Summer Solstice Celebration in the Garden
A team of us UBC Teacher Candidates hosted the event as part of our Community Field Experience Practicum. Members of the Orchard Garden student team, from the faculties of Education and Land and Food Systems, also helped host the event. The morning and afternoon were spent in appreciation of the many joys of the garden, and its community of supporters and caretakers. We had children and adults sharing, eating and learning in the pouring rain!
The Story Telling table. We gathered together the First Nations picture books that have left an impression on us over the last few months and laid them out for discovery. When the kids from the daycare arrived, ALL of them bee-lined for the book table and began flipping through the books and playing with the hyperboloid model.
The small and large hyperboloids.
The UBC daycare kids that came for a visit. They played with the model hyperboloid made of hair elastics and skewers and then visited the large bamboo hyperboloid.
Herb bouquet station.
One of our activity stations was making herb bouquets to take home! We provided rosemary, mint, lemon balm, sage, chives and lavender. The children and the adults that visited our solstice celebration were both drawn to the herb bouquet table to make their own!
We had gathered rocks, sticks, shells and leaves from Wreck Beach for a land art activity in the garden. Visitors to the celebration were encouraged to build and create using the found objects. All of the objects were returned to their original home.
Food was available to enjoy, featuring the flavors of the garden. We enjoyed salads, veggies, bread, cheeses delicious cookies made with rosemary from the garden. I think it is safe to say that we all formed new connections with the local community as we mingled over fun and food.
Chocolate Rosemary Sea Salt Cookies. These cookies are my favourite! I harvested the rosemary for this batch from the UBC Orchard Garden.
We had so much food! Terra Breads donated bread and everyone contributed a baked good or dish made at home. It was lovely to eat and share in the garden today.
My CFE experience in the UBC orchard garden as been a great success. There was much collaboration and learning with fellow teachers-to-be. Having, the space, time, and being outdoors allowed for this successful teamwork. The fact that all of my classmates during this experience were from different cohorts (social emotional learning, IB, teaching English learners, Montessori, French, CITE) made for an amazing group of thinkers. We all brought different pedagogical ideas and backgrounds to the table. We all agree that this place-based learning experience and being outside is a valuable pedagogy. I will take this forward in my teaching career and I’m excited to start my own school garden in the future.