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In this newsletter:
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Highlights from early June
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Upcoming workshops, volunteer opportunities and date
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Introducing the new Indigenous Garden Hedgerow
The beginning of this hot, dry June has brought with it many visitors to the garden that remind us how far beyond the borders of UBC Farm our community extends! We are so grateful for everyone that makes time to visit us and share knowledge and teachings so generously.
In early June, the Feast Bowl cooked a delicious lunch from the garden for a visit organized by the Heart & Stroke Foundation where people coordinating garden projects in Indigenous communities across BC came together to learn about our garden and its projects and share their experiences. The Medicine Collective hosted a public salve-making workshop in which participants finished salves for cuts and bruises, pain, baby skin, and lip balm; the following week, the Collective led a group from the Vancouver Native Health Society in a medicine walk through the garden and a workshop producing a relaxation tea blend.
CRUW youth planted seeds in their gardens and learned about cedar weaving, while garden volunteers harvested lavender, mullein, st. john's wort, chamomile, and rose petals, started cabbage indoors, transplanted basil from the greenhouse, and planted lettuce, buckwheat cover crop, radishes, rutabagas, cucumbers, edamame, pole beans, and parsley. Garden volunteers also helped plant the last of the Indigenous Garden Hedgerow, newly established next to our garden; read below for more information.
Don't forget to check out our website and Facebook page for regular updates, photos, volunteer opportunities, and more.
Upcoming workshops and volunteer opportunities
- Thursday June 18th, 1:30-4:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Tuesday June 23rd, 9:30-12:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Wednesday June 24th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
- Tuesday June 30th, 9:30AM-12:30PM: Garden volunteer session
- Tuesday July 21st, 2:00-4:00PM: Tea Harvesting Medicine Workshop (space is limited, please RSVP to hannah.lewis@ubc.ca)
- Wednesday July 29th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
- Tuesday August 25th, 4:00-6:00PM: Tea Making Medicine Workshop (space is limited, please RSVP to hannah.lewis@ubc.ca)
- Wednesday August 26th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Farm
- Tuesday September 29th, 3:00-5:00PM: Tobacco Pipe Mix Making Medicine Workshop (space is limited, please RSVP to hannah.lewis@ubc.ca)
- Wednesday September 30th: Feast Bowl community meal at the UBC Longhouse
- Wednesday October 28th: 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) at or after 9:30AM to help us harvest or 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.
Introducing the new Indigenous Garden Hedgerow
 
Volunteers transplant medicine plants into the hedgerow; Evergreen and UBC Farm project partners show off the new sign which highlights plants found in the hedgerow.
In the past few weeks we finished transplanting the last of the native and medicinal plants into the Indigenous Garden Hedgerow, newly established next to our garden, and we are excited to watch it grow! Members of the Medicine Collective selected many of these plants including rose, saskatoon berry, yarrow, mullein, kinnickinick, rose root, and a few plants that have been established in other parts of the Farm to meet their specific habitat needs, such as devil's club, wild ginger, labrador tea, and blue camas.
This hedgerow will not only provide a greater variety of plants for us to work with for medicine workshops, but also a windbreak for the gardens and fields nearby, shelter and habitat for pollinators and other creatures, and improved air and water quality. Hedgerows are used in farming systems worldwide and can be found around UBC Farm at different stages of growth; to learn more about the other UBC Farm hedgerows, some of which are over 10 years old, visit the agroforestry website.
This hedgerow was established through the Building Biodiversity on the Urban Edge project at the UBC Farm, with support from Shifting Growth, the Environmental Youth Alliance, the UBC Farm, Environment Canada, the Indigenous Health Research & Education Garden, and Evergreen. Learn more about this project and its other deliverables here.
Come visit this new hedgerow and see the diverse plants within it for yourself!
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