The Orchard Garden

 

Hi everyone. This is Caelan and Lexie here for our third and final blog post of our CFE! We’ve had an amazing time at the Orchard Garden and we want to share a bit about our plans for the upcoming Saturday workshop (if you are interested in joining, you can send an RSVP to susan.gerofsky@ubc.ca) and our reflections from our time in the garden. 

Caelan:

I have always enjoyed spending time in gardens and am an avid gardener in my spare time. When I started this CFE I was excited to find new ways to integrate gardens into my teaching practice. Just as I had hoped, I have been introduced to some awesome activities that I will definitely integrate into future lessons. One activity that I really loved was the eco-poetry workshop that Jo led for us. I will take inspiration from those activities when planning my own land-based poetry lessons. My fellow TCs and I are going to run an activity inspired by Jo’s eco-poetry workshop at the upcoming Saturday workshop. What I am most excited about for this activity is seeing the diverse interpretations that the TCs and participants bring to their eco-poetry!

Today I was reminded of the immense value that working in interdisciplinary groups can provide when our CFE group met up today to discuss how our respective workshops are coming along. We have managed to meaningfully integrate so many subjects into our activities and through this process I have been introduced to many new ideas and perspectives! It has become increasingly clear to me throughout this CFE that the garden is the perfect place for interdisciplinary collaboration and learning. I am excited to continue teaching and learning in many more gardens throughout my teaching career!

Lexie: 

Like Caelan, I also enjoy gardening and over the course of the CFE have been inspired to get on top of my yard and garden at home. I have been pulling out invasives that have just been left for years and am in the process of installing a native pollinator meadow. Speaking about bees with Magali had me consider what I can do to help multiple species of bees in my neighborhood. For a long time, I have been a fan of outdoor and place-based education and this CFE has given me so much inspiration and content I simply cannot wait to implement these lessons in a classroom. The Nitobe Memorial Garden was one of my high points of the CFE as I was so moved by the idea of a garden as a method of storytelling. 

I have a tendency to want my own space and I have a habit of trying to work independently even if it isn’t the wisest choice but throughout our work parties and through working on Saturday's workshops with a range of people from different educational backgrounds gave me a renewed positive outlook on collaboration. The most important lesson this experience has given me is that I don’t have to work alone. This is an imminently valuable lesson for my upcoming career as a teacher. 

Today’s planning session went very smoothly as we ironed out most of the final details for the workshops. We focused on contingencies and the nitty-gritty to avoid any possible hiccups the day of. We are all very much looking forward to meeting the attendees and showing them the product we have put together. 

For those who don’t know I am a bit of an avid birdwatcher and after our meeting today I went to Burnaby Lake to look at some birds. Piper Spit (at Burnaby lake) is a fantastic place to go birdwatching year-round. There was a family of Sandhill Cranes, which are massive and beautiful birds, with many other birdwatchers taking pictures from a respectable distance. There were more Cedar Waxwings than I had ever seen in one place as well. I believe birdwatching provides great educational pedagogy because of its collaborative nature of it. There is a lot of quiet solitude involved, but there is also a great sense of like-minded community. For example today everyone could hear that there were black-headed grosbeak’s around but 5 of us that were looking weren’t having any luck. Eventually, after I had been looking in the woods for several minutes trying to navigate one I took a step back to see one had perched right above me. Sometimes you really do just need to step back to find the answer. I had become separated from the other bird-seekers and a few minutes after I had walked away from my find, a couple I had talked to turned the corner and I pointed it out to them. Then, I ran into another couple and walked them over to where it was. Suddenly there were 3 of them in the trees around us singing their beautiful song. Perhaps I am sensationalizing but it felt like a reward for the community working together and respectfully engaging with our feathered friends. 

Anyways I knew I wanted to get some journaling done about the romantic nature of birdwatching so I am glad I got it in. Below I will post pictures of the birds for reference. 

Black-headed grosbeak photo by me taken at Campbell Valley Park, not Burnaby lake. I didn’t get any pictures today. Apologies I am not a professional bird photographer. 

Family of Sandhill Cranes. Picture by me taken at Piper Spit, Burnaby lake. The baby had such long legs!

Cedar Waxwing, Photo by Judy Gallagher. I think they got their name because it looked like they have been dipped in wax. 

And lastly, a nice fluffy goose butt. Enjoy!