Harvest Moon Society
8 10th Street North R0K 0M0 Clearwater, MB, Canada

HMS is seeking applicants for two positions -Coordinator The Coordinator is a part-time year-round position (20-25 hours/week). The applicant will assume overall coordination of the organization and will work with the Board, other staff and dedicated volunteers... -Summer Program Coordinator Term Length: May 3rd-August 27th 35 hours per week The Summer Program Coordinator is a full-time position from May to August (17 weeks), pending funding. The applicant will work with the HMS Coordinator and dedicated volunteers. Job tasks include planning and coordinating educational field trips for children and youth, assisting with day camps, and assisting with the planning of sustainable agriculture workshops. Visit our website for the full job description. We can’t wait to work with you! http://harvestmoonsociety.org/about/jobs/

This year Harvest Moon turns 20 To celebrate, over the next couple of weeks we will be sharing some of our favourite memories of the festival, some pictures and stories of some of our dedicated volunteers and a bit more about what Harvest Moon does besides the annual Festival. We love seeing your engagement, and welcome you to share your own memories of Harvest Moon. Please tag us in them or feel free to send them to our inbox so we can share and respond.

The Lessons from the Land interpretive trail is a pleasant 2.3 km (1.4 mi.) walk through scenic vistas of the Cypress Creek valley. Located at the edge of Clearwater, the trailhead begins at the Lessons From the Land sign at the Clearwater Curling Rink. At a leisurely pace, the complete loop takes about one hour. Benches along the way allow hikers to rest and contemplate the sights, sounds, and smells of the prairie meadows and riparian forest. The trail’s nine themed interp...retive stops weave a story of the Valley and the interaction between its creek, flora, fauna and people. The Lessons From the Land interpretive trail was created in collaboration between the Harvest Moon Society and the community of Clearwater. Come and visit for yourself! #harvestmoonsociety #clearwatermanitoba #louisemb #centralmanitoba #manitobatourism #manitobatrails #manitobatravel

We have a list of workshops we are developing and are looking forward to running this summer. We can’t wait to share them with you! Stay tuned in to all things Harvest Moon by turning on your post notifications

Applications are open until April 5th for two positions: 1) Coordinator 2) Land Based Learning Interpreter... Check out the full listings by visiting the link below! http://harvestmoonsociety.org/about/jobs/

The Coordinator is a part-time year-round position (20-25 hours/week). The applicant will assume overall coordination of the organization and will work with the Board, other staff and dedicated volunteers. Clearwater, MB RESPONSIBILITIES include but are not limited to: -Work with the Education Committee, Education Liaison and Land Based Learning Interpreter to plan, organize and implement cohesive and multi-generational educational programming on agro-ecological food produc...tion, sustainable living and regenerative agriculture including but not limited to school tours, kids camps, courses, workshops and other programming. -Work with the Treasurer and Bookkeeper to manage expenses and annual budget. -Prepare and submit annual grants in collaboration with the Board and volunteers to ensure ongoing funding. -Build and maintain relationships with the broader community to further local engagement and programming opportunities and respond to general inquiries. -Act as an organizational ambassador in the local community, and for all visitors to the site, ensuring a positive, memorable and meaningful experience. -Act as staff liaison to the board providing a staff report and attending monthly board meetings. -Mentor new and inexperienced staff and organize professional development opportunities for staff. -Organize regular staff meetings and create a positive and encouraging work environment for all Remuneration: $25/hour Accommodation may be available. Start Date: April 15, 2021. Application Deadline: April 5, 2021

With the stirring of Spring we are eagerly awaiting long, warm days like this at the Learning Centre. Would you like to come work with us? We are still accepting applications for two positions. 1) Coordinator 2) Land Based Learning Interpreter... Visit the job descriptions on our website!

Operating a chainsaw with confidence takes practise - but how does a person take the first steps to wielding such a potentially dangerous tool safely? The Manitoba Forestry Association (MFA), in partnership with the Conservation Trust, the Pembina Valley Watershed District, and Harvest Moon Society held an introductory workshop to give participants the chance to learn the basics of chainsaw safety and maintenance. On Saturday, October 17th, 12 participants gathered at the Har...vest Moon Learning Centre, to learn from instructor Jake Goertzen of Manitou, MB. People with varying degrees of experience participated in classroom learning (while wearing masks, and distanced at 6 feet apart), as well as an outdoor site tour to discuss the basics and ask questions about chainsaw operation. Topics included the variety of felling cuts and how and when to use them, identifying and troubleshooting difficult trees or cuts, plus basic chainsaw maintenance. Patricia Pohrebniuk of the Manitoba Forestry Association also discussed woodlot management strategies for landowners, with the goal of encouraging healthy forests that benefit the ecosystem and landowner alike. Participants were also treated to COVID safe lunches and snacks from the local Clearwater catering institutions during the day long workshop. The Clearwater Country Market and the Clearwater Junction Restaurant capably provided individualized servings to limit the need for food handling. Due to liability and insurance hurdles, the workshop wasn't able to include working demonstrations using an active saw - but a site tour enabled participants to see how to safely assess a real tree for felling. The lean of the tree, the weight distribution, degree of slope, and proximity of power lines, buildings and other complications were all assessed for some 'sample' trees on the Harvest Moon Learning Centre property. The hope of all the partners who worked together to put the workshop on was the participants would leave with added confidence to operate their own chainsaw while managing their woodlots with an eye to the health of the forest - all while keeping all their fingers and toes intact.

