Tag Archives: Garden

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 2: PART II-GARDENS & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

I feel this a full circle moment, in that the school I have attended for most of my adult life, the University of British Columbia, has undergone many vital changes over the last few decades. I came across another related website, that again ties in with my final assignment and my own personal experiences, which has brought back many memories of my educational journey, from 2006-2007, when I was learning to become an educator.  I had an opportunity to visit a place where teaching, learning, and research, was interconnected with Indigenous knowledge and sustainable food growing.  There was an idea that was planted on campus, which  focused on Indigenous food sovereignty, food security, and traditional plant knowledge.  Here, the students, like myself, could gain a wealth of knowledge and have access to both traditional and non-traditional plants/food uses of the Indigenous peoples.

Public Domain photo by PXhere

This garden today has become a guide on the principle that ‘food is medicine’ and follows the research ethic framework of the “4R’s: respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility” and a holistic understanding of health and healing. It has become grounds for an international, community-based research and land-based teachings, where the garden engages with numerous regional Aboriginal schools, communities, and organizations.  This life motto has always resonated deeply with me, and I had no idea how much of it has had a positive influence in my life, not only as an educator, but as a learner.

Reference:

Indigeneous Research Partnerships. (2014). Highlights from the Indigenous Health Research & Education Garden: 2014. Retrieved July10, 2021, http://lfs-indigenous.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2015/03/2014-Highlights-from-the-Indigenous-Health-Research-and-Education-Garden.pdf

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 1: PART I-GARDENS & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The UBC’s Point Grey Campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Musqueam People.  The Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden (Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden) has been at the UBC farm since 2007.  Ironically, I remember vividly that I was a returning student at UBC, undertaking my Bachelors in Education in 2006/2007, and my cohort and I had a wonderful opportunity to partake in a fieldtrip to an Indigenous garden.  It was in its beginning stages of being planned and created by wonderful humanitarians, students, and teachers of Indigenous backgrounds just before the main campus, near a secondary school is what I can recall.  I remember walking down a street and there was an opening of land.  This is where our fieldtrip began.

Public Domain photo by Wallpaper Flare

I remember a feeling of nostalgia and hope coming over me when I saw what was being done.  I remember having goosebumps on my arms, because it reminded me of what my mother did at her school…she began growing a garden for the children at her school in 1976 and when I was born, she would take me with her to her school and I would watch her garden, while I played with the other students.  In 2014 the Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden received a traditional name from Musqueam Indian Band. Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm is pronounced phonetically as “Hw ‘ts i ‘ts u sum-”. The hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ word means “The place where we grow” and it provides a reassertion of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam land-based protocols and principles informing land-based practices.  It reminded me of the place I grew, along with the other Indigenous students at ¿Uuqinak´uuh aka Grandview Terrace Daycare Centre.  This is a 3 part blog, in relation to my final assignment, which focuses on experiential learning.

Reference:

Indigenous Research Partnerships (2007). Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden. Retrieved July 10, 2021, https://lfs-iherg.sites.olt.ubc.ca/the-garden/

MODULE 2 – Entry 5: The Indigenization of Educational Institutions, through Gardening

Public Domain photo taken by Karen Arnold

Indigenous Garden Series: Intro (Oral Storytelling):  This site shows how the Indigenization of educational institutions are beginning to exist and how decolonization of the schooling systems are coming into effect. The art of storytelling gives instruction on how to live and relate to the living land, and how passing on this knowledge on to the present and next generations, so that the circle of a healthy and happy life may continue.

Indigenous Garden Tour by Justen:  A behind the scenes of the K’nmaĺka? Sənqâĺtən garden in the Okanagan Valley, where an Indigenous student, Justen Peters, explains the history of the lands and its people of the Okanagan.  He identifies various fruits, seasonal plants, recipes that tie in with special Indigenous ceremonial events.  He is creating a reconnection and a connection with his viewers by sharing his knowledge of his people to a viewer, like myself, who is learning and feeling a more meaningful connection with his fantastic oral storytelling skills.  The goal is to continue growing a healthy community and reach and share with as many people through this beautiful virutal tour.

