Podcasts about kootenay co

Happy holidays and belated Winter Solstice, Herbal Radio listeners! Thank you for tuning in with us for this week's episode. Today, we chat with esteemed author and food-expert, Jon Steinman. Jon is the face and writer behind Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants, which offers inspiring stories and a thorough analysis of American and Canadian food co-ops using real life examples. Through his wiring, Jon dissects the food retail sector and the shadows cast by corporate giants. He makes a strong case for food co-ops being the crucial alternative to create local food-based economies and enhance low-income food access across communities. Jon's expertise within the food industry for over two decades, there truly is no better person to shed light on the evolution and current standing of our food-gathering rituals. Jon Steinman has studied and worked with all things food for 25 years. He was an elected director from 2006-2016 of the Kootenay Co-op – Canada's largest retail food co-op specializing in natural foods, serving as Board President from 2014-2016. Following the publication of his book Grocery Story: the Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants (New Society Publishers 2019), he completed an extensive book tour that took him to 125 food co-ops and 23 in their development phases. Jon regularly delivers educational sessions to food co-op boards and staff and is a frequent guest speaker at food co-op annual meetings and book clubs. In 2023, Jon became an Accredited Professional Dialogue Practitioner through the Academy of Professional Dialogue and introduces organizations such as food co-ops to this mode of communication. Jon was the producer and host of the internationally syndicated radio show and podcast Deconstructing Dinner, once ranked as the most-listened-to food podcast in Canada and was writer and host of Deconstructing Dinner: Reconstructing our Food System – a television and web series available online. Jon coordinated and curated the annual Deconstructing Dinner Film Festival of food documentaries and was involved in a number of local food initiatives including the Kootenay Grain CSA - Canada's first community supported agriculture project for grain and G.E. Free Kootenays.   Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Follow on Twitter Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

Darren Davidson/ Kootenay Co-op Radio - CJLY, 93.5fm Nelson BC - The Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce has been in the middle of the region's COVID storm for over 12 months. There've been some critical efforts by chambers throughout BC and Canada — helping business stay afloat, pay their staff, lobby governments to eliminate costs to business, and more than a few times, offer a shoulder to have a good cry on. Chamber of Commerce boss Tom Thomson stopped by Kootenay Co-op Radio's current affairs program on March 31 to chat a bit about what the latest lockdown looks like for local business. He told KCR that according to a recent BC business survey 73% of respondents are using some form of government subsidy. Photo credit: Canadian Money by Carissa Rogers via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

Guest: Laura Sacks, Climate Scientist and Chapter Leader with the Nelson/West Kootenay Citizens Climate Lobby Hosts: Kayla Tillapaugh and Camille LeBlanc Keywords: Climate Change, Citizens Climate Lobby, Activism, Lobbying, Policies, Campaigns, Community Engagement, Sustainability, Local Governments, Youth, Carbon Tax, Disempowerment, Empowerment, Hope, Climate Resilience, Climate Justice, Climate Action Topics: The Citizens Climate Lobby; Fridays for the Future and youth activism; The challenges of educating people on climate change, Lobbying to local governments; The shifting of perspectives relating to the climate crisis; Maintaining a positive outlook for the future while acknowledging the emotional toll of climate grief and learning self care; Laura's experience hosting the Kootenay Co-op radio show “Climate of Change”.  Music: "Out There" by First After the Fire https://www.firstafterthefire.com/ https://www.facebook.com/firstafterthefire https://open.spotify.com/artist/1LtSs8DMOmplIzsudyeeDI  Additional Resources:  CCL website: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/chapters/CAN_Nelson_-_West_Kootenay/   

Bruce Cole and Deane Parkes are joined by Peter Weicker (Fortinos), and Jon Steinman (Deconstructing Dinner & Kootenay Co-op) to give an inside look at how COVID-19 has been affecting Canada's retail industry. This podcast is one of a series of updates over the next few months. Please send us your own experiences on how these challenging times are affecting your business. We can be reached at bruce@cnhr.ca or deane@deaneparkes.com 16:37-Peter 41:30 - Jon

Join Avi and guest Sadie Yancey (Kootenay Co-op) as they talk about the wonderful Kootenay Co-op Book Club. Find out about its highlights so far, and learn about the upcoming books! This club meets monthly in the Library…

