Stuartburn Emerson-Franklin Local Food Initiative
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Education

Learn skills to produce your own food; explore local ingredients.

Local Producer Spotlights

Get to know the stories behind the local producers and artisans in your area!

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Gardening and Preserving

Learn how to grow and preserve an abundance of fresh vegetables in your own yard.

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Foraging

Learn about wild edible plants that grow locally.

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Regenerative Agriculture

Learn more about how you can participate and start farming in a holistic and regenerative way.

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Local Fibre

Learn about the benefits and availability of local fibres.

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Do-It-Yourself

Explore ways to eat local by cooking from scratch, homesteading and producing food yourself.

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Local Producer Spotlights

Tatiana Frederickson
Aurora Microgreens
In 2018, our family moved to the high arctic, to the town of Aklavik, where we lived and worked for six years. While there, we longed for fresh produce and the vitamins it contains. In an effort to improve our health, we started growing microgreens f...
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Kailynne Koster
Poppy & Mae Co.
Ever since a young age I have been creative and expressed myself through various forms of art. When I was 10, my grandma taught me how to sew. I remember the exact day… one morning she taught me the basics of the sewing machine and how to sew patchwo...
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Mother of Pearl Studio of the Arts
Mother of Pearl Studio of the Arts is nestled in the woods near Woodmore, Manitoba just off Hwy 201. It's the culmination of a dream for three professional musical and visual artists ... Heather Bishop, Debora Cardaci, and Bibiana Vidal Curell (we ho...
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Four Hearts & I
Do you know what a Cricut machine is? It’s quite an amazing little machine that can cut 300 types of materials, from silk to burlap, using 13 different tools. Kelcie Neufeld bought her first Cricut (pronounced “Cricket”) machine in the fall of 2020 a...
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Green Pastures Farm
Guy and Leah Bouchard have been mixed farming near Gardenton for over 11 years. Initially they diversified their farm and began direct selling their products (pastured pork, beef, chicken, lamb) as a way to lessen risk and stabilize farm income, but ...
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Little Shed on the Prairie
After her first child was born, Katie Martens picked up crocheting as a hobby and never looked back. She discovered she loved everything about yarn and creating beautiful crocheted pieces. When she and her little family made the big decision to go of...
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Leo and Anita Janzen: Garlic Producers
 “We want to eat organic. That’s why we grow organic.” Ten years ago, Anita and Leo Janzen moved to the R.M. of Stuartburn. Two years later, they settled on the high side of the scenic Roseau River, south of Gardenton, where they are fortunate to hav...
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Tammy Tesarski-Derksen
Thrive Like a Wildflower Holistics
I remember the day my husband and I were drywalling a house on a country property. There were mounds of sand from the site excavation and on top of one of them was a beautiful bunch of wildflowers. It wasn’t planted in a manicured garden and yet it s...
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Laura Reeves
Prairie Shore Botanicals - Native Prairie and Woodland Plant Nursery
I’m excited to announce that Prairie Shore Botanicals has expanded to include a native prairie and woodland plant nursery.  When I landed the position of field technician for the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve back in 1994, I was ecst...
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Bridgehill Pottery Workshop
Joanne Graydon lives in Woodmore with her husband Gord. They’ve lived on the farm overlooking the Jordon creek for the past 28 years. Joanne was a teacher in Vita and in Dominion City where she shared her love for the arts in her early year’s classro...
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Author - Andrea Thiessen
At a young age, Andrea knew she wanted to be an author. She vividly remembers her years in elementary school in Steinbach, where the love of books and writing was cultivated at an early age. Many days after school, you could find her in the...
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Hanna Brandt
Holy Hanna Art
Nature has always called to me and as a child, I spent as many hours as possible with my dog or horses all alone in the woods, listening to the trees and squirrels and birds. Since I was also very creative, it was only natural that, as soon as I coul...
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Paradise Road Bakery - Mark Penner
In May 2014, Mark Penner and family moved to Roseau River and opened Paradise Road Bakery, just off Hwy 59. His baking career began in 2005 in Cartwright, MB where he and his wife owned and operated a bakery and restaurant. Mark has many happy childh...
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Derek Hofer
Avonlea Honey
Seven years ago, my apiarist friends finally convinced me to take up the hobby of beekeeping. I bought two hives and, that same year, split them into four after acquiring two more queen bees. I extracted the honey using a borrowed 2-frame extractor. ...
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Karl and Shauna Wagonhoffer
Skip-O-Potamus - Stuartburn, MB
 Handcrafting – taking raw ingredients and transforming them into something new and useful – has always intrigued me. Knowing I have created something appreciable gives me joy. As a teen I became fascinated with the idea that lye (made from ashes) an...
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Wildfire Farms
Wildfire Farms began ten years ago with a vision of direct marketing grass-fed beef from the Barnabe family beef ranch direct to the consumer. Meaghan Barnabe, owner of the venture, hopes to share with others all the nutrient dense healthy meat that ...
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Shepherd's Dream
Twenty-some years ago, Janet Kroeker found herself between jobs as a promoter of healthy nutrition, lifestyle choices and safety. That’s when her sister, then owner of Shepherd’s Dream, a wool bedding company in California, asked if she’d like to sta...
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Stoney Brook Creamery
Jim Appleby envisions a vibrant, diverse, local food system without chemical inputs. He grew up on a dairy farm, run by his parents, Sam and Anne Appleby near Steinbach. “My parents stopped using chemicals on the farm when I was a kid,” Jim remembers...
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Gardening

