The Orchard Garden in October 2022: Fall Colours, Final Harvest, and Late-Season Figs!

Visitors to the Orchard Garden in past Octobers would have been wise to gear up in raincoats and water-proof shoes. Not so this year, where the sweetness of summer lingered late, well past the middle of October. The crispness of these early autumn days was supercharged by the months-long drought that had hit British Columbia, which worked to extend the growing season, and defer the spectacle of leaf senescence. Vegetation remained mostly lush and green with a little help of some daily watering--as did the weeds!

Many vegetables planted out in August were still happily growing under the warm temperature regime. On October 18, volunteers from the Roots on the Roof garden helped us with our final harvest of the year: Beets, turnips, Gai Lan broccoli, kohlrabi, and lettuce. Much gratitude to Roots on the Roof for the help! The harvested produce was distributed to UBC-student run cafes, the community food fridge, and some programs in the Downtown Eastside.

Finally there came the rains, spelling the end of the drought, and ushering in the true hues and blues of fall. This transformation of the landscape is an invitation for us to likewise return inwards, regather our energies, and start planning for the following season. A small bounty of figs surprisingly ripened in the end of October, a delicious reminder of summer. 

Student Visit from the Vancouver Summer Program

On August 8, 2022, the Orchard Garden hosted a visit from a cohort of students, and Professor Traci Baillie, from the UBC Vancouver Summer Program. This program is a four-week experience for international undergraduate students at UBC wherein they enroll in two classes, and engage in social and cultural activities both on and outside campus. The cohort that visited the Orchard Garden that day had an especial interest in learning about gardens, their many usages and users, and had also visited UBC Farm, and the Roots on the Roof garden. They were kind enough to leave us some feedback regarding their experience at the garden. We thank the students for their visit, curiosity, and feedback, and thank Professor Traci Baillie for arranging this visit with us, and her enthusiasm for the Orchard Garden!

"It’s impressive how much effort they put into planning & constructing the garden! I appreciate the teaching about the background of the use of traditional herbs." -Audrey

"I found the beauty of Orchard Garden enchanting in such a wonderful location. Chris’s enthusiasm for his traditional Chinese medicine plants is awe-inspiring." -Ayyub

"Thank you for the sharing in the garden. It was an insightful experience visiting that I get to know more about the different herbs and the way of plants. It is nice to know that both teachers and students are included in this garden-based education to have all kinds of activities. I enjoyed it a lot!" -Wendy 

"Chris was very knowledgeable with TCM related plants and he showed us variety of unique plants such as the lemon herb plant and black tea plant. Overall an enjoyable experience!" -Keene

"Our visit to Orchard Garden was a unique and enriching experience for us, and we're thankful to have had the opportunity to visit and learn more about the different parts of the garden and the workshops that were available! Thank you Chris and team for the memorable experience!" -Kellie

"Orchard Garden had provided an enriching tour! It was interesting to get to know the different personal projects and sustainable efforts the gardeners have put in. This experience opened my eyes to behind the scenes of how organic food is grown and sourced!"  -Diyanah

"It was an insightful time at UBC’s orchard garden as we learnt a lot about sustainability and the hard work that goes behind taking care of the beautiful crops. My best takeaway was definitely witnessing the speaker’s passion for his job as it was heartwarming watching him share about his work with much joy and sincerity!" Sarah 

Fall in the Garden

 Welcome to Fall in the Orchard Garden

Saturday workshops throughout the 2022/2023 academic year and the Community Field Experience for the BEd students in May and June will be organized by Dr. Amanda Fritzlan while Dr. Susan Gerofsky is away on sabbatical travels.

You can contact Amanda regarding the workshops at amanda.fritzlan@ubc.ca

Arts in the Garden - Final Workshop

 Submitted by: Shelby, Amelia, Chioten

Orchard Garden has brought such a wonderful experience of outdoor learning, it has provided us with new skills to bring into our teacher toolkits. The hands on gardening brought a deeper connection to the land we have been learning on at UBC  preparing, planting and harvesting food and medicines in the garden. We are grateful for Susan and Chris for preparing this opportunity for our CFE and working along side other teacher candidates who are talented and brilliant, any school or future workplace will be so lucky to have you.

