What an incredible Prairies Mixer weekend! Thank you to everyone who has participated and supported this gathering. The Young Agrarians (YA) team hosted 94 attendees across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba for community building, knowledge sharing, and storytelling. Everyone’s enthusiasm to meet new folks, reconnect with their farming acquaintances and eagerness to learn new things made the event buzzing with energy. We had an incredible line-up of engaging speakers and a variety of topics that captivated the audience, ensuring a dynamic and enriching event for all in attendance.
The mixer’s theme, Rooted: Grow Deep helped foster meaningful connections and conversations, creating an atmosphere where regenerative farmers, food growers, local food enthusiasts and mixed-grass prairie advocates alike could explore their relationship to the land while establishing stronger roots within the community.
The venue, Beaver Creek Camp was the backdrop for this first-ever prairies mixer. It is a stone’s throw away from the Beaver Creek Conservation Area, a habitat of diverse prairie wildlife. From their website, “Beaver Creek contains remnant sandhills prairie complexes which provide a unique habitat for grassland birds, wildflowers and home for numerous species at risk including the sand-dune reliant Smooth Goosefoot, and the ground nesting Common Nighthawk.” If you are in the area, we highly recommend visiting it.
The two-day event was packed with networking and learning opportunities, sharing meals, nature walks, film showing and a bonfire on Saturday night. Elder Roland Doucette opened the mixer for us by offering his story of upbringing. His presence throughout the weekend and his level of engagement felt like a guiding light as we gathered on Treaty 6 territory.
At the introduction circle on Saturday morning, we gave every participant a chance to introduce themselves and share their need or opportunity. It stood out that most people arrived needing a solid community of like-minded, values-driven farmers to do this career alongside them. Right off the bat, hearing the need for community building validates the need for gatherings like this to help regenerate a new generation of farmers on the prairies.
We also had a stellar line-up of speakers from the prairies (and Ontario!) who presented their topics of expertise. The workshop schedule kept evolving up to 48 hours before Saturday! We had 18 presenters and the topics ranged from treaty relationship to food forest, farm market(ing), soil health, mental wellness and Canadian wool to name a few. We wish that we could have sat on all of them! There was a wealth of knowledge being shared by presenters to an engaged and eager audience in the different meeting rooms (named the Crocus, Wild Rose and Tiger Lily) during sessions. The conversations from the workshops continued between breaks and at meal times. There was no need for the YA team to fill in the gaps, folks were naturally drawn to meaningful conversations with each other.
If you are interested in reaching out to any of the Prairies Mixer speakers, please send an email to Lourdes at prairiesnetwork@youngagrarians.org.
In the post-event evaluation, the feedback was helpful in gauging the impact of the mixer. Here’s a sampling of what participants experienced that weekend:
On which workshop was most beneficial to them:
“All of them were in their own ways, however I found that the workshops around indigenous teachings were the most beneficial. This is because facilitating a space for conversations not only helps educate and strengthens farmer/indigenous relations, but allows for education that is still not a normal part of everyday life. It changes how we relate to the land, and I believe, how we relate to what we do with the land to become better stewards of it and our communities and ultimately ourselves. Regenerative ag is still very caucasian and patriarchal in its own ways so having these teachings in an accessible way was a true gift.”
“The 3 person panel, the lovely woman explaining treaties, one school one farm. The panel helped open my eyes to the life behind the farm and the mindset. The treaties presentation was honestly a bunch of information I was truly ignorant about and I was so grateful to be enlightened. One school one farm gave me some hope for the future and reinforced what I’m looking to do in my work place in the future. There were lots of great nerd facts that I enjoyed She was also helpful linking me to some scientific article’s. I’ve seen Mike Dorian speak before this event and he’s excellent.”
On the connections they made:
“So many cool connections, especially with people in my province that I didn’t know existed.”
“My organization solidified a partnership, created a new one, and sourced seeds and trees.”
“I connected with people that were already in my community that I didn’t know. I was able to start helping the Riversdale community fridge the following week because I met the community coordinator in one of the workshops.”
“It was amazing to meet all the YA staff in person and just feel more connected to the organization (which I think is incredible) I also had many great conversations in general – and I’m looking forward to following up.”
On the opportunities they found:
“I was informed I didn’t have to be young in age to be able to participate in the programs! I feel like YA will be a great resource for me as I begin to build my regenerative homestead.”
“Great connection around tress/silvopasture and potential for waste water irrigation. Great open table session about cooperative mill ownership/management.”
“I became aware of potential job opportunities and inspired by different projects happening around the western provinces. It made me feel like I could also bring those things to my city/province.”
On the support they need:
more face to face opportunities to get together.”
“More connections points like this, even afternoon or evening speaker sessions.”
“Resources to support alternative land access agreements in SK. This could be educational resources (ex. communication and conflict resolution training, information on how to negotiate a contact, etc.) but affordable access to trained professionals (like lawyers, accountants and mediators) who are able to support alternative land access arrangements would be AMAZING. Even just a directory of these sorts of people would be helpful.”
Thank you!
Our Nourishment Partners
We are glad to have partnered with companies championing the local food producers in Saskatchewan and a catering partner that highlights Saskatoon flavours.
Food catering by Fresh Dish Catering
Food ingredients supplied in part by: Grovenland, Sunnyside Dairy, Farm One Forty, Kitako Lake Honey, Crocus Hill Garden, The Night Oven, Venn Coffee
We hope you were nourished in some ways like Elder Roland shared in this heartwarming message on Sunday afternoon. See you at the next mixer!
Funding for this project was provided by the Prairie Food System Vision Network.
Our vision for 2050 is that the Treaty Peoples of the Prairie region have reconciled their relationships, restored the land, and established healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems. Together, we will work for kwayēskastasowin [making things right] wâhkôhtowin [by recognizing everyone and everything is related].
Learn more here: https://prairiefoodsystemvision.org/ and follow us here: X (Twitter) @Prairie_Vision; Facebook @PrairieFoodSystemVision