This past week our group mainly focused on putting together both our proposal presentation and written proposal. We got answers to quite a few questions with regards to the proposal, with the most important one being clarification of what exactly our research question was going to be and what was expected. In the end, as a group we decided that in addition to updating the canning manual as requested by the GVFBS that we were also going to research about whether being taught how to can food would actually have any overall impact on a person’s food security with a focus on affordability. It became clear through group discussions that although teaching people how to properly and safely can at home is half the battle, having access to the required equipment for low-income individuals is just as important, if not more important. We felt that it was essential to look further into the effect canning would have on individual food security to get a richer understanding of food education/literacy and its relation to food security. As a result of this research question, we decided that while conducting a focus group on the usability of the additional FAQ and science sections of the canning manual, that we were also going to ask some questions about food security and its relation to people’s canning knowledge. One possible solution to this barrier that was proposed by our group was having sets of canning equipment at the GVFBS food depots that people could borrow when needed, as you only need access to canning supplies for short periods of time.

After reading last week’s assigned reading, Enhancing food security through experiential sustainability leadership practices: A study of the Seed to Supper program by D. Withers and H. Burns, the power of experiential learning to conduct positive change through physically engaging individuals on a mutual task was clearly illustrated. It quickly became apparent that the experiential learning that occurs at the GVFBS “train-the-trainer” canning workshops is essentially no different than what was highlighted in the Seed to Supper program. Both programs increase people’s food literacy and empower individuals with the ability to take food security into their own hands. With this in mind, the importance of producing high-quality material for the canning manual was considerably reinforced.

For the upcoming week, our main focus is going to be on conducting a detailed literature review to produce answers for the FAQ section of the canning manual. The FAQ that the GVFBS requested answered were equally split up amongst the group and are to be finished by next week. After our proposal presentation and having greater clarity on our research question, we became very aware that we were going to have to finish our updates to the canning manual relatively quickly so that we are able to conduct a focus group sooner than later. As we are going to require adequate time to work on answering the second part of our research question about canning knowledge and its relation to improving food security.