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Stewardship Series: Food Forests

April 23, 2024 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Stewardship Series: Food Forests photo

UpdateRegistration is now full for this session. Stay tuned for future 2024 Stewardship Series sessions, organized in partnership with ISCMV & Stanley Park Ecology Society.

Food Forests on April 23, 2024 - 6:30-8pm

Join us online as we welcome a pannel of experts to discuss food forests. A food forest or forest garden is a mixed canopy planting of edible native plants. Coast Salish Nations and other Indigenous communities in BC have planted and cared for these forests for generations (for more info visit Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation and Forest Gardens in the News)

Our panel will share their experiences with creating and/or managing food forests in different spaces and contexts of Metro Vancouver [ancestral and stolen territories of the q́ićəý̓(Katzie), q́ʷɑ:ńƛ̓əń (Kwantlen), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), máthxwi (Matsqui), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), se’mya’me (Semiahmoo), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), scəẃaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations].

After the presentation, there will be an open Q+A period with our guests.

ISCMV relies on grant funding and donations to make educational events like this possible. If you would like to support ISCMV, you may make a donation here. If you would like to support SPES, you may donate here. Thank you!

Speaker Bios

Maria Preoteasa researched Food Forests in many different ways, from her Spring 2023 REM 495 capstone project on Vancouver’s policy pathways to food forests, to SFU's Environmental Education field school in Indonesia, where she researched more about sustainable agriculture and cultural practices, to the ideation of the new Food Forest Outdoor Learning Space (FFOLS). Inspired by the existence of global food forests dating as far back as 11,000 years ago, she decided to make use of a pre-existing food forest site at SFU's Burnaby campus. She is helping to fight the collective forgetting of human nature-based skills. Currently, Maria is partnering with faculty and community members to integrate this space into SFU classes, Indigenize the curriculum, and make the Food Forest Outdoor Learning Space a place of belonging. She is also one of the youngest members to be elected to the Board of the Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation (VUFFF). Maria loves nature, eco-art, studying plant identification and ethnobotany, and reading poetry.

As an Indigenous Cultural Programmer, Leona Brown gained 3 years of training in Land and Lives around Indigenous Culture with the Resurfacing History Program, coordinated by Jolene Andrew. This work has become her healing journey. Leona now shares her grassroots teachings and knowledge with others. This knowledge is important, as it teaches others where they come from and how to live with the lands and waterways around them. As a Gitxsan Refugee in the unceded territories of Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh, Leona has been taking on land-based work here in the city of Vancouver through the Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation (VUFFF). She thrives as a great ambassador for Indigenous food, sovereignty, and access to resources.

Grace Nombrado holds a B.A. (English) and B.Ed (Teacher Certification) from Simon Fraser University. In addition to being the Communications Coordinator for ISCMV, Grace is also the founder and Executive Director of Free the Fern Stewardship Society in South Vancouver. In 2023 she helped with the planning and creation of a Native Food Forest along the Red Alder Trail. With the support of hundreds of volunteers, she spent ten months removing invasive species before planting 884 native plants. Whenever possible, Grace partners with Indigenous knowledge-sharers and artists. She believes in the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion within environmental stewardship.