Sharon Rempel, B.Sc. Agriculture;MA Conservation Studies (and uncompleted Ph.D. in wheat biodiversity and role of women in plant variety selection) BC Author bio
Sharon is 'bringing culture back to agriculture and folk back to food'
Sharon Rempel runs The Garden Institute of B.C. Society and has managed projects for The Garden Institute in Nepal, Bangladesh, U.S. and Canada.
Canada’s Sharon Rempel is using the power of stories to keep heritage wheats such as Red Fife alive and well for future generations. (Bakers' Journal, April 2010) and Deconstructing Dinner and Collaborative Journeys
Sharon combines her 25 years of organic food and heritage seed expertise with growing local food with a vision of green, environmentally friendly, climate change adaptable philosophy and vision.
As a social activist Sharon is working to design a radical new way of living for seniors. Sharon wants to establish senior cohousing that includes access to land to produce food and offers opportunities for low income social activist men and women to live in community. Imagine having your community seed bank protected by a circle of wise old food activists!!!
BC Bookworld's bio of Sharon states 'Sharon Lynn Rempel would like to be remembered for her grassroot solutions for food security around heritage seed; for bringing heritage 'Red Fife' wheat out of the historic closet and recommercializing it in the global food system and creating Canada's 'Seedy Saturday’ community seed exchanges.'
Sharon has been a pioneer in Neo Gastronomy:
Neo or ‘new’ gastronomy is a concept of gastronomy as a multidisciplinary approach to food that recognizes the strong connections between plate, planet, people, (plant) and culture. The term was coined to correspond with the evolution of the Slow Food movement, which began with an initial aim to defend good food, gastronomic pleasure and a slower pace of life (eno-gastronomy), and then logically broadened its sights to embrace issues such as the quality of life and the health of the planet that we live on (eco-gastronomy). Neo-gastronomy adds a further holistic element to this: a neo-gastronome has a responsible, comprehensive approach to food, combining an interest in food and wine culture with a desire to defend the environment and food biodiversity, and considers eating as not only a biological necessity, but also a convivial pleasure to be shared with others. A neo-gastronome is aware that their food choices have a direct effect on the market, and therefore food production, and that everyday-choices can be made for the benefit of our palate, the environment and society. (thanks to Slow Food for birthing this concept and definition!)
As a biologist working as a park naturalist, Sharon discovered ethnobotany in the mid 1980s. She's a member of the Society of Ethnobiology where she contributes her work in linking People, Plants and Place (3Ps'). And in her spare time she's a folk musician, plays the fiddle and is a collector of the traditional and modern songs about agriculture and varieties of plants. A member of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music, Sharon Rempel is beginning a new field of Canadian music studies - linking song and story to traditional varieties of seeds and crops.
Professional Highlights:
- Founder and designer of Seedy Saturday community seed program throughout Canada
- Sustainable agriculture activist and community facilitator
- Served on three Canadian delegations to the United Nations for seed genetic resources
- Pioneer of agri tourism in BC as creator of the 1980s heritage gardens and 'Living Museum of Wheat' at The Grist Mill at Keremeos
- 25 years as a pioneer in organic food in Canada and coauthored Alberta certification standards in 1987
- Celebrated author of 'Demeter's Wheats' linking traditional knowledge and story to ‘value added’ food
- Nationally recognized researcher in eco agriculture and heritage horticulture
- Client diversity includes Weston Foods, Parks Canada, B.C. Heritage, Alberta Culture, and many grassroot communities and individual farmers
- hands on experience in 'on farm' variety selection and maintaining 300 varieties of wheat through the Heritage Wheat Project
- project design and management in Nepal, Bangladesh, Greece and Canada