Celebrate Freedom to Read Week: February 25 – March 3, 2018. Samara and Natasha of Otter Books and “Novel Ideas” (another Kootenay Co-op Radio show), join us in the studio for a rousing trivia quiz on banned and challenged books…

Jon Steinman has studied and worked with all things food for over two decades. He was the producer and host of the internationally syndicated radio show and podcast Deconstructing Dinner, once ranked as the most-listened-to food podcast in Canada. Jon is the writer and host of "Deconstructing Dinner: Reconstructing our Food System" – a television and web series currently streaming online. Jon coordinates and curates the annual Deconstructing Dinner Film Festival of compelling food documentaries and was an elected director from 2006-2016 of the Kootenay Co-op – Canada's largest independent retail consumer food co-op. https://grocerystory.coop

Today I'll be kicking off another month dedicated to an important topic in regenerative living. For a long time now, our food system has been a primary indicator for so many markers of health in our society, from the way that our food is produced, what kinds of food we eat, how we cook, how it affects our health and even our ethics as consumers. For the next four weeks I'll be taking a look our food system from a variety of different view-points and analysis in order to shed light on some of the lesser know factors that influence how we eat and how our dietary choices shape the food industry at large. To kick off this series I spoke with Jon Steinman, author of the new book “Grocery Story: the promise of food co-ops in the age of grocery giants.” Now Jon has studied and worked with everything about food for more than twenty years. He formerly produced and hosted a popular podcast called Deconstructing Dinner, was a writer and host for a web series by the same name, and now curates the annual “Deconstructing Dinner” film festival of compelling food documentaries. Jon was also an elected director from 2006-2016 of the Kootenay Co-op – Canada's largest independent retail consumer food co-op, serving as Board President from 2014-2016 Now I consider myself fairly well informed about the food industry from personal research and that fact that in the last decade I've worked directly in many branches of the industry from refrigerated shipping, industrial farms, organic farms, fish processing, many different roles in restaurants, and even the permaculture farm that many of you have heard me talk about for over a year now, but I never knew so much about the influence that the giant grocery chains and supermarkets have on every aspect of our food from how it's grown till it gets to our plates. This is a very eye opening look, not only at the broken aspects of the food industry, but the very tangible and accessible solutions that co-op grocery stores can be, not only for getting access to better food and transforming the way the industry is incentivized to operate, but also for the positive impact that co-ops can have on our communities and local economies. We also talk about solutions for access to high quality food for low-income neighborhoods and much more. Resources: Get the book “Grocery Story” Deconstructing Dinner website

Media industry is in trouble. For a long time now it has been shedding jobs and converging into ever larger corporate entities where profits outweigh any residual sense of responsibility to small communities for whom a local paper is often a necessity. Are there solutions? In this episode we will bring you interviews with journalists working a community owned paper in Blyth, Ontario and a co-op station in Nelson, BC as well as a conversation with two researchers from the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Aruba studying journalism practices in small island settings. The Citizen (http://www.northhuron.on.ca/the-citizen) Kootenay Co-op Radio (https://www.kootenaycoopradio.com) The National Campus and Community Radio Association (http://www.ncra.ca) University of Aruba (http://www.ua.aw) RE-Quest Research and Consultancy (https://www.requestcaribbean.com)

My hometown Nelson has a community radio station run by a crew of volunteers (Kootenay Co-op Radio). They offer a number of excellent programs, both music and spoken word shows. I was asked to be a guest on a relatively new talk show called Stand and Deliver. The topic? Parenting young children of course! Here’s the write-up from their Facebook page: “Tonight on Stand and Deliver, we’ll meet and talk with parenting expert Judy Banfield to address the challenges that face parents of young children when it comes to raising kids. Raising young children in the age of Facebook and Google can be tough when they have access to so much parenting information that is conflicting. She’s a great speaker and pretty savvy around parenting, breastfeeding, education… so much more.” Mike and Anthony were very curious, entertaining, and the hour just flew by. It was very encouraging to have them interview me. Neither of them has kids and they both learned a lot from our talk. Mike said, “I can assure you just from this hour you’ll learn some very valuable life training as a parent.” Tune in and feel free to leave me some comments below.