Saturday was our final workshop of our Community Field Experience it was fun and inspiring, we had a great team and we were thinking well wishes to our cohort peers who could not make it. We had bread, cheese and herb water, an estimation game with two great prizes. Beautiful dreamcatchers were created along with stunning art creations with natural paints. We had music in the garden, great conversations and then we feasted! The food was perfect and delicious and prepared by everyone, this garden was alive with people, plants and hummingbirds - migwetch (thank-you).

Summer Solstice Celebration at the Orchard Garden (Thursday, 23 June, 2022)

Good day everyone :)  Kate and Tammy would like to start our post with a land acknowledgement:

We would like to acknowledge that we are gathered today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.

Today was a gorgeous day at the Orchard Garden, and we want to thank everyone who came to celebrate with us for the Summer Solstice.   

Here is a video showcasing what happened at this special event.

Video: Summer Solstice Celebration 2022

Senses on the Solstice and Arts in the Garden

 Planning for the Solstice and Saturday Workshops

Today, we were back together again in the Orchard Garden, working in two groups to collaborate and plan activities for the Summer Solstice Celebration on Thursday, June 23rd, and for the final workshop of the Orchard Garden workshop series on Saturday, June 25th.

Summer Solstice Celebration Planning:

The Thursday group is excited to celebrate  the Solstice with a day of Exploring your Senses in the Garden.

We have planned a variety of activities which will engage each of the senses. These activities include storytelling, bird watching, garden tours, wildflower seed bomb making and a cooking demonstration. All of this educational enthusiasm will be interspersed with snacks and music. We are looking forward to a wonderful day in the Garden!

Saturday Workshop Planning:

The Saturday workshop group has planned an Arts in the Garden workshop that has two main activities: making willow dreamcatchers from Anishinaabe teachings, and painting in the garden with natural tools and dyes. Today, we all brought materials we had harvested/prepared for the workshop and tested out our activities in action. 

Shelby brought willow that she harvested as well as sinew and beads and demonstrated how to bend and tie the willow to create a teardrop or circular frame. She then modeled the technique of how to knot and weave the sinew to create a web inspired by the beauty and teachings of a spider’s web. We were so grateful for this wonderful experience and we can’t wait to share it with others during the Saturday workshop. 

Maggie and Gideon learn how to make willow dreamcatchers.

The rest of us brought natural dyes that we had prepared from blueberries, beets, spinach and matcha, turmeric, cabbage, and coffee. It was exciting to see how well the natural dyes turned out. We experimented with creating paint brushes from grass and other plant offerings from the garden and we coordinated how to use the garden’s tables, benches, and tents to enable independent and communal painting during the workshop. 

Sample of the natural dyes with which we experimented.

Gideon:

Participating in the Saturday Workshop planning process was a great example of teacher collaboration. I wouldn’t have come up with these learning experiences independently, yet once my colleagues put forth the initial ideas, each of us were able to contribute based on our previous experiences as educators and learners. The B.C. curriculum spans a vast range of concepts across many disciplines, and it is a challenge for any single teacher to try and plan engaging units and lessons independently. I must admit that I have a tendency to insulate myself and try to do just that - work through everything myself. Collaborating to plan the Saturday Workshop helped show me that there is no need to fear judgment or criticism of ideas when working as part of a caring and reciprocal teaching community. We frequently shared and revised ideas in pursuit of developing an engaging and effective learning activity.

Today was also another important reminder of the necessity to try any activities prior to using them in a lesson. There is a large gap between coming up with an idea that connects to the curriculum and actually making that idea feasible in practice so that a given audience can extract meaning through engaging with it. As Shelby led the rest of our group in making willow dreamcatchers, we learned that there were several key steps where we participants could get confused and make errors. Furthermore, we learned that in order to complete the activity within an hour as hoped for, we need to instruct participants to limit themselves to 9 knot points around the willow hoop. Those of us who made more knot points on our dreamcatchers found ourselves working well past an hour. 