Beer Can - live

The Beer Can - live

Touring the Harvest Moon Society grounds on this beautiful July 5th evening. Our wonderful staff ( Lauren, Jolene, Katie and Karson) have been working hard. Such a beautiful space. Such a great team. Thanks to all who made it to the workbee.

Reminder that we are having an open house tonight! Sunday July 5th. Come over!

Festival Update: At the Harvest Moon Festival, we think it’s time to get back to our roots Roots are amazing, they keep us grounded, protected, and interconnected, all while absorbing, storing, and growing the necessities of life. Since our roots as a festival and larger community go back 19 cycles around the sun, the question is: what can we harvest this fall especially in the context of the pandemic? ... Unfortunately, festivals around the world have been hard hit by the Covid crisis, and many have understandably had to cancel their offerings, or drastically modify their programs in order to fit this new context. But, for Harvest Moon, we were built for this moment, as our motto has always been Healthy Land, Healthy Communities. Our perennial festival is about celebrating and actively cultivating resilience to socio-economic and environmental change. In 2002, a group of agrarians, academics, artists, and activists joined together to discuss the pressures facing rural peoples and places, and we decided to launch the festival as a response. We planted a seed of change. Our vision was and still is to grow a movement - linking music, education, and food - that supports farmer livelihood, local food systems, urban-rural partnerships, and community and environmental sustainability. The seed germinated and has never been so germane. Over nearly two decades, people have heard our message and our music, and Harvest Moon has grown to become one of Manitoba’s premiere festivals. Our roots are deep, we’re not going anywhere, and we’re prepared to adapt in order to support and be supported by our thriving community. Respecting important public health protocols, the Harvest Moon Festival will be developing an experience for 2020, which promotes our hopeful message through a combination of workshops, music, and storytelling. It’s going to be different, but it’s going to be an old fashioned good time! In the coming months, we’ll be making some announcements, and in the interim we encourage you to plant a Harvest Moon Garden to celebrate the fall festival while getting closer to the land and your loved ones. Importantly, sign up for our mailing list so we can keep in touch regarding Harvest Moon, and opportunities to get involved in collectively growing the healthy and resilient world we want and need more than ever.

Check this out! Direct Farm Manitoba is featuring farmers in their Instagram takeover. Today there have been posts from Clearwater area farmers Katie & Colin of the The Dogs Run Farm - Katie and Colin McInnes. There are many great direct farm marketers that are part of Direct Farm Manitoba. This includes existing and past members of the Harvest Moon Local Food Initiative and producers that have volunteers and worked for the Harvest Moon Society over the years.

Join us for our annual Perennial Exchange - Sunday, May 24, from 1-4 pm at the Harvest Moon Learning Centre Dig, pot and label any perennials you would like to trade or give away - or if you’re establishing a garden, come grab some hardy perennial plants to get you started. We will be adhering you all public health protocol - please keep two meters of space between you and other gardeners, arrive with clean hands, and avoid touching your face.... In case of rain, we will be inside the greenhouse and may have to limit the number of attendees inside at a time. We hope to see you there!

Area farmers, past food initiative members, direct markets, Society volunteers Fresh Roots Farm, looking for some help this season. If other area farms have job postings we are happy to share them! Thanks folks. This is what it is all about.

"While wholesale meat prices have surged, those dollars aren’t being passed on to ranchers. In fact, cattle prices have dropped so much that some ranchers are s...truggling just to break even. What this ultimately means is that packers are paying farmers less than they usually would for their cattle while charging grocery stores more, raking in record profits at both parties’ expense. "But federal efforts to support businesses affected by the pandemic could make the problem of consolidation worse. Already, large restaurant chains have claimed millions of dollars set aside for small businesses (although several have offered to return the funds); if the same pattern emerges in the meat industry, we will likely see many of the remaining independent processors go out of business, ceding their market share to larger and wealthier operations. "All of this sounds like bad newsand it is. "But endless consolidation isn’t a foregone conclusion. "Indeed, this crisis is an opportunity to finally address concentration in the meat industry and support a more diverse, regionally focused system." An excerpt from this article. Read it in full in the link below.