Ever wonder how some folks manage their kids and the transition back to school and seem to make it all appear so easy? How do other parents do it? Perhaps they took some advice that I share in my interview with Deb Kozak on Kootenay Morning. (on Kootenay Co-op Radio) It’s always a pleasure for me share my knowledge about what it takes to be a great parent. Listen in and learn how you can manage the stress of back to school with your kids.

It felt like summer was over when we got word of the election call, didn't it? OK, so now that Stephen Harper has spoiled our summer fun, time to spoil some of his. It works in the favour of Stephen Harper's Conservatives if voters stay home. Today we'll talk about why it's necessary for YOU … to get out and vote.   We'll also hear about strategies to get out the vote among people who traditionally don't vote. Item 1: Be the Vote is a new organization that's taking action. It was started by a group of young Canadians passionate about getting youth to vote. They believe that youth must be an active and relevant force if they want politicians to listen to them. Victoria Fenner talks to Grace Kennedy, a student of Social Work at McMaster University in Hamilton. She's the founder and executive director of Be The Vote. Item 2: Getting Out the Student Vote – In July of 2015, the Canadian Federation of Students lost a court challenge and subsequent appeal in an attempt to have the Fair Elections Act ruled unconstitutional. Roman Jakubowski is president of the Lakehead Student Union in Thunder Bay. He spoke to the National Campus Community Radio program and the rabble podcast Groundwire, produced this month by Kootenay Co-op Radio in Nelson, B.C. They talked about how the Lakehead University Students Union will be supporting students' access to voting. Item 3: Voting in prison is a constitutional right. According to CBC News report last week, 54 per cent of federal inmates cast a ballot in the last election. The following is an excerpt of a an interview with Joan Ruzsa, first heard on The Prison Radio Show. The Prison Radio Show is broadcast from CKUT in Montreal. The show seeks to confront the invisibility of prisons and prisoner struggle, by focusing on the roots of incarceration, policing, and criminalization, and by challenging our ideas about what prisons are and the people inside our jails. Joan Ruzsa speaks on behalf of Rittenhouse, an agency dedicated to bringing healing, transformative justice instead of retributive justice in the criminal justice system. She explains the process for voting inside federal prisons. Thanks to the NCRA's program Groundwire for that clip. Item 4:  Here at rabble.ca, we've been preparing for the dropping of the writ for many months. One of the highlights of our winter/spring season was an event which we sponsored with Canadian Dimension magazine. George Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist and author of Don't Think of an Elephant. He spoke to a crowd in Toronto about how conservative values have come to dominate public discourse. One of the things he talked about was voters in the middle, the ones who are conservative (small c) in some ways, progressive in other ways. Everybody is courting the centrist vote. Those are the swing voters. They could go any which way. They represent growth for every political party. That's why it's so important for political parties to try to understand them. George Lakoff provides these insights into the mind of the moderate conservative. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

Michael Ableman is a farmer, author and photographer. Since he moved to Canada from the United States about 10 years ago, Michael has been creating a diverse model of how a farm can become a community unto itself. Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring Island is a working 120-acre historic organic farm. The farm currently produces strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, asparagus, melons, greens, roots, a wide range of annual Mediterranean vegetables, as well as a new orchard of diverse varieties of peach, plum, apple, pear, quince, persimmon, and cherry. Beyond Foxglove's status as just a farm, the site is also home to The Center for Art, Ecology & Agriculture, which was established to demonstrate and interpret the important connections between farming, land stewardship, food, the arts, and community well being. In February 2009, Michael was hosted in Nelson by the Kootenay Local Agricultural Society. As he addressed the Nelson audience, Michael communicated a long list of ideas that he believes all communities must adopt to ensure that we can "feed the future before our choices are narrowed for us". He concluded his talk with a descriptive glimpse into the images and stories that fill his 2005 book, "Fields of Plenty". Kootenay Co-op Radio recorded his talk.

Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. The project has inspired a wave of support from the communities of Nelson and Creston, including support from the Kootenay Lake Sailing Association. In September 2008, a group of sailors approached the CSA and offered to sail as much of the grain as they could from the Creston Valley to Nelson along Kootenay Lake. In less than a month, four sailboats had committed to the weekend excursion and Deconstructing Dinner's Jon Steinman joined the crew of the Kelpie so that listeners could, at the very least, take an audible part in the exciting fossil-fuel free mission. Voices Matt Lowe, Climate Change Campaigner, West Kootenay EcoSociety (Nelson, BC) - The West Kootenay EcoSociety promotes ecologically and socially sound communities while protecting species and ecosystems in the Southern Columbia Mountains ecoregion. Matt is the co-founder of the grain CSA. Jay Blackmore, Sailor, Kootenay Lake Sailing Association (Nelson, BC) - When Jay first heard about the CSA, he was eager to become part of this exciting initiative. He quickly gathered a group of sailors who will be sailing the grains from the Creston Valley to Nelson on the weekend of October 25, 2008. David Oosthuizen, Sailor, Kootenay Lake Sailing Association (Nelson, BC) - David was the skipper of the Kelpie. Roy Plummer, Volunteer (Fruitvale, BC) Jon Steinman, Producer/Host, Deconstructing Dinner (Nelson, BC) Keith Huscroft, Farmer, Huscroft Farm (Lister, BC) Cecile Andrews, Author, Slow is Beautiful (Seattle, WA) Drew Gailius, Farmer, Full Circle Farm (Canyon, BC) Music Earl Hamilton, Musician/Educator (Nelson, BC) - Earl was invited to author a song in honour of the Creston Grain CSA. He has since been recorded performing "Close to Home" in the studios of Kootenay Co-op Radio and performed the song live on the shores of Nelson just after the grain had arrived via sailboat from the Creston Valley. Earl was joined by Norman Richard  

Since March 2008, The Local Grain Revolution series has been following the evolution of Canada's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project for grain. A total of 180 members and one business from the communities of Nelson and Creston, British Columbia, are blazing a trail towards a local grain economy. Kootenay Harvest Revival III On this Part VI of the series, we continue with recordings from the Kootenay Harvest Revival - an event hosted by Deconstructing Dinner, the Nelson-Creston Grain CSA and All Seasons Café. The two-day event was held to celebrate the CSA's monumental harvest of grain and to use the success of the project as a "catalyst for a local food revolution." Day 1 of the event heard from a series of speakers who shared the history of food production in the Kootenay regions of British Columbia. By exploring what was once possible to grow and produce in the area, it was hoped that the event would inspire visions of what the soil is currently able to provide both now and into the future. Certainly the Grain CSA is one of those projects unearthing the potential of the region. On Part III of the Revival recordings, we listen to Deconstructing Dinner Host Jon Steinman address the audience of 270. Moving on to day 2 of the event, we arrive at the All Seasons Café where a celebratory brunch and dinner was joined by a series of short presentations. Those presentations included CSA co-founder Matt Lowe, CSA farmer Roy Lawrence and board member of the West Kootenay EcoSociety Russell Precious who read some passages by poet and essayist Wendell Berry. Voices Roy Lawrence, Farmer, Lawrence Farm (Creston, BC) - Roy is a third-generation farmer. He has long farmed using conventional methods but sees the CSA as an opportunity to transition to growing naturally. Russell Precious, Board of Directors, West Kootenay EcoSociety (Sunshine Bay, BC) - After graduating with a BA in Asian History at UBC and UC Berkeley, Russell studied organic farming with pioneer organic farmer and teacher, John Harrison. Subsequently he co-founded the Naam vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver (still running after 35 years); an organic fruit stand & wholesale fruit operation; Quadra Foods Market on Quadra Island and Capers natural foods stores in Vancouver. In 1993 he was finalist for both the regional Entrepreneur of the Year and Van Citys Ethics in Action awards. In 1999 he was one of three first recipients of the B.C. Organic Pioneers Award. He most recently joined the Board of Directors at the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative. Matt Lowe, Climate Change Campaigner, West Kootenay EcoSociety (Nelson, BC) - The West Kootenay EcoSociety promotes ecologically and socially sound communities while protecting species and ecosystems in the Southern Columbia Mountains ecoregion. Matt is the co-founder of the grain CSA. Jon Steinman, Producer/Host, Deconstructing Dinner (Nelson, BC) Music Earl Hamilton, Musician/Educator (Nelson, BC) - Earl was invited to author a song in honour of the Kootenay Harvest Revival, and he was recorded performing Close to Home in the studios of Kootenay Co-op Radio in September 2008. Earl was joined by Norman Richard, Jeannie Sittig and Marcella Edwards.

