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In this newsletter:
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Highlights from March
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Upcoming workshops, volunteer opportunities and dates
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Highlights from student projects this term: winter 2015
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Recipe from March Feast Bowl meal: no-bake chocolate coconut cookies
March has brought with it plenty of activity in the Indigenous Health Research & Education Garden, and we're just as excited to see the medicines and foods growing as we are to get our hands in the soil! With the help of volunteers, this month we seeded lettuces, buckwheat, and radishes in the garden while starting celery, kohlrabi, and cabbage in the greenhouse. We dug artichoke crowns into the garden in the hopes of many years of asparagus harvest to come and we pruned some of our perennial medicinal plants and helped other self-seeding ones find new homes in the garden, focusing on the chamomile and calendula.
The Medicine Collective took students in PHAR 457: Pharmaceutical Care in Aboriginal Health and CONS 370: Aboriginal Forestry on medicine walks in the garden and led the students in the UBC Farm's Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture in a medicinal tea-making workshop to produce relaxation and cold teas. Meanwhile, the CRUW program held its staff orientation day and first day of programming with a group of new youth excited for a season in the garden. The Feast Bowl hosted the Tuesday Aboriginal Student Lunch at the UBC Longhouse and cooked a meal for over 130 students and community members while sharing information about the different Indigenous Programs at the UBC Farm, joined by members of the Tu'wusht Project. Students in EDCP 532: Theories and Dimensions of Place-Based Learning, LFS 350: Land, Food and Community II, and APBI 265: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems wrapped up projects with the garden that have been underway since January. Read on for more information about their great work below!
Check out our website and Facebook page for regular updates, photos, volunteer opportunities, and more.
March highlights
Upcoming workshops, volunteer opportunities, and deadlines
- Thursday April 2nd, 1:30-4:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Wednesday April 8th, 1:30-4:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Tuesday April 12th, 9:30AM-12:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Wednesday April 22nd, 1:30-4:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Wednesday April 29th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
- Wednesday May 27th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
- Wednesday June 24th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
- Wednesday July 29th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
How to volunteer for garden volunteer sessions: we work in the garden rain or shine, so come dressed for the weather. We have extra rain boots, gardening tools, and gloves to share. Bring a snack and water bottle - bring friends and family (of any age) too! No experience necessary. You will find us in the Indigenous Health Garden at the UBC Farm. The most up-to-date directions to the UBC Farm can be found here. Once at the Farm, you can follow the "Aboriginal Health Gardens" signs to find our garden here.
How to volunteer for the Feast Bowl: join us at the UBC First Nations Longhouse (1985 West Mall) any time after 10:00AM to help us cook, or 12:30PM to eat lunch with us. Extra help from any age or skill level is always appreciated, especially in the kitchen. If you can only join us for lunch, we encourage you to come anyway and we look forward to sharing a delicious meal with you!
Note: if you plan to bring a large group, please let us know ahead of time at hannah.lewis@ubc.ca.
Highlights from student projects this term: winter 2015
Each term we are excited to partner with different UBC courses for student projects that support our programs, foster creative new ideas to contribute to the work we do, and engage UBC students in hands-on learning outside the classroom. This past term, we had three exciting student projects connected to our programming.
Students in LFS 350: Land, Food, and Community II partnered with the Feast Bowl to work towards an online database of recipes from the past five years of Feast Bowl meals. Students participated in the February Feast Bowl meal, reviewed past newsletters, formatted recipes, and provided supplemental nutritional information. We are in the process of transferring these into a wiki on our website where you can access recipes from past meals and sort by season, ingredients, and dietary needs. Stay tuned for a link to this new resource, thanks to the hard work of these LFS students!
Meanwhile, a group of graduate students in EDCP 532: Theories and Dimensions of Place-Based Learning worked hard to develop a set of interactive activities and resources for youth in the Culturally Relevant Urban Wellness (CRUW) program. These activities and resources were designed to support the place-based learning that youth engage in while working in the Indigenous Health Research & Education Garden and include activities engaging youth's creativity, senses, identities, and problem solving.
Finally, a student in APBI 265: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems conducted research and provided a report about our garden and specifically the benefits and challenges of the cropping patterns and growing practices we use for our food and medicine plants. This project highlighted the unique environment of the UBC Farm as a community, teaching and research hub that brings many gifts to the work happening in our garden, while providing useful recommendations for our growing practices in the future.
Recipe from the March Feast Bowl meal: No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Cookies
These no-bake cookies flew off the tray at the March Feast Bowl meal, they were so delicious. The recipe was easy enough to duplicate that we made enough for 130 participants to enjoy them at the meal, without much trouble! A great dairy-free recipe, and with gluten-free oats it makes a great cookie for folks who don't eat gluten.
Ingredients
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or other dairy or non-dairy milk)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup almond butter (or other nut butter such as peanut butter)
2 cups oats
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, mix together agave and cocoa powder. Heat over medium heat until combined. Stir in almond milk and coconut oil and bring to a boil. Continue stirring and boil for one minute.
- Remove pan from heat and stir in almond butter, oats, coconut, vanilla extract, and salt.
- Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop cookies onto wax paper or a baking tray greased with coconut oil. Let the cookies set up for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator before serving. Store the cookies in an air-tight container in refrigerator for up to one week.
Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod.
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