When we started experimenting with creating mark-making tools, we soon learned that it was very challenging to create tools that made interesting and effective marks using our natural watercolour paints. We had initially thought that making a diversity of mark-making tools would be an engaging art activity; we found through experiencing the activity, however, that the greater engagement came from having a tool that could effectively use the natural paints we had created. We found that it was more successful to create denser tools that mimicked paintbrushes which worked well with the natural paints and as a result, made some small conceptual revisions to the activity that had a large impact on the overall experience of the activity. 

Beyond this, we spent a significant amount of time deciding how to use the physical space of the Orchard Garden effectively to carry out these two activities. This reminded me a great deal of lesson planning for the classroom during my practicum. I would start with an idea and then have to think through the small details of how materials would be distributed and where students would be at different parts of the activities. When I took the students out to the schoolyard for learning activities, the importance of these planning decisions were amplified. The students’ attention were easily grabbed by all of the sensory stimulations of the outdoor environment and I had to have extremely clear and simple instructions each step of the way to keep their attention. Today, we got to think through these small logistical decisions as a group in hopes of creating an engaging and educational workshop on Saturday.

Peter:

Planning to teach lessons in a garden environment has many similarities to the classroom and many unique challenges. The advantage of the garden is that it is a pre-built interactive classroom, and our job as teachers is to find ways to ensure an engaging experience with our students.

In planning the Summer Solstice Party, the group quickly came to the consensus that engaging our students through focusing on the senses was a beautiful way to take advantage of all the learning opportunities the garden presents.

As someone who has cooked professionally, and taught many cooking classes in the past, my mind immediately turned to food. Now, figuring out what I could demonstrate using the ingredients that were ready to be harvested, and that I could demonstrate in the garden was a bit of a challenge. This task reminded me of the experience of helping to plan a field trip during my practicum. While you know the destination you wish to arrive at with your students, you must plan with all the risks and challenges in mind, and still make it engaging and educational.

After considering various options, and having numerous failed experiments littering my kitchen counter, I settled on demonstrating a garden herb hummus. Hummus is packed full of protein and can be flavored with a variety of herbs from the garden. That it is vegan also allows for the greatest number of participants to try the finished product. While I have prepared the bulk of the hummus in my kitchen for tomorrow's festivities, I will be doing a demonstration using a mortar and pestle in the garden.

The thought of being able to use food and gardening to educate students on a variety of subjects truly excites me. Talking about the origin of ingredients, their historical context, the biology of how they've grown, or even the scientific principle of emulsification can all come from a garden lesson about hummus. It just goes to show the old adage that Nature is the best teacher still holds true.

Garden Herb Hummus Recipe

Ingredients

1 Cup of Chickpeas with cooking water

1 Cup of Chickpeas drained

¼ cup of lemon juice

⅕ cup of Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider vinegar

1 ½ Tablespoons of tahini

Herbs for flavor (I used garlic scapes, chives, mint, and oregano from the garden)

1 clove of garlic (omit if using garlic scapes)

Salt, Pepper, Cumin, and Chipotle Powder to taste

Add to your blender in the order above. If you're using a food processor the order you layer the ingredients is less of an issue. Blend until your desired consistency. Enjoy!

I leave you with a little poem I have written and that has been published in a few places. The name of my cooking class business is Pasta Boy Peter - Eat with those you Love TM and that spirit comes from this poem. I leave it as a little blessing to all of you who visit the garden.

Eat with those you Love and you will stay in Love

Eat with those you Like and you may fall in Love

Eat with those you hate and you may learn to Tolerate

By Peter Ciuffa

Indigenous Peoples Day and Final Thoughts By Summer & Maggie

Did you know that June 21st is Indigenous Peoples Day?

Today is an important day to reflect on and acknowledge the history, heritage, and contributions, of Indigenous peoples. On the day of this year’s summer solstice, we took a moment to remember and reflect on the tragedies of Canada’s far and recent history. We hope that you can also take time for reflection and/or celebrate by participating in an activity in your neighbourhoods! 

