Audrey Logan
Background
Audrey Logan is a Nehiyaw (Cree)/Métis woman from Northern Alberta, then a global traveler, now living in urban Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a longtime community gardener and traditional foods educator, and you can find her in the garden in almost any weather, with her brightly coloured shawl and a pitchfork made of deer antlers. Food dehydration came into Audrey’s life at a time when she was suffering from extreme health issues. As a person living with permanent disabilities stemming from childhood abuse (Audrey is a 60’s Scoop survivor), as well as living on the meagre disability assistance provided by the provincial government, she had fewer resources than many do when it came to dealing with her health:
“I’m laying in bed at 300-some pounds thinking how am I going to make this better, when I can’t afford the food that’s going to make me better? Doctor said i can only have this and this, but i can’t afford this and this. But I think about my auntie and my kookum, and they didn’t have all the fancy materials, all the way up there in the bush, how did they do it? I’m sitting here in the middle of everywhere, food dripping from the trees. What’s my excuse?” [1]
Klinic Garden
Auntie formed and runs the Klinic Garden in Winnipeg in the West broad way neighborhood. The sign at the entrance of the gardens describes the site as “A Community U-Pick Permaculture Site,” and continues to explain how the garden is a community collaboration effort and a “teaching and demonstration permaculture site.” The sign also declares with Cree Syllabics: “Welcome, there is food, feed yourself.”