Chicken Poop for the Soul: A Year in Search of Food Sovereignty by Kristeva Dowling

By Emily Keller

food security

Local author who wrote of sourcing and growing own food says many may be questioning food security amid COVID-19

Apr 12, 2020 | 7:00 AM

A local author, who wrote a book on trying to grow, forage and create her own food and food sources, says food security may be top of mind for many during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kristeva Dowling, now a Grande Prairie resident, author of ‘Chicken Poop for the Soul: A Year in Search of Food Sovereignty’, wrote the book while living in British Columbia. The book focuses on her learning how to hunt, forage for, and preserve her own food. She raised chickens and learned to grow her own resources.

Dowling says during her experience, she learned how difficult living off her own resources for food was, that certain things such as coffee and sugar, are not things that can be grown in every climate.

She says when the COVID-19 pandemic first reached the Grande Prairie region, she saw how many grocery store essentials began to sell out quickly, and it can show how necessary these essentials really are.

“What are we going to do if we do not have access to that, you know, food, or the basic building blocks for making food like flour, sugar, butter, fat. So, yeah, I do think it does play a role right now, and I think people, after this early experience, are really starting to think about their food security.”

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Dowling adds that she believes this may lead people to discover ways to secure access to some essential foods.

“I think people are probably thinking about planting their own gardens this year, even if they never have before, because of this experience. This experience seems to be kind of, a wake-up call, I would say, to just how dependant we really are on the bigger industrial production and distribution system.”