Summer:

One of the workshops I attended during my practicum was run by an Indigenous member of my school staff. She reminded me how we have responsibilities as teachers to incorporate the First Peoples Principles of Learning into our curriculum. I had a few deep conversations with her after the workshop and we formed a great connection. In addition, she encouraged me not to be afraid. A struggle I had in the past was being afraid to pass on incorrect information or being unintentionally disrespectful. Being a teacher in Canada, I want to do my best to acknowledge the true history and current events. However, as a non-Indigenous person, it can be difficult due to my lack of confidence/knowledge. I feel so blessed to have created relationships with Indigenous peers and mentors. They have been so helpful in my teachings and have provided me with the confidence I needed. Whenever I teach my students, I aim to make my Indigenous peers and mentors proud.

I reminded myself of my own promise to never forget the past and to be a vocal ally in our community. I believe that my knowledge from these workshops will be amplified by our lessons in the Orchard Garden. Many Indigenous topics and principles speak to the land. And what better place to connect and learn about the land than… in the garden! One of our own TC’s, Shelby, will be teaching us how to create Indigenous art from elements found from the land. This is a beautiful activity, and we are all fortunate that she is passing on her sacred knowledge to us. Planning for our CFE workshops and celebrations reminded me to make a conscious effort to connect my curriculum to the land. We look forward to celebrating Indigenous Day with our future students!

Below is a photo of artwork I did with students in my practicum class!

Maggie: 

Reflecting on my experience in the UBC Orchard Garden, I feel incredibly grateful to have learned more ways to meaningfully incorporate the First Peoples Principles of Learning (FPPL) in my everyday life as well as in an outdoor classroom. I could see myself weaving in all of the FPPL in a lesson that involves being outside and in the school garden. I knew from the beginning of my journey that I wanted to explore outside of my comfort zone by learning how to approach teaching in an outdoor environment. The FPPL that has been at the forefront of my mind is that “Learning involves patience and time”; I wanted to take everything in quickly, but I soon became aware of the significance of sitting with questions, exploring, and reflecting – this inquiry cycle takes time. Furthermore, I learned that knowledge can come from different places; sometimes the Land is the best teacher and what I have to try to do more of is listen. Connecting this back to Indigenous Peoples Day, I will continue to take the time to educate myself about, appreciate and acknowledge the history, heritage, and resilience of Indigenous peoples, communities, and nations across Turtle Island. I think it is also important to keep in mind that today and every day, Indigenous peoples deserve to feel respect, peace, and joy. Also, today is not only a celebration of the diversity of Indigenous peoples, but also a celebration of Mother Earth who provides for us and our relationship with her. 

Although my roots are from Hong Kong, I grew up in Richmond with my mom, older sister, and grandma. I remember on my first day of Kindergarten, my mom walked me to the classroom door where I was greeted by Mrs. Green, the Kindergarten teacher. “I will be fine,” I whispered to myself. That was until Mrs. Green asked me to write down my address, which I had no clue what it was! The only memories I have where I felt connected with the land I was on was when I went outdoors to ​徐步 (to walk slowly) with my grandma. There were clues in the environment to help me find my way around the neighbourhood… like the tiny playground nearby my home where I discovered what I thought was a piece of the sun, like the willow tree around the corner that had hair as shaggy as the hair on a bearded collie, and the trees by the crosswalk where the spiky green balls would rain down on windy days. I often collected the treasures that were hidden inside – chestnuts! I knew where I was because of the landmarks I saw every day.

