Local Crops that Feed the World

This summer, while travelling the highways and byways of our beautiful countryside, did you ever wonder what happens to the crops in the fields along the way after they are harvested?  Well, here’s one answer.  Tucked into the landscape on Hwy. 8 in southwestern Ontario is the pretty town of Mitchell.  Set off to the left amid the fields ripe for the harvest and down a lane sits a constellation of huge silos and dryers waiting to receive the precious mature grains from the millions of acres of crops grown in the miles of surrounding fields.

A small army of skilled workers labor year-round and especially during the summer months at Mitchell’s mammoth grain elevators to receive the bountiful harvest of corn, canola, soybeans, white beans, etc.  Following the harvest, these grains are hauled by an assortment of huge trucks and grain wagons to the waiting elevators where they are sorted and dried, if necessary.  Then, the produce is poured into various sized bags and bins and shipped worldwide.  Some of the countries receiving the grains include the USA, Europe, England, Australia New Zealand, and parts of Africa.

My nephew has been employed at the Mitchell grain elevators for several decades. On chatting with him recently, I was amazed as he related the daily process to prepare crops from field to destination to ensure that the product will make its way around the world to feed the hungry in foreign lands. This scenario is repeated many times in grain elevators that dot the land throughout our countryside. Indeed, across Canada, many other foods are grown locally and exported to distant places. Think of potatoes from PEI, grains, and a variety of vegetables from Ontario, wheat from the prairie provinces, delicious apples from Beautiful BC as well as dairy products from most provinces. These are a fraction of products grown in Canada’s fields and greenhouses.

Not all land in Canada is arable. We must pay close attention to protecting rural areas and precious farm soil.  I’m sure you’ve heard the recent saying, “They’re not making land anymore”.  Therefore, I wonder how a group of greedy developers could convince Ontario’s premier to dip into Toronto’s Green Belt and destroy thousands of acres of precious protected land! Thank God for the uprising of thousands of voices that caused the Ontario government to reverse its decision and enable the Green Belt to continue to help feed the world for generations to come.

 -Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ

IMAGE: Unsplash/Ant Rozetsky

T + R = ?

SEPTEMBER 30 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Truth plus Reconciliation equals hard work, openness, forgiveness and a change in behaviour.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation commission provided the Canadian people with specific guidelines in the 94 Recommendations that were drawn up. The 3 minute video “Reconciliation Thunder” outlines a systematic update of where each of the 94 Calls to Action is at this point in the life of the inception of the TRC Recommendatations. https://mailchi.mp/dfd338566063/call-to-action-65?e=40d3797d18

These recommendations came as a result of the legacy of the Residential School system and the very traumatic harm done to some 6,000 Indigenous, Metis and Inuit children and their families.

If we colonizers, and victims, as well as the surviving families of the Residential School system can look at truth together, there can be an honest opening of the mind, which can lead to a softening of the heart, and then constructive action can follow. See below the 20 minute video “They Came for the children” from the series. ( http://www.kmproductions.ca/id.html)

If, after watching this, your heart is moved, please acknowledge that first to yourself, then possibly to others and perhaps constructive action may be able to follow.

If you are non-Indigenous, there may be guilt, shame for what some of our ancestors and our government and Church did in the past.  If there is a genuine resolve to never let this happen again, a new harmony is possible.

If you are Indigenous, Metis or Inuit, as victims of this horrendous history, much healing is necessary in order for you to initiate the process of forgiveness.

Robert Schreiter in his book The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies, writes “It is through the victim that the wrongdoer is called to repentance and forgiveness. Seen from this perspective, repentance and forgiveness are not the pre-conditions for reconciliation, but are rather the consequences of it.” (p. 15)  (Emphasis mine)

Orange Shirt Day is inspired by Phyllis Webstad’s story of how her new orange shirt was taken away from her when she arrived at the residential  school near Williams Lake, BC in 1974 when she was only 6 years old. https://orangeshirtday.org/phyllis-story/

Eddy Charlie and Kirsten Spray, two Indigenous Studies students at Camosun College made this public and initiated Victoria Orange Shirt Day in 2015.

When we wear an orange shirt or ribbon for Sept. 30th, we are saying loud and clear that this day acknowledges that residential schools are a part of our history. Wearing an orange shirt is a national movement to recognize the experience of those who went to Indian residential schools, to honour them, and show a collective commitment to ensure that Every Child Matters.

 -Sister Kathleen Lichti, csj

Good Neighbours

SEPTEMBER 28 - National Good Neighbor Day

We hear a great deal about conflict and suffering in our cities and towns, as well as in many far-off places. We also know that in many of these places, there are countless stories of "good neighbors." These are the people who step up in the face of need and do good deeds. Most of them do not make the headlines. Therefore, I am writing this blog to call attention to these good deeds that go unnoticed, yet make life a little easier for us or someone else.

I have a little story about a neighbour of mine.  We needed to replace the storm door at the front of our condominium.  The neighbour had us examine the door on his place and said he could order one like it and then install it for us.  Other then the cost of the door which we paid for, all the labour and time were generously offered by this good neighbour.  He checked with us each step of the way, and worked very quietly doing this deed and then came back to see if we were satisfied at the end of the process.  He asked for nothing and was glad to help.

This deed and so many other countless good deeds seemingly unnewsworthy, that actually make the world go around. Look around you today or tomorrow. There are many neighbors around us who could benefit from us being a "good neighbor".

Welcome all these moments – they are moments of grace in which God is among us.

- Joan Atkinson, CSJ

Images: Unsplash/Christian Stahl