Earth Tending 2023
The Earth Tending program (core funded by Miziwe Biik) started its second year with nine eager Indigenous participants who began the six-week program with a traditional opening fire at the High Park Nature Centre on May 2, 2023. The program was Tuesday and Thursday with workshops, talks, hands on training, and all day trips. Each day was packed with introductions to green infrastructure, food sovereignty, conservation areas, plant and tree identification, farming, and biodiversity, to name a few. I had the pleasure of leading this year’s program with the support of my two colleagues and I continue to learn, embrace, and acquire knowledge from the participants and trainers of the various workshop days. It’s a reciprocal flowing circle between us all.
The opening Ceremony on the first day was facilitated by Gary Pritchard, member of Curve Lake First Nation and Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, which created a welcoming space through traditional feather introductions. We then proceeded on a turtle walk led by Carolynne Crawley of Msit No’kmaq and Turtle Protectors, learned the history of the lands of High Park, and teachings about the life within the park. Participants embarked on the beginning of their earth tending journey with wonderful ideas about potential future educational and employment opportunities. A respectful, fun, engaged group of trainees also enjoyed Sacred Water Teachings shared by Luana Harper Shirt (Indigenous Culture Educator), and expressed their eagerness for the following workshops to begin.
Friends of Allan Gardens and Garden Jane led popular workshops with talks and hands-on learning. We learned how to relocate various plants and herbs with shovels, enjoyed soil health talks, an intro to worm composting, making seedballs, and repotting Tobacco plants. As well, we were introduced to the basics of permaculture and had a tour of the tropical fruit, cacti plant life in the children’s place conservatory, which was delightful for our eyes.
Creating seedballs, with Garden Jane and Friends of Allan Gardens.
Presentations and tours from Landscape Ontario Horticulture Trades Association, City Forest and ACER (Association for Canadian Educational Resources) proved there’s more to the trees then we think we know, sharing information on tree care, street trees, bioretention and how and why soil cells are beneficial in infrastructure. All day trips to the Humber Arboretum and Centre for Urban Ecology, Ansnorveldt Park, and Kortright Centre for Conservation (and the Earth Rangers Centre) were some of the days where the participants felt they learned the most about the importance of trees and biodiversity, energy saving solutions, storm water management and the benefits of implementing green infrastructure. The ACER led training on tree identification and measuring was later supplemented by LEAF’s (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) tree and shrub planting workshop. STEP (Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program) shared information on green infrastructure, their maintenance, and how they can be used in stormwater management strategies.
Tree and shrub planting with LEAF.
We looked forward to different workshop and travel days, as our van excursions to various Greater Toronto Area’s conservation areas were filled with humorous conversations, good food, anticipated walks, and hikes that we all loved, and an appreciation for Mother Earth as we explored all her wonders. Other days were accessible by transit which entailed a hands-on day of working on an urban community farm at Flemington Community Farm (Flemo Farm) where we participated in learning about composting, weeding, transplanting seedlings, irrigation, fixing the drip tapes, and the overall workings and knowledge that goes into supporting a diverse community in creating food sovereignty.
Planting at Flemo Farm.
The participants learned about green vs gray infrastructure: some examples of grey infrastructure are pipes, drains, and retention ponds, which are constructed into designs. Green infrastructure is about implementing more nature-based infrastructure such as rain gardens, permeable paving, trees, and green roofs. ZinCo Canada and Next Level Stormwater Management educated us about various types of green roof systems which taught us that green roofs do more than just grow food. For example, extensive roofs assist in the cooling of environments and aid in biodiversity, and habitats. As well, they purify our air, reduce pollution, greenhouse gases and aid in stormwater control. There are also semi-intensive and intensive green roofs depending on what your needs are. We visited the Toronto Metropolitan University Urban Farm and were shown the traditional medicines and food production that they dedicate to Indigenous Foodways and Black Food Sovereignty Programs.
A hot sunny day was spent at Carrot Common (Danforth Ave.) where we were introduced to landscape design, architectural plans, drawing tools and how to draw to scale our creative green roof design ideas. The logistics that goes into urban planning, creating green/grey infrastructures to be built environmentally and sustainable for generations to come was intriguing, and the trainee’s interest in further training and schooling was seeded.
Tour of the Carrot Green Roof at Carrot Common.
Trainees enjoyed visiting Crawford Lake Conservation Area and seeing things like the Longhouse Village and learning about Traditional Knowledge and medicine.
Native plants and restoration ecology was covered at Native Plants in Claremont nursery and at Claremont Nature Centre. A wonderful potluck lunch was prepared for us all by the nursery staff, and they provided a tour of their operations, medicine garden, ravines, and how their greenhouse was set up with a filtered water system utilized by hand. The visit gave us a great overall understanding of how they run the nursery. We were gifted Sweetgrass and departed in gratitude of their warm welcoming and gracious hosting. An ecological walking tour of the conservation lands at Claremont Nature Centre led by a Toronto and Region Conservation Authority ecologist was refreshing and beautiful. We also learned that hundreds of needed restoration projects across Ontario are hindered by city budgets and staffing limits and that was eye opening.
Native Plants in Claremont nursery tour.
I had been listening to the trainees in our final weeks, and I heard words like, “connection, impactful, grounded, expansion of awareness, gratefulness, conscious, clarity, enrichment”, and “yes, I learned more than I thought I would,” and “this has been a great start on my green sustainability journey.” New friendships have been formed, old/new knowledge and awareness embraced, and for me, it’s been wonderful to see and know that this program is so valued, and inspirational to the trainees, trainers, and our team. The program during and after is like a spider web, always networking. Bumblebees are buzzing, water is flowing and step by step we walk in a good way towards a healthier and loving relationship with Mother Earth.
-Chii Miigwetch, Gwen Lane