Rethinking Lifestyle

The South Eastman Transition Initiative (SETI) AGM is next week, which has got me reflecting over the past year as well as thinking ahead to the coming year.

We have done a lot this year.

We have shown a number of movies including: Symphony of the Soil, We the Tiny House People, Bringing it home; the story of Hemp, Transition 2.0, Open Sesame. These films usually attract a reasonable turnout, and there is always an interesting discussion afterwards. I particularly remember the discussion after We the Tiny House People – I think many of us were reflecting on how much space we have and how much we actually need, but yet the planning rules dictate a minimum space.

We have supported a range of presentations on natural agriculture systems, the health of Lake Winnipeg, and genetically modified foods and their impact on our health. Plus we had a debate about socially responsible investing.

We also supported summer in the city, focusing on neonicotinoids and their impact on bees – thanks to Eric, Selena and David for the display, and the small band of SETI-ites who manned the stall over the weekend!

Our summer garden tour to the Heppners, brought an opportunity to share some ideas about urban food production. Taking a peek in someone else’s garden is always illuminating – seeing that they have weed problems too, and discussing what works and what doesn’t.

Our workshops continue to go from strength to strength, this year covering topics such as jelly making, raising rabbits for food, raising grazing animals like goats, using chainsaws safely, yoghurt making, seed saving, herbal first aid and organic lawn care. These are always well attended, and we have been able to attract some interesting presenters.

All of these events have been made to happen by a small committee – Eric, Rebecca, Gabriel and Selena. Eric and Gabriel have worked hard for the organization since it began four years ago, and Rebecca and Selena joined in during the past 3 years, and others have been helping – David, Ernie, Chris, Jack, Wade for example. But they need your help. They are looking for others to take on some roles such as coordinating and posting a column for mySteinbach, The Carillon and the website; for organizing the workshops; and for organizing the monthly program of events. ‘New blood’ brings new ideas, and new enthusiasm, and hopefully brings new supporters.

Everyone has their own ideas about what they want to get out of an organization, but its only as strong as its membership. The ‘organizing committee’ is steered by what the membership wants, but it is limited in time and also the skills of the individuals. We haven’t been able to achieve all we wanted. For example, I wanted to seek out some funding to try and get a campaign going through Summer in the City. My own priorities shifted a bit this year and I wasn’t able to make much headway on that, and I wasn’t convinced I’d have sufficient support to push it forward, so I held back.

If you would like to help shape our organization and the activities we focus on over the next year, get on down to the Jake Epp Library on Wednesday October 22 2014 at 6.30pm.