Today we spent the morning at Norma Rose Point Elementary school exploring the rain garden. The rain garden was very neat to go into and there were lots of different plants we learnt about.
One of the plants we learnt about was fireweed which is the purple flower in the photo below.
We learnt how this plant is important in Indigenous culture because it is the first thing that grows back after a fire. The name having the word weed in it often makes us think it is not a good plant in mainstream culture but it is actually quite useful. It is a good pollinator and good for the soil. The fluff on the top of the flower can also be used to make rope or thread which is quite interesting. It was very interesting to learn about fireweed and how it is thought of differently in mainstream culture vs Indigenous culture.
We also learnt a cool fact about fern plants and how a mathematical connection can be made using ferns. We learnt how the little fern looks like the big fern and how this can go on and on.
Another neat thing we learnt at the garden was how gumbo limbo trees naturally peel their bark. I found this interesting because I learnt before that when the bark of a tree is peeled off, the tree will die because bark acts as a protective layer for a tree. It was interesting how this tree naturally peels off the bark and does not die from this. It was also interesting to learn about the concept of a respectful harvest and how in Indigenous culture, bark can be collected from cedar trees in a way that does not kill the tree.
A lot of interesting learning and exploring was done at the rain garden!
At the Orchard garden in the afternoon, a lot of weeding was done to prepare the space for planting and seeding! This was satisfying to take part in and a lot of progress was made!
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