Today, I watched a video titled “Sea to Sky: Making of a Public Artwork” where I learned about a landmark in Richmond that was recently created on January 20, 2022. It is a five-storey-high glass artwork located on No. 3 and Cook Road. The artist, Thomas Cannell, designed the landmark to celebrate the art and culture of the Musqueam Nation. When people walk by it, it is meant to be a reminder of Richmond’s Indigenous heritage. I enjoyed learning about the meaning behind every choice made by the artist and the symbols that are included, such as the Eagle and Salmon. According to Thomas Cannell, the building looks like it is moving, so he tried to incorporate that fluidity into the art as well so that there is no clear beginning or end. While looking at photos of the landmark, which I have walked past before, I noticed various First Peoples shapes I introduced in a geometry unit, including crescents, trigons, and ovals. I also found it interesting how Thomas Cannell used blues and greens in the design since I have learned that the Coast Salish use a wide palette of yellows, blues, greens, blacks, reds, and whites.

Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KHJ3WVZUek&t=332s&ab_channel=CityofRichmond  

Link to Thomas Cannell’s website: 

https://thomascannell.com/art-works/ 

It wasn’t until university that I learned that “Canada” is stolen land; that the land on which I live, play, and learn on which is now called Richmond is the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples. It was also my first time learning about the forced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous women, which still happens today. It was when I sat in one of my university classes that I saw a photo of Kent Monkman’s The Scream (2017) and learned about the history of residential schools. Throughout my undergrad, I kept thinking about the FPPL “Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.” So even though I didn’t know that Richmond rose from the silt deposits of the Fraser River about 9,500 years ago, or that the Musqueam and Hul’q’umi’num’ speaking peoples are some of the first people of the land where I grew up and that they named spots along the shoreline… I know now that the stories and histories of these people who were here and still are here are living and carved into the land.

In the evening, I went to ​​徐步 with my mom to a look-out point of the West Dyke recreational trail. I wondered what other eyes have seen this beautiful view. If you listen, like really listen, you can hear the music of nature and the living creatures that inhabit the area during different times of the year. And again, I wonder, whose ears besides mine have been blessed to listen to the unique singing of nature. On the way back, I thought about how neat it would be to invite children to do some digging about the land they step on every day on the way to school – What plants are native here, and what plants have been brought here? What can Indigenous knowledge tell us about these plants? What animals do I see and what are their connections to Indigenous peoples? What did the land look like before it was turned into a school site? The pathways we walk on in life aren’t always the ones we think: smoothly paved roads, evenly-spaced sidewalks that fit two people, human-made trails – Please stay to the right. Like the wrinkles by my mother’s eyes and on her lovely hands, I can find paths, maps, and stories – on the bark of trees and in their root systems. Now whenever I see a tree, I can’t hold back my desire to reach out my hand, press it against the bark, and listen.

My walk outside reminded me of how during my long practicum, I learned that the Richmond city council does not do a land acknowledgment before meetings because of ongoing lawsuits that involve the government and Indigenous peoples. This was for an ethical dilemma writing block that I was planning, so the students and I called Richmond City Hall to ask questions. A meaningful step towards healing and repairing our relationship with Indigenous peoples and the Land may be to not only find ways to reconnect with Mother Earth and consider how we can grow our learning by turning to Indigenous ways of knowing, but also create our own land acknowledgment in the classroom. I look forward to finding more ways to decolonize the classroom, and to continue learning and taking steps towards reconciliation.

Thank you so much for following along with our journeys and for reading our blog posts. We will leave you with the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass:

“Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.”

Planning and Final Message

Hi everyone! Nathan and Alex here one last time for our Orchard Garden CFE blog posts. 

    What an incredible few weeks it has been (and how incredibly quick it has seemed)! Today, we spent our time planning and preparing for our Summer Solstice Celebration which will be taking place on Thursday this week from 11am - 2pm at the Orchard Garden. We actually spent today doing a lot of solo work at home with a short zoom meeting in the morning to strategize. It definitely felt weird not being with everyone in person after two whole weeks together, but sometimes work-from-home days can be good too. For our Solstice Celebration, we are looking to incorporate the five senses as an overarching theme. Our workshop last week on soundscaping and senses (definitely check out that blog post) was really great and we wanted to continue that theme for our celebration. As teacher candidates who have a lot of great experiences and activities from our extended practicums, we also wanted to incorporate some of those into our Solstice event as well. We are looking to do some native wildflower seed bombs; activities about learning animal names in Halkomelem; demonstrate some of the produce we've grown in the garden by sharing a recipe and some food, and just celebrating the arrival of summer in our wonderful Orchard Garden.

