a The Learning Garden: August 2014

Friday, August 22, 2014

Thank you to Last Year's Visitors . . .

Okanagan middle school students and their teachers collected rocks for the Learning Garden spiral, planted garlic, and listened to the history of the First Nations fire-pit as told by Okanagan teacher Michael Marchand. The Learning Garden project continues in the tradition of its original mission and values, rooted in: maintaining authenticity as an experiential teaching and learning tool, cultivating caring community, using small grants well, and cultivating new crops of student volunteers. Thank you! Stay tuned as the Learning Garden continues. . . 








Thanks to teachers Mr Ryan Scorgie and Mme Michelle Hamilton!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

New Friends of the Learning Garden


Dear Friends of the Learning Garden,

We are so very grateful this week to Nurturing Nature of Lake Country BC for their donations of worm castings. This allows us to nurture our soil, and rehabilitate it after the past few years of displacement.  Yesterday The Learning Garden crew took a tour of Nurturing Nature.  Here is a photo of Darcy from Nurturing Nature and Angela, Learning Garden Manager . . . 




. . . dreams of worm castings dance in our heads! Imagine the possibilities. Now that we have live organic matter in our boxes, the soil's the limit. 

Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps.

― Henry David ThoreauWalking

Thank you, once again to our exceptionally dedicated, and patient, garden crew, and, our wonderfully generous donors. . . and Nurturing Nature, in particular.  Thanks for helping to inspire and promote true environmental awareness! 

In solidarity,

Veronica


In short, all good things are wild and free.

― Henry David ThoreauWalking

Work . .


Dear Friends of the Learning Garden, 

So much to report this week, where to begin? As we enter into the deep of August, let our first thoughts be for corn. Grown from fresh kernels nurtured by the sun.



Remember slipping and sliding up to the garden in days gone by? 
Remember rolling on the pebbles like it was a PNE ride? 

Well, thanks to Dewan and Kieran, we now have a much more user-friendly staircase. Check it out. Before . . .





. . .  and after! Let the good times roll! Great craftsmanship, guys.



We have maintained good, simple, spaces for thought. . . 


Strawberry plants planted . . . 



 Flowers growing . . .
 Tomatoes . . 


And Zuccinni flowers. . . great deep fried, or try Zuccinni cakes

 

So thankful for the beautiful August bounty and, the open-hearted crew, working alongside the lovely way of nature, letting her do her thing. 

Stay tuned . . . 

Veronica


Friday, August 01, 2014

Gratitude

Dear friends of the Learning Garden,

Summer's heating up in the Okanagan . . fortunately our excellent garden crew (Angela, Dewan and Kieran) have the skills and passion to nurture the life that grows there. There's corn growing, and kale, lettuce, herbs, peppers - and squash! More photos to come, so please stay tuned. 



Environmental degradation of our oceans and earth continues. . . and positive, life-giving choices need to be made about how we will co-exist and honour the life that we are a part of. 

As the Learning Garden quietly thrives, and sows the work now for Fall activities, it also seems like a good time now to pause and thank all of the students who have lent a helping hand over the past 8 (yes!) years!! A heart-felt thanks. Because of you, the UBCO campus has retained a bit of pine forest and green-space that includes: a pond, a First Nations fire pit, and a lovely little learning garden. The space brings peace to everyone on campus. 


Kieran and Dewan: You rock!



A poem about gratitude, connection and memory from Winston Abbott:

Let
me
remember
beyond forgetting
. . . 

that my life is not a solitary thing
it is a bit of the rushing tide
a leaf of the bending tree
a kernel of grain the golden wheat fields
a whisper of wind about the mountaintop
a reflection of sunlight upon the shining waters

it is fleeting

it is of the moment

it is timeless

it is of eternity.
-Winston O. Abbott


Merci.

Veronica Gaylie