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Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and are well into a great new year so far. Things have been quiet with OFRE so far this year, but we have an exciting short notice announcement to make!!

A great event being held tomorrow called the Local Money Summit is taking place tomorrow evening (Tuesday, Jan 31) from 6:30-8:30pm @ The Edmonton Room in Stanley Milner Library. Suggestion donation $15. The proceeds for the event will be going towards OFRE & e-SAGE. Did you know that OFRE is run primarily by volunteers? Come to this great event to learn more about how you can contribute to a local economy, and see money go towards two great local organizations.

Event details:

The power of the shop local message has become evident. Yet, we hardly give a thought to other, more important questions. Namely, given global economic uncertainty and the downsides of traditional investing it’s time to start talking about how we get a more rewarding and productive experience from our various money related activities like banking, investing and giving.
What we do with our money isn’t something that comes up in casual conversation yet now, more than ever, this subject requires a frank discussion. If you want to invest, bank, and give in a way that’s ethical, local and helps your community you should come to this event.

There will be four brief presentations and a panel afterwards. The four speakers are:

• Mark Anielski –The author of the Economics of Happiness will explore opportunities for we can invest locally, including the possibility of a local GIC, investing in the Edmonton Community Foundation to help local entrepreneurs, a local Edmonton-KIVA and other options.

• Nadine Riopel – How do we make sure the money we give makes a difference? Former fundraiser Nadine Riopel (The Savvy Do-Gooder) will use real-world examples to explore the pros and cons of local and international giving. What advantages does giving locally offer in our quest to make the most of what we give? How can we increase our odds of creating the change we want to see in the world?

• Jesse Radies – The founder of Live Local will be fresh off a meeting with the Business Alliance of Local Living Economies. She’ll be delivering a big picture talk on the kind of economic development that Edmonton really needs.

• Jeff Senger and Dan Ohler – were key players in the founding of the Sangudo Opportunities Development Cooperative. This first-of-its-kind local investment cooperative leveraged financial capital from community residents to preserve and grow an essential piece of local economic infrastructure. And the story doesn’t stop there: in only 18 months, this group of fierce action takers has gone on to successfully finance a community restaurant start-up, as well as a massive plant expansion; the speed of which have traditional rural government economic stimulus organizations scratching their heads in disbelief. Dan and Jeff have delivered numerous presentations around the province, as they are convinced that their idea can and will work in most any community – urban or rural – provided they have the right key ingredients. Come out and discover how your community could put its share of over $4 billion dollars (annually) of local Alberta investment dollars to work building jobs, hope, community resilience, and impressive financial returns right in your own neighborhood!”

• Duncan Kinney – Host and panel moderator. Director candidate at Servus Credit Union.

On Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of attending a new event called MEAET 0.5, which was organized by members of Edmonton’s Next Gen. It was a truly delightful experience meeting other young engaged, civic-minded, socially conscious individuals. These individuals created this event to bring people together with the goal of putting their money behind an idea they vote on – putting our money where our mouth is. Attendees mingled and enjoyed great food, then listened to the pitches from 4 participants, of which I was one, then dined together, then each participant decided which pitch to give their vote to. At the end of the evening, the winner was announced and I was pleasantly surprised to win!

What was my pitch or idea? A Pedal Powered Generator Apple Cider Project. Yes, locally-made, carbon-neutral cider. A truly local and sustainable product! OFRE rescues fruit from private residences in the city of Edmonton and surrounding areas and shares the bounty of the fruits collected with pickers, owners, and charities. Some of that fruit collected (approx 1/4 of fruits picked) stays with OFRE for events such as canning workshops, and cider production. OFRE acquired a small barrel press and apple crusher this year through a generous grant from our partner organization: EOGG.

OFRE will be using the grant money awarded to register interested OFRE members in a workshop given by the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters on how to build a pedal powered generator, as well as to purchase the parts we will need to make this happen. Having a pedal powered generator would enable us to go through a higher volume of apples in a shorter amount of time, it makes it fun, and engages citizens of all ages in a old tradition in a new way.

Don’t these people look like they are having fun? 

OFRE plans to document the process of building a pedal powered generator with photos, blog posts, and a video of us crushing apples and making cider. We aim to bring some pedal powered cider to the next MEAET 0.5 event for the members to enjoy! OFRe strives to connect people and build community through food. We are really excited about this opportunity to collaborate with EBC and make something our volunteers will enjoy for years to come.

Thank you!!

The rhubarb bicycle tours this weekend on saturday and sunday, were overall a success.

Sunday was much better attended than Saturday, so I will take that into consideration when planning future events to see if Sunday works better for most people.

We rode to 3 houses on each day, picking houses within a short-to-reasonable biking distance from each other that most people whether you were an avid bike rider or not could attend and enjoy. All the homeowners were happy to have us come pick their rhubarb, and I even received a phone call afterwards from a homeowner to say thank you for taking it all. It was his mother’s house and she is elderly and can’t use the fruit or keep up with how fast rhubarb grows.

Following the ride on Sunday, riders were invited back to my house to do some preserving. We had fun weighing our ruby red treasure and were surprised that over the two events, we collected 125 pounds of rhubarb! wow!

We sat and talked, listened to music, and got to know each other over food. We chopped rhubarb, made cordial, and then enjoyed some fresh rhubarb crisp that I had whipped up and put in the oven to cook while we were busy doing other things. It was delicious and lovely to share with everyone.

Thank you all for coming and helping with organizing the picks/preserving. The nice thing and sometimes the curse of rhubarb is how fast it grows. With this knowledge in mind, we will plan another rhubarb bicycle ride for the summer. Maybe in July.