Artist, activist, community facilitator and organic farmer Rochelle Rubinstein Credit: Bernice Eisenstein
Welcome to Small Change where you’ll find information, events and interesting folks not covered by mainstream media.
My conversation with Toronto-based printmaker, painter, fabric and book artist, Rochelle Rubinstein, will have you cheering for small local regenerative farmers, celebrating Greenbelt protection victories, and gearing up for another round of battles with the Ford government.
For 18 years Rochelle was a member of Loop Gallery, where she had regular solo exhibitions. She currently curates exhibitions at Mon Ton Window Gallery in Kensington Market, Toronto.
Rochelle’s work can be found in a variety of public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.
She has completed several artist residencies, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin and Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York.
As a community arts facilitator, Rochelle’s workshops and projects involving abused women, health workers, people with eating disorders, seniors with depression, youth at risk, and Palestinian and Jewish artists, are based on methods that are central to her own art practice including drawing, carving, printing, sewing, and bookmaking.
Rochelle is also steward of Bela Farm, in Hillsburgh, Ontario. Bela — pronounced, Bayla — is a magical space where farmers, environmentalists, artists, and educators come together to develop creative responses to the intersecting causes of the environmental crisis.
Bela embraces innovative organic farming, Land-based art, ritual, performance and scholarship. The farm provides immersive education programs, advocacy around urgent environmental issues and a real sense of community.
That’s a lot to pack into the 99 acres of prime organic farmland that Rochelle saved from development.
Find out what motivated Rochelle to purchase Fred and Helen Cox’s cattle farm in 2012 and how that farm was transformed into a vibrant space that’s home to a bee sanctuary, naturalized gardens, fields of food crops, art, theatre and activism. A place where folks can know, grow and share!
Swail filled with native wild flowers. Credit: Rochelle Rubinstein
Over the years Rochelle has cultivated many meaningful connections with the immediate and surrounding communities. Bela works with Everdale, one of Canada’s oldest not-for-profit community farms as well as Shoresh, a registered charity, that is cultivating a Jewish community connected to the Earth, Jewish traditions and each other.
Volunteers harvesting crops at Bela Farm (2022) Credit: Doreen Nicoll
Rochelle invites Goodlot Farmstead Brewing Company to participate in Bela events. But Goodlot is so much more than just a family owned and operated organic hop farm in Caledon, Ontario. It’s also a solar-powered brewery and owners Phil and Gail Winters continue to actively oppose the construction of Highway 413 through their lovely town situated on the Humber and Credit Rivers within the Oak Ridges Moraine.
Heartwood Farm and Cidery, a local family run regenerative farm, works in harmony with nature and natural cycles to produce food and drink for their community. Their products are often at Bela events.
In addition to providing space for farmers and local producers, Rochelle has been very active with Water Watchers. The Guelph-based, grassroots organization advocates for water justice in Wellington County, across Canada and around the world.
Rochelle hosts amazing interactive events at Bela! Whether it’s local school kids on a trip helping to bring in the harvest for Everdale, a theatre company practicing a performance in the barn, or The Well Earth Collaborative (WEC) hosting a symposium on environmental sensitivities and environmentally linked chronic complex conditions, there’s always something going on.
Busy Bela Barn Credit: Erin Oke
In fact, Bela is set to host a Barn Dance Fundraiser called Gather. Organized by Greenbelt Promise and Small Change Fund, the family friendly event is happening September 29th from noon to 5 pm.
Gather celebrates last year’s victory over Doug Ford’s greenbelt fiasco when he was forced to reverse land grabs made throughout the greenbelt.
Gather will also be the official launch of Greenbelt Promise’s next phase of Greenbelt protection.
The proposed Highway 413 and Bradford bypass still threaten the integrity of the greenbelt. Meanwhile, there needs to be an expansion of existing greenbelt lands in other communities to ensure valuable farmland, wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas are protected in perpetuity.
Gather is a chance to kick up your heels before hitting the streets to demand increased protections and expansions to Ontario’s greenbelt lands.
Rochelle Rubinstein relaxing by the spring fed pond. Credit: Cathy Richards
Consider yourself invited to a fun-filled day of live music, barn dancing, art, nature, local food and refreshments as well as family activities to raise funds for the greenbelt and launch the next phase of the campaign to protect and expand it.
Gather at beautiful Bela Farm in Hillsburgh, Erin County.
Sunday, September 29th from 12-5pm.
Purchase individual or family tickets here!
A full menu of delicious local seasonal food provided by Mildred's Temple Kitchen is included in the ticket price. Beverages for sale from GoodLot Farmstead Brewing Co. and Heartwood Farm & Cidery are cash only — so, be sure to bring cash because there’s no ATM or e-transfers.
Ken Whiteley, Canadian roots musician will perform while Kris Rosar calls the contra dancing. No experience necessary!
All that’s left to do is grab your friends, family, dancing shoes and head on down to Bela Farm for a memorable day!
An interactive art project is planned for the Milk room. Credit: Rochelle Rubinstein
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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Put on your dancing shoes to save the greenbelt