An Early Morning Start
Today started with an early 8:00 arrival time at the Orchard Garden. It was finally the day of our summer solstice celebration, and that meant we had a lot of work to do!
Finally, Keegan and Lu moved the picnic tables from the end of the garden to beside the birch tree. We decided this would be a good spot for the food and drinks.
Everyone did an excellent job preparing the food for the solstice celebration. We had freshly baked raspberry crumble, 3 wonderful salads, a mountain of watermelon and apple slices, as well as many veggies and dips a person could ask for. Combined with the bread donated by A Bread Affair Granville Island, we truly had a feast. We also took advantage of the abundance of lemon balm in the garden to make a cool lemon balm tea. It was delicious!
Arrival of the Kids
Before we knew it, the children were arriving. We welcomed them by reading a story called "The Bakery Dragon" by Devin Elle Kurtz. After the story, the children could choose to explore the following activity stations:
Shadow painting: participants took paper and a mark-making tool and traced leaf shadows on their paper. Supplies: paper, clipboard (can sub for cardboard), pencil crayons, markers, watercolour supplies.
Flower pounding: Participants placed flowers along a piece of cloth. Once happy with the placement, they folded their fabric and pounded it with a rock. This creates an interesting pattern on the cloth. When finished, participants had the choice to keep their piece or tie it onto our summer solstice wreath. Supplies included: rocks, strips of fabric, and fresh flowers.
Flower crown making: Younger participants decorated their own flower crowns using flowers found around the garden. older participants had the opportunity to make their own flower crown face using gathered Morning Glory stems, afterwards they'd be able to decorate their crowns like the younger participants. Supplies: prepared morning glory crowns, morning glory stems, access to flowers.
Exploring the garden: Guests were able to explore the garden and see the different plants we have growing. The children were especially interested in the different berry bushes all around the garden. The raspberries were picked clean, and some of them discovered that they like autumn olives.
Music: During all of this some of our more musically inclined people took up an instrument and filled the garden with songs.
More Visitors
Before the Daycares left Dr. Samson Nashon, Department Head of Curriculum and Pedagogy gave a speech discussing the importance of places like the garden in education. After the daycares left, it was a slower day. We had visitors from the TEO, our FA Anish Sayani, former students of Susan’s, and some of our friends and families. Our first visitors of the day were Megan’s partner and their youngest child! We also got a short visit from Kat’s child during our prep time, and got to meet Sara’s parents. Any visitors were welcome to tour the garden space and view or taste a selection of the food we are growing this season. Giving the tours was also wonderful. It brought up new questions, and made me (Alex) revisit some of the stories I have heard throughout my time in the garden
Some Garden Losses
There were some moments of sadness in an otherwise wonderful day. Sadly, we discovered another crop was stolen from the garden last night. This time, the garlic was targeted. The thief stole every single garlic plant. We are understandably upset by the loss because Saul has been growing this garlic since October 2025. We are considering making signs to prevent another crop from being taken without permission.
Another loss was the plum tree in the food forest. As mentioned in previous blogs, there once was a large plum tree at one of the ends of the garden that needed to be cut down because it had developed Black Knot fungus. This fungus is incredibly contagious and will kill trees. Before it had been cut down in an attempt to save itself, the Plum Tree had been sending shoots away from its main body to attempt to live on. Sadly, these shoots were too close together and also caught Black Knot fungus. Until today we believed one of the shoots had been able to survive; however, we found out that it was also infected and needed to be cut down. Much like the original plum tree, this new one will be buried, and hopefully we will be able to turn its death into a source of life for other plants.
Reflecting on CFE and our time in the Orchard
Our Faculty Advisor, Anish Sayani, visited today. He toured the garden with us, and listened to our stories about our experiences in the garden. Then we sat down with him, Susan, and Saul to reflect on our time in the garden and how it impacted our growth as educators. While we don’t want to explicitly share what was said in the group due to the vulnerability and trust among the group, here are a few common themes from our discussion:
Deep gratitude towards Saul, Susan, and the garden for creating the space where we could unwind and rejuvenate from the stress of practicum.
The rich educational experience and tremendous learning that occurred each day due to Susan’s willingness to share her knowledge with us as well as the diverse CFE program. Each day was different because we connected with the community by touring the gardens on campus, learned from guest speakers, her connections and past students who created lesson plans. Susan incorporated her varied interests into the program.
Our connection to the environment and its inhabitants strengthened. As we tended the garden, our care for the plants and animals grew and grew.
Thanks to Susan, we learned about the history and stories of the places we visited. We also learned life skills and to respect the environment.
The garden allowed us to express ourselves by sharing our backgrounds and cultures as they relate to the garden. We connected to the open and free nature of the garden and felt safe to be ourselves. The garden facilitated an environment of camaraderie and trust in our CFE group.
Work/life balance is possible. Susan and Saul allowed us to take breaks and work at our own pace. This shifted our focus to healing from practicum and prioritizing self care each day before turning toward our to-do list.
The idea of being “in situ” In situ is a Latin phrase that translates to "in its original place" or "in position". It is used across various fields to describe studying, testing, or leaving something in its natural or original location rather than moving it to a lab or artificial environment. In the case of our experience in the garden, spending great lengths of uninterrupted time in nature free from pressure of our endless to-do list allowed us to recharge, relax and calm down after an extremely stressful experience. This led us to realize incorporating daily outdoor time in our teaching practice is non-negotiable going forward.
Overall, learning in the garden is incredibly beneficial. We realized today that if this is how we were impacted as adults, the impact must be even greater for young children if they were to experience something like the Orchard Garden CFE because people are even more impressionable when they are young.
Do a Little Jig and Spin around
As we cleaned up, we had a moment of silliness and fun. While Susan was playing her accordion, some of us began to dance and spin each other around. This turned into an impromptu dance lesson as Katie and I (Alex) taught the others the Morris dance we had learned at another summer solstice event last Sunday.
This seemingly silly small moment was important. It involved the garden and the community being a safe place to let our guards down. It involved the sharing of knowledge and culture. And most importantly, it was joyful. I think many of us want our classrooms to be a place of joy, and sometimes a part of that is knowing when to let go and lean into those natural moments of connection and play.
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