    In terms of our big takeaway from today, I think it's cool to see how far we have come as educators. Each member of our planning group has such great ideas and it's so rewarding to be able to share our successes from practicum with others and use them again to refine our teaching skills. This CFE has been an outstanding opportunity to engage with learning experiences beyond a traditional classroom, and having the space to plan and lead a Solstice Celebration full of fun activities is such a great way to cap off our time. We also have a Saturday Workshop that we are planning for that will be equally rewarding and exciting. 

    We set off on a goal in week 1 to continue to explore what it means to leverage place as a powerful tool for learning and we sincerely believe that the Orchard Garden has provided us with an opportunity to do so. We hope to take these lessons forward and use them to become better educators and learners. Thanks so much for spending these last few weeks with us and we hope to see you at our Solstice event on Thursday! We want to close off our final blog post the same way we started: thanking the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people for their stewardship of the land and acknowledging that we have had the absolute privilege of learning, working, and playing on their unceded, ancestral, and traditional territory. 

    

Friday June 17, 2022 - Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs

Workshop: Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs with Chris and Land Based Learning with Jenifer Grenz.

By: Shelby, Amelia and Chiotin

Friday was a beautiful day in the garden, in the morning we started with an activity standing in a circle using string to connect our energy and thoughts on how we will engage our future students to a garden, plants and/or land. Every answer was inspirational and acknowledged the importance of relationships to the outdoors and the natural elements that surround us.

 We then engaged and learned all about Traditional Chinese medicinal plants and herbs with Chris, a practice with a rich and fascinating history. It was inspiring to engage with Chinese cultural medicinal knowledge a natural source outside of synthentic and capitalist structures.

We sampled four medicinal herbs, we tasted sweet, bitter, grainy and was expecially fun to taste the Chinese licorice. Nature is so amazing! We learned how each herb carries unique medicinal qualities. It is important to know how to wild harvest, be familiar with botany to avoid harvesting anything toxic. Do not harvest anything endangered, do not harvest first or last plants, take only what you need (no more than 20% or 30%) and harvest repectfully. These are the plants we sampled:

1. Chinese Dates - nourishes kidney.

2. Chinese Licorice - antioxidant, antiflammatory many benefits.

3. Goji Berry - immunity and wellbeing

4. Five Flavor Berry (Schisandra Berry)  - the berries have a very unusual flavor which is said to be comprised fo all five major flavors: sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter. 

We then harvested Yarrow, Plantian (frog leaf) and Perrenial from the Garden and made an Herbal Oil - We brought mason jars and put our herbs (dried) in olive oil, we then stirred and crushed into the oil. Let the oil extract the herbs, this can be done in a cupboard at home (no light) for a few days. Remember to stir a few times while in cupboard.

We later walked back to Scarfe and watched: Re-storying the Land: Land-based learning is medicine by Jennifer Grenz, Assistant Professor - Department of Forest Resources Management.

This was very informative expecially on how we can connect our future students to land based learning with decolonizing activities, honoring stories of the land and archeology of sites (whats growing there). Building connection and relationships to plants. It was inspiring to see the restoration her students made with planting Garry Oaks and how the school garden built a community.

We Feasted ! We had leek soup harvested right from Orchard Garden (thank you chef Kate) Inspiring all us to gather and have a delicious lunch! It was a great day!

Rope Making and Blackberry Bark Harvesting (by Kate and Tammy)

Today was such an interesting day!  We began by learning about the mathematics, art, and history of rope making - “s twist” and “z twist” ropes, made by twisting a natural fibre, and then twisting it in opposition to itself. It absolutely blew us away to learn that humans have been making rope for more than 40,000 years! Rope making is known as one of the oldest technologies - one which is still in use in countless ways today (even technology within an iPad relies on the rope structure).

