Sharon Rempel
Sharon brings humor with her monkey puppet Squeaky, heart felt passion, wisdom and motivation to the critical issue of seed as the heart of food security. Godmother of a movement to bring 'variety' and 'farmer' identification to food, Sharon has brought Red Fife wheat from historic obscurity to bakeries around the world.
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.
Sharon has worked as an independent plant breeder and researcher while managing a registered charity The Garden Institute
Professional credits: -Adult educator with 'Train the Trainer' certification from the Provincial Instructor Program BC
- B.Sc. Agriculture and MA Conservation (landscapes and gardens conservation) from York University, England
Professional Highlights:
- Founder and designer of Seedy Saturday community seed program throughout Canada
- 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
- 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
Current projects:
- working on a project to design ecofriendly low cost housing for seniors especially women (landshareco.ca)
- documenting art, story, music and song related to agriculture and seed
- mentoring new projects through The Garden Institute of B.C.
- co designing a database to host information about variety adaptation, cultural information and climate