About Us
Trellis Work (Trellis) is a charitable organization working to increase the capacity of the non-profit food, farming, and environmental sectors.
Trellis currently works with: Earth Path, Just Food, Farms at Work, Foodsharing Ottawa, and Forêt Capitale Forest.
Trellis continues to expand its network and support for ecological food, farming, and education work in the Anishinaabe Traditional Territory/Eastern Ontario region.
Trellis strives to create opportunities to foster relationships with land, food, art, community, and education, working to advance the general public’s understanding and appreciation of the interface between culture, environment, and food.
Board members
Catherine Littlefield, Chair
Catherine Littlefield is an Ottawa local in unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territory. She is a food systems researcher and soon-to-be graduate of Carleton University’s Political Economy MA program. Catherine currently works for the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun’s Development Corporation, based in the Yukon, on food sovereignty-related projects. She is passionate about all things food, socio-ecological well-being, governance, and alternative community economies.
Trish Ballamingie, Secretary
Patricia Ballamingie is a Professor at Carleton University, cross-appointed in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, and the Institute of Political Economy. Her research interests have included: environmental conflict and democracy; community-campus engagement; and, for over a decade, food policy and food systems governance. As an engaged scholar and action researcher, Dr. Ballamingie served as a founding Board Member of Just Food in Ottawa, Ontario, putting into practice her commitment to building just and sustainable food systems. She is actively involved in several SSHRC-funded research projects on participatory food systems governance, regional food systems transformation, safe and affordable housing, and Indigenous food sovereignty. She sits on the Advisory Board of Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer’s UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies.
Moe Garahan, Treasurer
Moe has been working on food and farming issues in Ottawa since 1995. Focused on community development and community economic development approaches, she has facilitated the establishment of many ongoing community and regional food initiatives in Ottawa, (including Just Food) while supporting provincial and national food initiatives. Since 2004, she has been the Executive Director of Just Food, working with teams to integrate food access and food localism within the mixed urban and rural settings of the Ottawa region.
Heather McLeod-Kilmurray, Director
Dr. Heather McLeod-Kilmurray is a Full Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS) at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Her research deals with food law, toxic torts, environmental justice, and climate change. She is co-author of The Canadian Law of Toxic Torts with Prof. Lynda Collins, and co-editor of Canadian Food Law and Policy with Profs. Nathalie Chalifour and Angela Lee. She teaches Food Law, Torts, and Climate Change and Legal Change. She is a part-time member of the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada, a former part-time member of the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal, a Board member of the Canadian Association of Food Law and Policy, and a member of the Ottawa Food Policy Council.
Becoming a Board member
Please send an outline of paid and unpaid work/experience you have had (cv or another format) and 2 paragraphs about why you’d like to be a Trellis Board member, and send to TrellisWorkBoard@gmail.com. The Board will set up an initial conversation, including answering questions about what is involved.
Background
Trellis Work (Trellis as the operational name) is the new name of an older charitable organization Achillea Endeavours.
Trellis values the holistic care of the earth by supporting eco-farming practices. It was created alongside the genesis of the first biodynamic farm in Ottawa, Riverglen Farm, in 2001. It received its Charitable Status in 2005.
Since its inception, Achillea Endeavours (now Trellis) has given several grants to individuals in the Ottawa region to benefit from biodynamic farming courses. It was instrumental in the beginnings of successful biodynamic farm. Over the years, it has facilitated educational farming and nature connection programs, a start-up farming program, the provision of agricultural employment training through eco-farming apprenticeships, agriculture and arts connection events, and initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity.