Laura Reeves
Planning your Garden
In Part One of this series, we looked at evaluating your garden space, companion planting and starting plants indoors. So what’s next? Well, you can simply put your seeds and dutifully cared-for bedding plants in the ground and hope for the best, or ...
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Laura Reeves
It's Time to Plan Your Garden
Whether you’re new to gardening or a seasoned grower, have a large plot or a few containers, early planning is key to improving the success and productivity of your garden space. “Thinking green” in January and February is a great way to beat back th...
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Leah Bouchard
Preserving the Harvest
It’s the time of year those of us who’ve attempted to garden, or stick solely to local fare, realize if we don’t eat wheelbarrow loads of one kind of veggie for a week at a time, it goes to waste quickly, and then we won’t see the same variety until ...
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Janet Kroeker
An Excellent Resource for Gardeners
This column is all about local... and it doesn't get more local than eating many of your own home-grown garden vegetables and fruits. My partner Tim and I have attempted to grow more and more of our own produce since moving to the country twelve...
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Seed Saving Success Begins in Spring
As we begin the planting season, saving seed is typically not top of mind. However, crop selection plays a big role in seed saving success. With a little forethought and planning we can continue to grow our favourite crops for years to come, and even...
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Seasonal

Leah Bouchard
Why Eat Nose to Tail
I have memories of choking down liver as a kid, trying to drown out the powerful taste with mountains of mustard, ketchup, and mashed potatoes. All the time, I promised myself that I would never eat it as an adult. I think this may be a familiar expe...
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Leah Bouchard
Embrace Winter by Eating Local
With the cold season upon us, you may doubt the possibility of experiencing local tastes and flavours. One only has to look outside to see that our Manitoba growing season is a very long way away.At our house, we relish local food in winter more than...
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Leah Bouchard
Buy Meat Direct from the Farm
Fall is an excellent time of year to fill your freezer with local meat direct from the farm. Free range chickens or even pastured pork may be available at this time of year. Also, when cattle and sheep come off the pasture in fall, they possess all t...
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Local Christmas Shopping Guide
Now more than ever is a good opportunity to support local farmers, artisans, and businesses.There is a wide range of products produced and hand-crafted in our area. Take a look through this guide and contact vendors directly to order products and arr...
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Eating Seasonal and Local in the Fall
Fresh food abounds after the summer growing season, which means there is no better time to focus on eating local. Connecting to your food, land, community and the farmers who grow it, are just some of the many reasons to focus on local and seasonal e...
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Eating Local in the Spring
Spring – the season pantries and larders traditionally run bare, and due to our long winters, it’s still a lengthy wait until local produce is available.Or so we think.Spring is actually an excellent season to enjoy local food. It may start out slow,...
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riginally published as a blog post for Green Pastures Farm. Updated and edited with permission.
Local and Handmade Christmas
Is it just me or has Christmas shopping lost some of its charm? What should be exciting and pleasurable seems to turn into a very expensive ‘to-do’ list each year, while true anticipation for Christmas gets dwarfed by the stress of getting it all don...
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Regenerative Agriculture

Sheep trample a diverse mixture of cover crops. Properly managed livestock contribute greatly to restoring healthy soil.
Miguel Bouchard
Soil - Our most Valuable Resource
Do you eat?If you do, you have to care about our soil, the most valuable resource we have.The choices we make – both farmers and consumers - can encourage long-term thriving healthy soil, which means plentiful food and resilience to extreme weather, ...
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Dorthea Gregoire - Canadian Organic Growers
Get Started in Regenerative Agriculture – Learn the Principles
If you’re among those of us who have heard about regenerative agriculture (regen ag) and are intrigued by the possibilities for your farm, yard or garden this article is for you. For those already farming, gardening or growing, regen ag is suitable f...
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Dorthea Gregoire - Canadian Organic Growers
Regenerative Agriculture is for Everyone
Over the last few years, terms like regenerative agriculture (aka regen ag), cover crops, soil health, carbon sequestration and soil biology/microbes have been popping up more and more in agricultural circles and have become the topic of discussion f...
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Local Fibre

