First Day of the Community Field Experience at UBC Orchard’s Garden

The sun was shining and the birds calling… Waleed and I thought to be in Ethiopia to begin of our CFE, however, due to visa difficulties we had to delay our departure. Our day began with introductions, sharing of practicum experiences, and basic safety expectations. One of the first things we did was acknowledging that we were on the on the traditional and unceded territories of the Musqueam people and reflected on this as we prepared to work with and on the land. Then we walked or biked to the UBC farm where we did spend rest of the morning exploring some of the magic corners of it, learning about different plants and herbs that grow there and finally preparing together a delicious green salad (which we all had for lunch). In the afternoon, we got to work preparing the orchard garden for planting onions. Under Sam’s watchful eye, half of our group weeded out the garden beds while the other half cleared away the grass and flattened them. As we worked, some of us reflected on our practicum experience and how our students would benefit from being outside and interacting with natural surroundings. They can learn much through hands-on activities like gardening or build up their sense of curiosity simply by observing plant and insect life. We have discussed how nature can have a calming effect, and yet provide a rich environment for outdoor education and daily physical activity. As we discussed earlier in the morning, we believe that students should know where their food comes from and learn about healthy eating. Digging out the grass, digging out the weeds, turning and flattening the soil, and carrying the plants to the compost helps us to see how much effort is needed to produce our food. Having students work outdoors can help them appreciate what goes into their lunch boxes and hopefully make them more mindful about healthy eating and not wasting food. It was also refreshing to work with and hear different practicum experiences (also from different teachables) since we did not have many opportunities to do so before. Although our cohorts might emphasize different subjects, we all came to the conclusion that gardening is a valuable, soothing, yet stimulating teaching tool which promotes outdoor education, physical activity, and food security. This first day gave us all something to reflect on and inquire about, as it gave us a taste of several possible outdoor learning contexts: the orchard garden and the farm at Landed Learning. As our CFE progresses, we will all be developing our inquiry questions and reflecting on the possibilities for learning and teaching in these varied outdoor learning contexts. I look forward to reading my cohorts’ reflections and seeing how our collective thought develops as we experience the variety of environments the traditional unceded territories of the Musqueam People at UBC affords us as we progress through our Community Field Experience.

-SImon and Waleed

Thanks to our wonderful Sam, and to the David Robitaille Professorship for a grant to the Orchard Garden

We want to offer a public acknowledgement and heartfelt 'thank you' to the David F. Robitaille Professorship in Mathematics and Science Education and to the current David Robitaille Professor, Dr. Cynthia Nicol, for their kindness in offering us a grant that will assist in the hiring of a student to be the 'guardian of the garden' for the summer of 2018 -- and beyond into the 2018 W1 and W2 terms.

Big thanks to Sam Puddicombe, who has filled the role of 'guardian of the garden' with intelligence, grace and humour and lots of energy this past year! Sam will be graduating soon, and we wish him all the best in his upcoming adventures on Salt Spring Island.

EDUC 450B Inquiry class in the Orchard Garden October 2017

Our EDUC 450B spent four hours in class in the Orchard Garden on a beautiful day in October. We did mathematics in the garden:

• drawing human-made and living, growing things in the garden with an eye to lines and angles (guess which kinds of things tended to have straight lines and right angles, and which didn't!)
• experiencing mathematical patterning by dancing braid into being (with a 'line hey' with ribbons)
• harvesting vegetables and herbs in the garden.

Completing the installation of Hyperboloid Gate #2

On a rainy weekend in October, a group of hard-working Orchard Garden team members muddily but triumphantly completed and installed the second Hyperboloid Gate in the UBC Orchard Garden, in time for our Dark Garden Arts celebration.

The gate was designed by mathematical sculptor and computer science professor George Hart from Stoney Brook University. George was at UBC in 2007 and again in 2014 as a mathematical artist in residence, and in 2014, was the keynote speaker for the PME (Psychology of Mathematics Education) conference at UBC. Hyperboloid Gate #1 was built in the Orchard Garden by George, PME conference participants and members of the Orchard Garden team. George documented the process and the mathematics behind his design in this short film made for the Simons Foundation.

The gate was built by elementary and middle years teacher candidates and garden team members in June 2016, but wasn't completely tied off and installed till this year.

Many thanks to John, Jo, Kwesi, Phil, Sophia (Danish grad student from the Vancouver Tool Library), and me (Susan) for lots of tying off, hoisting, digging, and tipping of the new gate into its spot in the garden. It's beautiful, and it was fun doing lots of wet and muddy work together with such a great result.

Orchard Garden 2017-18 Workshop #1, October 14 2017

Our first workshop of the year was a great way to start the year. John, Jo, Myron, Tathali and Sam led activities introducing the importance of school gardens, both here and internationally, and offering hands-on experiences in the garden.

Here is a link to the handout from this workshop.

World Environmental Education Conferences symposium day at the Cultivating Learning Network, UBC

On September 11, 2017, we welcomed 40 delegates from all over the world, along with 30 UBC teacher candidates and student, staff and faculty members of our organizing teams, to the Cultivating Learning Network at UBC for a beautiful day of off-site Community Engagement Day conference papers, symposia and hands-on activities around environmental education.

The morning was spent at Intergenerational Landed Learning at the UBC Farm Children's Garden and surrounding forest, with a lunch included edible flowers and greens we had harvested at the Children's Garden.

The afternoon activities were held at the UBC Orchard Garden, including interactive conference symposium presentations and arts-based environmental education activities.

The weather was lovely and the day was full of moving, thought-provoking, delicious, fragrant, poetic and community-building experiences -- a highlight of a very interesting international conference

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It's been a busy six months!

...And it's definitely time to catch up our Orchard Garden blog!

From September 2017 to March 2018, here are some of the highlights at the UBC Orchard Garden:

Sept. 9-15: World Environmental Education Conference (WEEC), with a full conference day held at the Orchard Garden and Landed Learning at the Farm.

Presentations to UBC teacher candidates on CFEs (three-week intensive community field experiences following their 10-week school practicum) , workshops and volunteering at the Orchard Garden.

October - March: The first 5 of 8 Orchard Garden workshops

#1 Oct. 14
#2 Nov. 25
#3 Jan. 13
#4 Feb. 3
#5 Mar. 10

(Here are the other three workshop dates:

#6 Apr. 14
#7 May 12
#8 June 30)

October: EDUC450B class in the Orchard Garden
Completed work on Hyperboloid Gate #2
Dark Garden Arts (Hallowe'en, Day of the Dead)

September - December: Collaboration with SFU School of Interactive Arts and Technology undergraduate student design team

November: Grant writing sessions

Launching the new Cultivating Learning Network website

December: Planning for upcoming ECE Summer Institute in the Orchard Garden

January: Orientation meeting with CFE students

February: Two workshops with the Tell-3C elementary cohort

Upcoming:

Secondary CFE: April 23-May 12

Elementary/Middle CFE: June 11-30

Summer Solstice Celebration: Thursday June 28

Summer Institute in Early Childhood Education: July 9-14