Submitted by: Swan River & District Community Resource Council Inc. – Service to Seniors

Hello to all, we are happy to be back with Coffee and a Chat, I know it was a beautiful summer day and people are still wanting to be outdoors, thank you to all who took the time to attend. We do this for you, the people who are interested in spending time with your peers and perhaps learning a thing or two. If you have any presentations you would like us to organize, just give the office a call at 204-734-5707 and share your ideas.

Rod Seib Peer Support Worker with CMHA led us through a Positivity and Optimism presentation. Optimistic or optimum (the best) people experience a full range of emotions, see a glass half full instead of half empty. This is not to say that they do not feel sad, angry, or lost but consider this as only a passing moment in time and that things will be better in the future. Focus on the Good, during the day think of a few positive things that have happened to you or the people around you. Wake up NOT thinking my back is killing me but my knees do not hurt, it’s going to be a great day! Harvest will be great this year, damp dewy mornings will just give me time to do maintenance on the equipment or have an extra cup of coffee with the people around me.

It’s all a personal perspective!
Find Joy- Inspires us to play around & get more creative.
The Benefit: We gain new skills through new experiences.

Gratitude- Inspires us to be ore kind and generous.
The Benefit: We learn to care for others & strengthen relationships.

Contentment- Allows us to savor good things & integrate them into new priorities or values.
The Benefit: We gain new perspective & sharpen priorities

Interest- Inspires us to learn, explore, & expand our thinking.
The Benefit: We gain new knowledge

Hope- Inspires us to plan for a better future.
The Benefit: We grow in optimism & resilience to adversity

Pride- Makes us dream big.
The Benefit: We are more motivated & achieve greater things; we are happy to have done something well today.

Find amusement- Inspires us to share laughs & good humor with others.
The Benefit: Humor builds social bonds & protects our health.

Inspiration- Creates the urge to excel & achieve our personal best.
The Benefit: Builds grit & drives personal growth.

Awe- Compels us to absorb & accommodate a vaster, more beautiful reality than we thought possible.
The Benefit: Creates a richer worldview. Rod says find awe in nature, I say I find awe in seeing the combines in the field with a good strong string of dust coming off the process.!

Love of people and things around you- Inspires reciprocal love, care & concern.
The Benefit: Builds social bonds & community.

Brenda Gaudry, www.wildernessspirit.ca, Creative Spirit – 100% Aboriginal Owned and Operated
Brenda Gaudry – Barrows, Manitoba Canada ROL-0B0 .1-204-545-6215

Brenda is a cultural and outdoor education teacher who works at the Chief Charles Audy Memorial School in Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation (formerly Indian Birch Indian Reserve). She teaches a course “back to our roots project” aboriginal cultures of the Cree people from Nursery to Grade 8. With a strong focus on reclaiming cultural heritage we strive to integrate cultural and land-based teachings with the school’s curriculum. Traditions and skills, examples are the different pow wow dances, the regalia, and history behind these traditions. The children spend a lot of time outdoors learning life skills, gardening (the three sisters-planting squash around beans which is planted around corn plants. The beans give nitrogen to the soil, the corn gives the beans somewhere to climb, the squash plant makes broad leafy greens to keep out the weeds), maple sap collecting and boiling to make maple syrup to be enjoyed at a community feast with their families and elders. The children are involved in all aspects of learning to be self-supportive, off-the-land, gardening, hunting, fishing and are encouraged to bring their new knowledge and skill home to their families.

Brenda teaches harvesting sustainable medicine to all the age groups, and the children harvest, dry, grind the ingredients to make a Mother Earth Healing Box for elders and special visitors. This kit includes labrador, wild mint and hyssop tea naturally high in vitamin C, spruce salve, included is some of the Four Sacred Medicines: cedar, sweet flag weegas rat root, prairie sage and mullin.All the boxes are hand painted by the children and the ones we saw were beautiful. Brenda is very knowledgeable in picking wild things that are good for health and teas to enjoy. We did have a chance to sample some wild mint tea. Very nice flavor with the knowledge that there is nothing in the processing other than dried wild mint. There is so much for us to learn, feel free to call Brenda for access to her store in Barrows and wealth of information.

Lynn Coupland of Lynn’s Plants and Things from Benito Manitoba, 204-539-2265 along with her tech advisor Cindy showed a video presentation about this locally owned and operated greenhouse. How they began with a small greenhouse purchased from Lynn’s parents who operated in Flin Flon Manitoba, to the large-scale operation they have now. They even own a piece of equipment that puts the soil into the small planting containers, saves many man/woman hours. They provide annuals, houseplants, perennials, succulents, vines, herbs, fruits and veggies, seeds and seed potatoes, shrubs and trees that can be found on the property itself or online shopping at the website. Their website lynnsplantsandthings.ca, as well as a Facebook page.

From their website:
We would like to thank all of our Canadian and American growing partners, and all of our customers.  We have formed a community here in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and across the country and we are all working together to keep our lives green; full of fresh food and beautiful blooms, especially in these hard times. We learned that owning a greenhouse is a labour of love that shows in the quality of products sold. It is nice to know there are still family-owned businesses in the Swan River Valley, shopping local will keep our valley a healthy and productive part of our society. Have a great fall!

September is here, harvest is in full swing, schools are making preparations to open their doors and we have a interesting lineup of fall events: September Coffee and a Chat, Community Foundation of the Swan Valley will inform us on their services, Deb Schulz will talk about healthy aging in Birch River, author Patti Hack will talk about her latest book “Broads Know” in Benito. Swan River Coffee and a Chat will be presenting at the Veterans Hall with Mature Driver Presentations Thursday September 25th at 9:30 am, as usual, refreshments will be served.