It is remarkably easy to learn the art of basic rope-making, which led us to imagine its use in elementary classrooms, as an art form, as a discussion about social studies, and even as a substitute to the “fidget-spinner” (minus the plastic and noise)! 

Using natural fibres to weave was really appealing to us - and even cooler was the realisation that you can use the bark from invasive species, such as Himalayan Blackberry, to generate the weaving material.

The first step in harvesting the blackberry requires cutting a cane, and then slowly (and carefully!) removing the thorns, by gently pushing them sideways, and they pop right off. Next, once the cane is thornless, begin at the thicker end, and gently begin peeling back the bark in about 4 or 5 sections around the cane. Continue to gently pull the bark, until you have effectively peeled the entire cane.

Bundle the bark together, and then let it air dry in the sun, to remove the moisture, and let it dry out.

When you are ready to weave the bark, re-hydrate and soften it, by soaking the dried out bark in water for about 20 minutes, to make it pliable again.

Once you are shown how to weave a rope, it is a very fun, calming activity that you can easily do with your hands, while listening to others and talking… a perfect choice for a child (or adult) who likes to keep their hands busy but still be able to focus on what’s going on around them.

We had great success with this technique, and everyone was so proud of the ropes they

made. We hope to integrate these into an Indigenous art that will be taught at the

upcoming Saturday Workshop on June 25th!! 

With that teaser - we are looking forward to having you join us in the Orchard Garden on

the morning of Saturday, June 25th… see you soon!

Some helpful links: rope making and foraging natural materials for teaching and learning, Coding Unplugged

Hi everyone!
Here are the links to the three short films of mine we watched today:

The Art and Geometry of Rope Making and Yarn Plying
Dancing Braid Into Being: Exploring mathematics through dance
Seven Strands of Alphabetically Braided Crows


Here is a link to Sharon Kallis and EartHand Gleaners' website. I highly recommend getting involved with this group if you're interested in eco-arts and ancestral ways of making things!

EartHand Gleaners

Sharon Kallis' book, Common Threads: Weaving community through collaborative eco-arts

And from Erica Huang, here are the links to the resources she shared on Coding Unplugged:

Parity Magic activity from CS unplugged:
https://www.csunplugged.org/en/topics/error-detection-and-correction/unit-plan/parity-magic/

Human Robot Treasure Hunt activity (Ping-Pong Rescue) from Code BC: https://codebc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Unit-1__Unit-2_126pages_lighthouselabs-v3-1.pdf

Let me know if there are other links that would be helpful.

Cheers

Susan

The Nitobe Memorial Garden - A Walk Through Story, Symbolism and Reflection - by Scott, Gideon and Peter

Today we visited the Nitobe Memorial Garden on UBC campus, situated on the unceded territory of the Musqueam people. We were fortunate to be guided through the garden by Tsubasa, who shared his understanding of Japanese gardens as an art form and his extensive knowledge of the symbolic design of the Nitobe Garden.

The garden celebrates the life of Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933), a Japanese man whose life goal was to become a bridge across the Pacific Ocean, and strived to promote a better understanding of Japan and Japanese culture. He was well respected in Japan and in the 1980s was placed upon the 5000 yen bill. The garden was designed to reflect his goal in the art form which is the Japanese garden. 

Tsubasa informed us that Japanese gardens are a form of art using three types of natural elements - stones, water, and plants. Japanese gardens tend to be asymmetrical to reflect nature’s forms. There are three styles of Japanese gardens. Typical gardens feature ponds and streams. Classical gardens are dry and rely on stones to represent natural forms, even water. Tea house gardens feature a tea house as a central element, where the traditional tea ceremonies are held. Tsubasa mentioned how Japan used to have a very defined hierarchical society, and the tea house was the one place where this rigid social stratification could be forgotten. He further explained why the door was so small, that those who entered would have to bow to show respect as they entered the house, as well the samurai (those at the top of the social hierarchy) would have to remove their swords to be able to enter. 

