• Boost your immune system by taking care of your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual well being with meditation, movement, nutritious food, gratitude, and spontaneous laughter.
• Meditation. Did you know that just by intentionally slowing down your breath and quieting your mind you’re stimulating the healing response in your body? Lots of online resources exist.
• Get outside. You don’t have to go far, just go out. Move your body.
• Stay connected with friends and family with voice calls, texts, video. Have fun, laugh, share, connect with people you haven’t spoken to for awhile.
• Avoid drama.Try and keep your conversations positive and notice when you’re not so you can recalibrate and contribute to remaining healthy mentally, spiritually and physically.
• Stretch daily. There are lots of free online yoga and fitness programs available. Enjoy discovering what you haven’t had time for.
• Be kind to yourself and others
• Participate in a community garden
• Be vegan
• Be vegetarian
• Be a flexitarian (mostly meatless)
• Eat less red meat
• Eat meat less often and in small portions (100g)
• Eat less dairy
• Prepare home-cooked food almost always
• Eat minimally processed food
• Share favourite vegetarian/vegan recipes with friends
• Buy local food whenever available
• Buy food in season (e.g., no asparagus in January)
• Try not to buy air-freighted food or flowers
• Preserve local food (freezing, canning, etc.)
• Keep an organic vegetable garden
• Participate in a community garden
• Save water by cover crops, mulching, drip irrigation
• Save your own seeds
• Keep free range chickens
• Buy as much organic food as your budget permits

Having a bad day? Consider this: Your worst day may be someone else’s best day.

Putting things into perspective, finding joy and giving thanks for the simplest of things can change everything. Many people report that keeping a journal of what they are grateful for keeps them feeling less anxious, more grounded, and happy.

Motion removes emotion. So does breathing. When we get stressed we tend to hold our breath, so take in and let out a big belly breath, and another and another.

Swing your arms, move your feet, and, regardless of the weather, get outside for as long as possible each day.

Our sensory system evolved in the natural world, so when we’re outside, our frontal lobe, the part of our brain that’s hyper-engaged in modern life, deactivates and becomes relaxed when we look, hear, and smell what we were naturally predisposed to experience.

Public health officials in Finland recommend that people get into the forest a minimum of five hours a month to stave off depression, lower stress and enhance mental well-being. The Japanese refer to this type of therapy as “forest bathing.” The cleansing properties to our system are well documented to be worth a daily dive.

Laughter has long been regarded as one of the best medicines. Did you know that your body does not know the difference between fake laughter and a true, hearty belly laugh? The process of laughing releases endorphins into your system that makes you feel good, naturally. In addition to lifting your mood and brightening your day, 10-15 minutes of sustained laughter can also burn 10-40 calories.

Laughter Yoga is a modern exercise movement where practitioners get together to engage in spontaneous laughter. They believe in the benefits that laughter can bring to one’s body and mind. Clubs exist worldwide with many free to attend. The connection to yoga is only through breathing exercises, so anyone, of any age, can do it.

Imagine how much lighter, brighter, and happier our world would be if more people laughed. After all, it’s hard to be mad when you’re laughing. Go ahead, just laugh!

The interest in locally grown, nutritiously rich, organic food is growing significantly. However, farms, food trees, and land are rapidly disappearing and many people do not have access to local and cultural food or adequate healthy food and must rely on emergency food services.

“Less than 50% of people on the island consume their daily recommended fruit and vegetables (Canada Food Guide), over 50% of people are overweight or obese, and the prevalence of diet related disease and chronic illness (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease) continues to rise.” (Source: Good Food Network Report 2025)

As we make a stand for local food security, we must learn how we, as individuals and communities, can protect the future of agricultural land.

Here’s a few ways you can protect farmland:

• Buy from local farmers.
• Resist shopping at big box stores (forests and farmland often are paved over for these stores).
• Support government policy that invests in farmers.
• Encourage and support younger generations interested in farming.
• Review the Good Food Network Report 2025 guide available on www.goodfoodnetwork.info and the CreativelyUnited.org Resources page. It’s an example of a solutions-based framework that leverages significant health, environmental, and economic benefits through food system initiatives that increase food security. It also addresses access to safe, healthy, and culturally appropriate food that honours traditional ways of hunting, gathering and fishing by indigenous peoples.

Abundance surrounds us, but we can miss it if we don’t step outside of our regular routine. Did you know that local farmers markets offer a bounty of wholesome, fresh, nutritious local food and drink? They also have great live music, local art and crafts, and operate weekly in many neighbourhoods year round.

Farmers markets create stronger community connections and a thriving local economy. They also support the preservation of farmland which is important for regional food security. When we get to know our food producers and artisans, we understand who our purchases support. Doesn’t it feel good when you see the smile of the person who grew your food or made your goods?

Have a conversation with someone new. Try food you may have never seen before. Ask a farmer some questions. Get to understand how locally grown doesn’t just guarantee freshness, it also ensures less waste and a flourishing local commerce.

One of the most crucial creatures to the web of life is the humble bee. Sadly their numbers have dwindled over the years due to pesticides and climate change. These hardworking pollinators help trees, flowers, and plants survive and thrive, contributing daily to our food supply and economic resilience.

Here’s a few ways to cultivate bee-loving spaces:

• Do not use herbicides, insecticides or pesticides as they kill bees and other pollinators.
• Leave room for bees. Some bees nest in the ground and require patches of bare earth, as well as dead plant stems for nesting.
• Plant flowers! When luring bees, you want to plant groupings of flowers so that they can feed rapidly with shorter distances to travel between blooms.
• Build a bee home. You can create a mason bee home or native bee home from scratch! There are many resources on the internet to help you get started. Try searching for Mason Bee homes.
• Create a bee bath – a shallow plate with a few rocks in it and a little water will do.
• Invest in native plants as there are certain bees that only harvest pollen from plants that are native to the region.

Not everyone has space for a garden at home. However, sometimes boulevards provide enough space for innovative pocket gardens and, lucky for us, there are wonderful green spaces cropping up all over cities that are being shared as community gardens.

Often plots at these gardens are manageable in size and perfect for new and experienced gardeners. If you appreciate the importance of growing your own food, then consider joining a community garden.

A few suggestions for new gardeners:

• Start with a small plot. If you can manage it the first season, increase it the next!
• Don’t overplant; leave room for your veggies to produce and grow!
• Make sure your soil is rich and full of organic matter when you begin.
• Plant your favourite foods so your harvest will be enjoyed.
• Be prepared to preserve your abundance by canning or freezing at harvest.
• Remember you are a powerful part of creating local food security.

When non-organic produce is bought out of season, it has generally been grown with pesticides and fertilizers, is picked before it reaches its optimum ripeness and nutrition, and shipped from far away.

Because we want to be able to eat everything at all times of the year, we are no longer eating seasonally, regionally or nutritiously.

Eating local foods in season may limit the selection of food we consume, however, it increases our potential for good health. Given food is fuel for our bodies, choose what you eat wisely.

Also, when we purchase food that is grown close to home, we invest in fresher, more nutritious food with a reduced carbon footprint that also supports our local economy, people and farmland.