Since January 2006, Deconstructing Dinner has been reaching listeners around the world through dozens of radio stations and via the show's web site and weekly podcast. Now at its 100th episode, this broadcast marks the fourth in a series that has been capturing highlights of past broadcasts alongside musical accompaniments. Through a careful handpicking of highlights, this 100th episode acts as a collage of broadcasts aired between early May 2007 and late August 2007. The segments have been mixed alongside a soundtrack of music from Nelson, British Columbia's Adham Shaikh and his Dreamtree Project; Germany's Hendrik Weber and his Pantha du Prince project and England's Mark Hillier and his ishq project. The guest host for this broadcast is Kootenay Co-op Radio's Bob Olsen. A special thank you to all of the volunteers and staff at Kootenay Co-op Radio CJLY for having laid the foundation for Deconstructing Dinner to reach this important milestone.

On May 7, 2008, Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic departed Victoria from the 0-Mile mark of the Trans-Canada Highway and embarked on a cross-Canada journey to raise awareness of Deconstructing Dinner. The pair are travelling by recumbent tricycles (or trikes).  On May 15 we aired a segment featuring their departure from Victoria alongside a phone interview while they stopped over in Grand Forks, BC. This second installment of the Cross-Canada Trike tour begins in the home of Deconstructing Dinner - Nelson, BC. Hahn and Grgic were well taken care of in Nelson, receiving complementary meals from local restaurants and support from the local co-operative grocery store. Host Jon Steinman pulled them into the studios of Kootenay Co-op Radio and probed further into why the two were so motivated to use their cross-Canada trip to raise awareness of an independent radio show. Of greatest interest to this episode is the story of Darrick Hahn himself as he embodies many of the issues that are discussed here on the show each week. Hahn grew up on a a conventional dairy farm in the community of Monkton, Ontario; just north of the city of Stratford. Like many young Canadians growing up on farms, Hahn left his rural community as a teenager and migrated into the city. Having most recently lived in Vancouver for the past two years, he came to recognize that the city life was far too removed from the earth and his trip across the country is symbolic of his eventual decision to move back to the farm. His story is an important window into the lives of Canada's young rural populations. Guests/Voices Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic - Cross-Canada Cyclists Deconstructing Dinner Cross-Canada Trike Tour (Monkton, ON / London, ON) - Cyclists Sinisa Grgic and Darrick Hahn are old high-school friends based in Southwestern Ontario and are the proprietors of Fresh Entertainment. Darrick grew up on a farm in Monkton, Ontario and Sinisa, who is originally from Croatia, moved to Canada 17 years ago.

In November 2007, Deconstructing Dinner attended one of the first regional food security conferences ever held in Canada. With a population of less than 10,000 people, the City of Nelson, British Columbia, hosted over 250 people for the first evening of keynote speakers. With an equally impressive 170 in attendance on the second day of keynote speakers and workshops, the conference acts as an example for other Canadian communities wishing to begin organizing themselves to take greater control over the food available to them. Deconstructing Dinner hopes the raw recordings, shows, and resources presented on the Conference Page will aid groups across the country looking to ensure a socially and environmentally responsible local food system that benefits local economies. Part II On Part II we hear from two more keynote speakers who address how the region can begin going about rebuilding its local food system. Guests Abra Brynne, Board President - Kootenay Country Store Co-operative (Salmo, BC) - Abra is known in the region as a Foodshed Animator - inspiring and working with groups who are in the process of preserving or building a more sustainable local food system. She acts as the Secretary for the Kootenay Organic Growers Society, co-founder of the BC Food Systems Network and is working with the Meat Industry Enhancement Strategy of the BCFPA. Abra has lent her voice to Deconstructing Dinner on both the launch of our "Co-operatives: Alternatives to Industrial Food Series" and during our inaugural broadcast in January 2006. Don Low, Agricultural Economist, Industry Competitiveness Branch, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands (Creston, BC) - Don is based at the Ministry's Creston office. Prior to his role as an Agricultural Economist, Don was the District Agrologist, a profession that has disappeared in many parts of the country, and those positions that do remain have changed significantly from their more traditional role of advising and supporting farmers on the operations of their farms. Don also operates a large cherry orchard - Quiet Valley Farms.PPT Presentation Marilyn James, Spokesperson, Sinixt Nation (Winlaw, BC) - The land on which Nelson resides is the traditional territory of the Sinixt Nation also known as the Arrow Lakes People. The Canadian government has officially declared the Sinixt extinct, yet, many descendants do still reside in the region, so much so, that right here at Kootenay Co-op Radio we host the weekly program Sinixt Radio hosted by Marilyn James herself. As with any discussion taking place in this country when the issue of land use and resources are the focal point, support and approval from the original inhabitants of the territory is of critical importance. Marilyn welcomed conference delegates. Nadine Steele and Andre Piver, Organizers, Future of Food Conference Collaborative (Bealby Point, BC) - As members of the Nelson-Creston Green Party of BC, Nadine and Andre are two of a handful of organizers who helped bring the Future of Food in the Kootenays Conference into being.