The Nitobe garden is a typical Japanese garden featuring a pond and small stream, with a tea house located near the end. Tsubasa led us on a tour of the garden, walking counter-clockwise. He explained that the trail of stones represents the human life-cycle, beginning as a baby. The tall trees that tower over the trail invoke the feeling of being a toddler and looking up at one’s surroundings. One approaches a stone monument called the Father Lantern which symbolizes the guidance of a father to light the child’s path through life. The animals that adorn the top of the monument represent the zodiac symbols of Asian culture and help lead people by pointing in different directions, adding to this symbolism of guiding the traveler through the garden (life). 

After crossing a small stream and rounding a bend in the garden one approaches a straight path with a smaller stone lantern monument to the side. This is the Mother Lantern which can watch over and cast light for the traveler as they walk across the entire straight path. This represents a mother’s caring, guiding presence within traditional family structure. Notably, the straight path is not within sight of the Father Lantern. 

As you follow the straight path, you encounter three bridges, each with its own significance. The first bridge represents the bridging of cultures across the Pacific Ocean. On one side of the garden you find plants that are local to B.C. and on the other you find plants that are local to Japan. The second bridge Tsubasa referred to as the Early Marriage Bridge. At this stage of the path the traveler has entered adolescence. The bridge is small and unassuming and is not intended to attract the traveler to pass over it as much as the other ones. The bridge represents the possible challenges that may arise in life from hasty decisions. If you opt not to cross this bridge and continue walking you find two other pathways. By continuing straight, you eventually end up at a deadend overlooking the garden. This represents how as young adults one sometimes finds that you must change course and go back. In the garden, going back leads you to the third bridge, a zig-zagging wooden bridge whose shape is intended to leave behind any evil spirits that have hitherto been able to follow you along the straight path of adolescence and young adulthood. 

Personal reflections on learning here

Scott

I really liked how the “natural” landscape of the garden was able to tell a story. I think this would be an interesting field trip for a class to take, and another way to show students just how multi-modal expression and storytelling can be. I felt like the designers of the garden were similar to my primary students playing and creating stories with loose parts or in their story studios. I really enjoyed how landscape and nature were used to express meaning.

Gideon

The Nitobe Memorial Garden is now the fourth garden we have experienced during our Community Field Experience. I was struck by how different this garden was from the food-growing Orchard Garden and the food- and play-oriented garden at Homma Elementary. I was also struck by how transformed my experience of Nitobe Memorial Garden was by virtue of Tsubasa’s insight. I was engaged by the symbolic story of an infant traveling along the path of life and it made me think of how effective this garden is as a teacher of the concept of symbolism that features in the Arts and English Language Arts curriculum. Teaching a grade 1/2 class during my practicum I learned how important it was to ground abstract concepts in visual and hands-on experiences. When led by a knowledgeable storyteller like Tsubasa, a tour of the Nitobe Memorial Garden is a highly effective field trip experience to introduce the concept of symbolism as it engages all of one’s senses. Perhaps if teaching the concept of symbolism beginning with a field trip to the garden, one could follow up by having a class co-construct idea prompts and then going out into the school garden and using found materials to try and represent an idea symbolically.

Peter

The Nitobe Garden is a place for focused reflection on nature and is striking in its tranquility. Very rarely have I been in a space that looks to mold the natural landscape to a designer's will but does not seem to do it aggressively. There is a harmony to the garden that I felt immediately upon entering, and the path you take as you meditate on the journey of life while set for you is inviting. This place, constructed for contemplation and learning about ones-self, could also be used to educate our students on subjects such as English or Science. What excites me most about the garden is the challenge of finding a way to bring its reflective philosophy into my practice as a teacher. Constructing a place focused on taking the time to reflect on life's journey is a powerful metaphor that I wish to bring into the classroom. A key aspect of self-regulated learning is metacognition. Metacognitive knowledge, as laid out by Butler, Schnellert, and Perry in Developing Self-Regulating Learners, centers around a learner reflecting on and learning about themselves and their own learning. The garden is a perfect metaphor for this reflective practice and inspires me to find ways to incorporate self-reflection in nature with my students.