Jeannine Brandt
How to Ditch Fast Fashion and Start Loving Your Clothes
Back in university, I took a random fashion history course (which turned out to be about a lot more than just fashion). There, I learnt about fast fashion: the modern phenomenon where clothing is produced quickly and cheaply to keep up with the great...
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Leah Bouchard
Experimenting with Local Colour
Since getting my own wool spun into yarn several years ago, I have experimented with natural dyes from local materials. Although chemical dyes may produce more vibrant colour, I choose to work with plants and other natural materials I find around my ...
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Randy Dyck
Flax, Then and Now
This article was originally published as a blog post for Pembina Fibreshed on April 16 2023. It is used with permission.Some of my earliest memories are of a sea of blue flowers swaying in the breeze as I rode my bicycle along the gravel road that bo...
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Leah Bouchard
Crafting with Wool – Where to Start
So you’d love to craft with wool but don’t know where to start? I created this article for you.People have hand-crafted with wool for centuries. The beautiful aspect about traditional handwork is that you don’t need a ton of special skill and expensi...
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Leah Bouchard
Natural Benefits of Wool
As a sheep farmer, I have explored the wonderful benefits of wool over the years. The more I learn, the more captivated I become.Not only has wool been used as a material for bedding, clothing and household textiles for centuries, wool boasts many he...
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News & Events

Welcome to the Borderland Fibre Shindig!
Let’s gather together to celebrate all the fibre that is produced and crafted in our region! On Saturday January 31, the Stuartburn Emerson-Franklin Local Food Initiative is planning a full day of fibre-based demonstrations, workshops and a market w...
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Joanne Graydon
Bridgehill Pottery Shop - a Hub for Local Creativity
After moving from my farm in Woodmore in 2021, Bridgehill Pottery Shop re located to Emerson. This quaint little shop, also known as “The Pottery and Gift Shop,” showcases lovely Manitoba-made handcrafted gifts from local artisans.After many years wo...
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Janet Kroeker
Experience Farm, Fibre, Food and Friends in Gardenton, Manitoba
I was invited to experience a hands-on afternoon working with wool on the busy farm treasured and stewarded by Leah and Guy Bouchard. After crossing the landmark, century-old timber truss bridge east of Gardenton, I found Green Pastures Farm on the s...
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Local Spotlight: Artisan Hall Grand Opening
 On September 25th the staff and owners of Reimer Concrete and Building Supplies pulled out all the stops in their official opening of Artisan Hall. With colourful balloons and a festive atmosphere, owners Matt and Perla Reimer and their family serve...
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Community Initiates Free Seed Library in Roseau River
As the winter wears on, many of us itch to start our garden plants and get our hands back in the soil. Unfortunately, job and supply chain disruptions over the past two growing seasons have made certain seeds harder to come by. Paper shortages have l...
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Foraging

Laura Reeves
Grow Your Own Coffee - Effortlessly!
I'm sure my lawn has more dandelions than grass. And there's good reason for that. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinalis) are among my favourite and most used of the wild edibles. I prefer the roots because they can be used to make so many deli...
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Foraging
Step outside and look around you. Is there a corner of your yard that’s overgrown and unruly? Are you excited to get back in the garden, while at the same time dreading all the weeding you’ll need to do? Perhaps you’re looking at your neighbour’s law...
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Do-It-Yourself

Janet Kroeker
Fermentation - an Old Fashioned and Easy Way to Preserve Food
It’s so easy! When talking to a friend about fermenting garden vegetables, she told me that once she tried fermented pickles she could never go back to using hot vinegar brine Not only was it way simpler, she could make as many jars as she had veggi...
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Leah Bouchard
Render your own Lard
Fall happens to be harvest season in more ways than one. Not only is it time to finish up the canning and bring the winter vegetables into cold storage, in many families, fall traditionally has meant an annual pig butcher day. Now although our family...
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Leah Bouchard
Introduction to Keeping Backyard Chickens - Starting Chicks
If you decided to raise backyard chickens this year, you may be starting with chicks. Starting chicks stands as the most challenging aspect of backyard chickens, and proper preparation is key to success. We have started thousands of chicks over the y...
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Leah Bouchard
Introduction to Keeping Backyard Chickens
Reasons abound to keep backyard chickens – it might be for fun, food security, tick control or producing fresh eggs or meat on a budget. My husband and I have been raising meat birds and keeping laying hens for years, and I can’t imagine having my fa...
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Janet Kroeker
Make Your Own Bread
No time to bake your own bread, you say? Maybe, by the end of this article, I can convince you to try. I've been a bread baker for about 42 years. For a lot of those years I was a stay at home mom with four growing children. With frugality a par...
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Janet Kroeker
Make Your Own Broth
Is making broth part of your cooking routine? It has been part of mine for many years. Slow simmered roasted bones with my favorite assortment of veggies and herbs provides me with tasty and healthy broth I can use as a base for many comforting meals...
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Leah Bouchard
Get Started with Milling Your Own Flour
You may notice a certain aroma when you drive past a grain field at this time of year. It’s the smell of grain ripening. The scent reminds me that it’s time to stock up on our families’ yearly supply of grain. We started grinding grain into our own f...
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Eat Local on a Budget
We all love the idea of eating local.Afterall, who can argue with less dependence on erratic supply chains, access to super fresh food, and the ability to support neighboring farmers?Unfortunately, often the price tag inhibits our zeal for local. Som...
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