From its inception in January 2006, Deconstructing Dinner has been accompanied by the recognizable theme music created by Nelson-area resident Adham Shaikh. Titled "Infusion", this piece is found on Adham's 2004 release "Fusion". In 2006, Fusion was nominated for a Juno award in the World Music category. On this broadcast, Producer Jon Steinman teamed up with Adham Shaikh to create a production that highlights all shows aired between January and May 2007. Upon compiling segments that capture the essence of these broadcasts, Jon passed the work off to Adham who then mastered a soundtrack of predominantly unreleased material. Adham Shaikh is a composer, producer and sound designer currently living near Nelson, BC. He has been producing music for the past 18 years and has released 4 solo albums, 2 collaborative full-length albums and numerous individual compositions over the course of his career. As a performer, Adham has played across Canada and internationally at festivals, film events and clubs - both solo and together with a wide variety of accompanying world musicians. Operating from his Sonicturtle Music Studio, he is currently at work on a number of multimedia projects while actively recording and composing his next albums. Acting as the Narrator for this broadcast is Kootenay Co-op Radio's K.Linda Kivi, co-host of the weekly program "The EcoCentric".

Listen to a few broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner, and choosing food may suddenly become an intimidating adventure. It is of the utmost importance that we also bring our listeners examples of alternatives to the industrial food system that is spiraling out of the control of Canadians. Enter the co-operative model of operating a business. Long an example in Canada of how people can assume control over our needs and resources, co-operatives as an alternative to the industrial food system will be the focus of this series. This is an exciting series, as we ourselves at Kootenay Co-op Radio are a co-operative too. How does a co-operative differ from a traditional business? Most importantly, a co-operative is owned and democratically controlled by the people who use the services or by those working within the co-op. A co-op is operated for the benefit of members and members have a say in decisions affecting the co-op. In the case of food, such a premise directly challenges many of the pressing issues Deconstructing Dinner explores on a weekly basis. On this Part II of the series, we look at how co-operatives can provide an alternative to agricultural land ownership and how farmers can receive a fair price by working together to market their product. Guests Rob Diether and Lorraine LeBourdais - Horse Lake Community Farm Co-operative (100-Mile House, BC) - An innovative plan to protect a unique piece of farmland in British Columbia is providing a model of how a community can take ownership of the land that feeds them, and guarantee access to locally grown food. Working with The Land Conservancy (TLC), a co-operative has been formed to purchase and preserve a 133-acre farm at the east end of Horse Lake. Joining the Co-op provides many benefits. These include community involvement in the farm's operation with preferred access to the farm's organic produce, educational and cultural activities and special programs and events on the property. Cathleen and Brewster Kneen - The Ram's Horn (Ottawa, ON) - In October 2006, Deconstructing Dinner recorded Cathleen and Brewster speak at the Bridging Borders Towards Food Security Conference held in Vancouver, BC. Their workshop told the story of the Northumberland Lamb Marketing Co-operative in Truro, Nova Scotia, which recently marked its 25th anniversary. Their workshop explored the factors that made Northumberlamb a voluntary supply management system, setting prices, controlling quality, negotiating delivery times and volumes with farmers, and supplying the major supermarkets in the province with local lamb year round. Cathleen and Brewster publish The Ram's Horn - a monthly journal of food systems analysis. Audio Clips Grassroots Groceries - Produced and hosted by Wajid Jenkins for Sprouts - a weekly news magazine of the Pacifica Foundation. Wajid hosts The Compost Pile at WORT Madison, Wisconsin. Grassroots Groceries looks at the past, present and future prospects for grassroots groceries in Madison, Wisconsin. With a globalized food system that favors centralized, large-volume brokers, small-scale grocers face huge obstacles. One of the original food cooperatives in the United States, the Mifflin Street Community Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin was forced to close its doors on Friday December 8, 2006. Established in January 1969, Mifflin Coop played a pivotal role in the progressive movement for food justice in the Midwest and beyond. With roots in the radical politics of the movement against the Vietnam War, Mifflin has remained true to its original values and mission. It is a collectively managed, member-owned small-scale grocery. Mifflin was central in the formation and support of other cooperative businesses in the Midwest, loaning money, inspiring discussion and forging new paths. It struggled with debt, changing neighborhood demographics and runaway globalization of the food system. Now, after 38 years, it has closed it's doors, leaving a small but obvious hole in the local food scene in Madison.

