabbit
Healthy Nuts
Far Flung Foods
LCBO Special Events Kitchen
Terra Cotta

Monthly FedUp Page in the Scoop

FedUp will now be present on a monthly basis in the Scoop, a local grassroots newspaper. Pick up their September issue to read about what we do and who we are. Future issues will include articles about food security concerns, actions for change, and FedUp events. Stay tuned!

FedUp Festival Weekend, Aug 16&17

This Summer has been a busy one for FedUp Windsor gardening collective. One highlight was last weekend, when we held three very successful events: our first annual Garden Bike Tour & Summer Harvest Party on Saturday, August 16th, and a film screening of Food Matters (with an open discussion about food security) on Sunday, August 17th. In case you’re wondering, ‘first annual’ does mean that we’ll make it a yearly tradition, so if you missed it this time, don’t worry, there’s more to come! View our photos of the events.

There were 31 of us on the Bike Tour, including one person who met us at each site by car. I hope to organize a shuttle in future years, so that folks who can’t bike can still experience the tour in the company of others. We began our journey at Ottawa and Kildare, where the Citizens Environment Alliance held an open house and provided much needed sustenance to the riders (also thanks to Taloolah’s for donating treats to eat). From there we continued, visiting 4 beautiful gardens along the way, chatting with each other while we rode and getting inspired by our garden hosts. Arriving at Wyandotte and Askin for our Summer Harvest Party, we were ready to rest, eat, drink and be merry.

The Summer Harvest Party was awesome, as in awe-inspiring! The large back garden of our friends, Ron and Ayesha (and their kids, Maya and Serena), provided the perfect place for kids and musicians to play, for stomachs to be satisfied and minds to be enlivened, for food and ideas to be shared, and for all our senses to be caressed into wonder with the world. Thanks to all those who had a hand in making that happen.

On Sunday, we awoke to a new day and another fun event. Food Matters was screened at the Gourmet Emporium at Wyandotte and Chilver. The film was definitely interesting, and provided some good insight into what “you are what you eat” really means, and the open discussion that occurred after filled in some of the gaps. Several issues arose, including: the necessity for examining what ‘organic’ really means and the different standards in different places; how the proximity of food production to its consumption affects its quality and nutritional value, as well as the communities that make/eat it; and issues of ‘scientific’ versus ‘anecdotal’ evidence. The discussion moderators (and event planners) Joanna from FedUp and Pina from Windsor Eats did a great job of making sure it was left on a positive and constructive note.

This review is only from one perspective. Please add comments to our blog so we can know what others think about FedUp and related issues, or about the experience you had at one of these, or other FedUp, events.

Urban Foraging Workshop

I attended an urban foraging workshop two days ago, which was led by Jae, a FedUp participant. It was extremely informative, stimulating, interactive and fun! Not only do I now know some of the 'weeds' I can eat, how to prepare them, and how good they taste, I'm also excited to get out there and do some foraging.

Happy days, Maya