What’s that in the sky?! It’s a very special guest flying to Celebrate Food & Water First! Bill Lishman – the man known as Father Goose — will pilot his ultralight aircraft from the Pickering area to Honeywood on August 18th to show his support for our campaign. Bill is an artist and filmmaker. He’s also the first human to fly in formation with birds. Yes, he’s the adventurer who led geese on a migration route to the U-S, an incredible feat that inspired the film, Fly Away Home.

Over the past 40 years, Bill has also been trying to protect the Pickering Lands – 18,600 acres of Class 1 farmland north east of Toronto – from being turned into a new airport. The Food & Water First campaign has much in common with those trying to preserve the Pickering Lands. “The most precious thing we have is the land that sustains us,” says Bill. “To permanently destroy prime growing land, for whatever cause, is tantamount to theft from our offspring.”

Bill’s flight will symbolically link our two communities. He’s going to land his ultralight near Honeywood and share his thoughts on preserving farmland and water resources in the Honeywood arena at noon. Then, he’ll lift off again to conduct a flypast over the farmland, forests and river valleys of the Hills of Headwaters. Notify the local geese!