 

References:

Okanagan College. (May 26, 2021). Indigenous Garden Series: Intro (Oral Storytelling). [Video].YouTube. Retrieved May 24, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DcCWj8JTDs

Okanagan College. (May 26, 2021). Indigenous Garden Tour (Justen).  [Video].YouTube. Retrieved May 24, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfu4VRUNmLg

 

 

MODULE 2 – Entry 2:  Seeds of Promise: Grandview/?Uuqinak’uuh* School in Vancouver

 

Public Domain photo taken by Amanda Mills

This site is linked to my final assignment as are the entries I will continue to share in our UBC Blogs. It is a community story regarding the issue of poverty and how teachers in a local school are still to this day very committed to advocate for better conditions for the Indigenous children and their families in the city of Vancouver east end. This is an area that tends to be avoided for decades, due to the area being synonymous with crime, poverty and despair. In one corner of the district, however to this day, there are determined group of educators, children, parents and volunteers who continue to create a garden oasis for play and learning in what has always been a gathering place for people in the drug, crime and sex trades. The children of Grandview/ ?Uuqinak’uuh Elementary School now have access to a playground complete with food, flower and butterfly gardens, stands of maple trees and a Coast Salish longhouse.  Since the 1970s to today, some good changes, like having committed advocates for Indigenous children and their families continue.  After almost 50 years of observations from my own mother, who was a teacher in this exact area, and almost 40 years myself, we can still see that the inequity issues, like poverty, are affecting the Indigenous peoples in our local community. The key question is whether Canadians are willing to understand and address the issues of poverty?

 

Reference:

Caledon Institute of Social Policy. (January 25, 2000). Seeds of Promise: Grandview/?Uuqinak’uuh* School in Vancouver. [Site]. Retrieved May 18, 2021,  https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/223ENG.pdf

 

 

MODULE 1-Entry 1: My Very First Visit to a Local Community Garden!

Please click on the following link;Grandview/¿uuqinak uuh Community Garden and select Google images to view the various pictures. Here you will get a glimpse of what my mother started back in 1979! My mom taught me about respecting Mother Earth and all it’s children, young and old.  She was an educator at the small neighbouring school Grandview Terrace Daycare, which was a preschool in an innercity area, for well over 40 years.  She noticed many of her students, ages 2-5 were mal-nutritioned, and the food that was available in her school did not meet the requirements for a proper and nutritious diet for any growing child.  So around the time I was 2 years old, my mom began to do what she does best, she started to grow a little community garden in a little patch of soil just behind the school. She would take me to work with her and spend time teaching, working on the garden and taking care of me.  She used this garden, that bore so many fruits and vegetables, to feed the children and give the remaining to the students whose families were in need.  Her name is Sneh (which means love in our culture), and she has fed so many little tummies, and filled so many hearts and she is my mentor and hero! —-,—‘-(@

She is still teaching many around our neighbourhood how to garden to this day!  Sneh is a teacher, friend, colleague, gardner, landscaper, protector, and most of all advocate for all the children, from various backgrounds, the majority being of Indigenous decent.  Back in the 70’s and 80’s, community gardens were non-existent, just like government funding and proper food programs for those in need.  Without getting too much into my very first blog, I just wanted to give everyone a chance to see what one person can do, and what it can lead to over time.

I added some links below for you to see and read about the ¿UUQINAK’UUH community garden and elementary school, wow has it grown!!!

Grandview Grows!

https://www.vsb.bc.ca/schools/grandview/Teaching-and-Learning/Programs/Pages/Community-Garden.aspx

http://www.cityfarmer.org/grandview.html

Grandview/¿uuqinak’uuh Elementary sets a high benchmark