Saturday Workshop: Nature Paintbrushes and Weaving

A wonderful day at the UBC Orchard Garden!  The sun was shining, the food was plentiful and the company was delightful.  We even had a puppy visit!  We started the day with some fresh baked goods, fruit, tea and water and had a welcome circle before the activities began. 

Our first activity of the day was making nature paintbrushes.  Participants scoured the Orchard Garden for items that they could use to make paintbrushes.  Sticks, cones, grass, leaves, flowers and blackberry bark all went to good use to create beautiful paintbrushes that people used to paint signs for the garden.  The natural paintbrushes were also used as ornamentation in the garden.

Creativity was in the air!

Beautiful signs for the garden were created!

The second workshop was weaving in the garden.  We provided participants with the option to use natural materials found in the garden, yarn, or both.  A wide variety of weaving was created, and it was wonderful to see how different each person's piece was.  The weaving was a calm and meditative time where we all got to try out hand at making something with what the garden has given us.  

Weaving in and for the garden!

For lunch we all harvested ingredients from the garden!  We showed the participants where mint, lemon balm, rosemary, sage, lettuce, garlic scapes, and edible flowers were located and how to appropriately harvest them.  We were mindful not to take too much of each so we can allow the plant to continue to flourish.

We used these fresh ingredients to make tomatoe and garlic scape pasta salad, feta mint watermelon salad, and a fresh garden salad.  To supplement the lunch we had cheeses, bread, crackers, and homemade baked goods.  It was a delightful feast and a great way to end our workshop!

Garlic scape and cherry tomato pasta, yum!