Listen to a few broadcasts of Deconstructing Dinner, and choosing food may suddenly become an intimidating adventure. It is of the utmost importance that we also bring our listeners examples of alternatives to the industrial food system that is spiraling out of the control of Canadians. Enter the co-operative model of operating a business. Long an example in Canada of how people can assume control over our needs and resources, co-operatives as an alternative to the industrial food system will be the focus of this series. This is an exciting series, as we ourselves at Kootenay Co-op Radio are a co-operative too. How does a co-operative differ from a traditional business? Most importantly, a co-operative is owned and democratically controlled by the people who use the services or by those working within the co-op. A co-op is operated for the benefit of members and members have a say in decisions affecting the co-op. In the case of food, such a premise directly challenges many of the pressing issues Deconstructing Dinner explores on a weekly basis. On this Part I of the series, we look at how co-operatives can provide an alternative to the retail and distribution sector of Canada's food system. The province of British Columbia has some of the most innovative cooperatives in the country, and the two co-operatives featured on today's broadcast are both located within the province: the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative in Nelson, and FoodRoots, a newly established distributors co-operative in Victoria. Guests Abra Brynne, Board President - Kootenay Country Store Co-operative (Nelson, BC) - The Kootenay Co-op is a large, member-owned cooperative offering natural, organic foods and products in Nelson. Since its inception in 1975, the Co-op has taken a leading role in promoting natural, organic foods and products, sustainable living and supporting local, organic farms and businesses and fair trade organizations. With over 7,000 members, the store is a leading example in Canada of an alternative to the conventional model of food retailing. Abra has been a member of the store since 1991, was a staff member until 2000, and is now the President of the Board.  Jocelyn Carver, Human Resources Director - Kootenay Country Store Co-operative (Nelson, BC) - In March 2007, Jocelyn helped organize an event/meeting for the 55 staff members of the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative. The meeting explored food sovereignty and food security, and invited local farmers and suppliers to come and speak to the staff. Such a meeting would be unheard of within the conventional retail system, and Jocelyn was invited onto the show to share this experience. Staff of the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative - Joy Farley, Anneke Rosch, Niels Petersen, Allana McConachy and Ben Morris Lee Fuge and Susan Tychie, Co-Founders - FoodRoots (Victoria, BC) - Incorporated in October 2006 as a co-operative, FoodRoots has been formed to promote a local sustainable food system by creating the infrastructure link between the eaters/consumers and the growers and processors in the Victoria region. They promote sustainable food grown naturally as close to home as possible, and place a priority on Certified Organic. FoodRoots works hard to educate eaters/consumers about local agriculture and food security issues, and the co-operative challenges the conventional distribution systems controlling Canada's food system.

Host Jon Steinman chooses some of the most memorable interviews and segments from the 18 shows produced between January and May, 2006. Segments are played to a compilation of music from the Kootenay Co-op Radio musical library and Jon's own personal collection.