#indigenousgardens — Public Fediverse posts

#ThunderBayON - City Spaces - Honouring Indigenous Space and Place

"The City of Thunder Bay is committed to honouring and celebrating Indigenous space and place. The Indigenous Relations and Inclusion Office will work to collaborate on new place-making initiatives and opportunities for welcoming spaces in the city to identify heritage recognition and honour history and culture by maintaining and enhancing existing spaces.

The #SpiritGarden

The Spirit Garden was built in collaboration with Indigenous and city partners through the Prince Arthur’s Landing development, which was completed in 2011. The Spirit Garden is a space to honour the history and cultures of Indigenous peoples in the city. The Circle is reflected in the overall design of the spaces to represent inclusiveness and bridging of worldviews.

The #HonouringCircle (#SacredFire)

On the shore of #Kitchigami (Big Ocean/Lake Superior) looking East with #Nanabijou (Sleeping Giant) on the horizon, the Honouring Circle maintains the vision of honouring #TurtleIsland through its configuring of stones surrounding the fire pit. The fire pit is also placed in the centre of the Medicine Wheel, to honour the teaching principles of the #Anishinaabe.

The #HonouringCircle is a place of contemplation, ceremony and contribution. The Anishinaabe have always recognized the geographic and cultural importance of this area.

The #CelebrationCircle (Outdoor Theatre) – Within The Spirit Garden

The form of the Celebration Circle is inspired by #RoyThomas’ concept for the space to pay homage to Turtle Island based on the Anishinaabe Creation Story. The site was designed in collaboration between Indigenous artist and architect #RyanGorrie of Thunder Bay and #BrookMcIlroy architects. Its form is inspired by traditional Anishinaabe bentwood building techniques using wood harvested by #IndigenousArtist #GeorgePrice and fabricated at #FortWilliamFirstNation.

The Circle symbolizes an '#inclusive circle' between all people and creation and is a way to honour the local Indigenous and Original Peoples of the land. It serves as a common ground – a spiritual place, a place of meditation and celebration gathering together all cultures. This space is embraced as a teaching and gathering space where stories can be shared from the perspective of the First Nations peoples who have lived on this shoreline for millennia.

St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School Memorial

Learn more about the St. Joseph’s Residential School Memorial site on the Doors Open Ontario website."

Learn more:
https://www.thunderbay.ca/en/city-hall/city-spaces.aspx#The-Spirit-Garden

#SolarPunkSunday #ThunderBay #IndigenousGardens #IndigenousCulture #IndigenousHistory #Earth4All #CulturalPreservation #HonoringIndigenousHistory

#IndigenousGardens in #Ontario

" #Indigenous gardens and other special places are designed for people to gather, learn, heal, reflect and celebrate the diverse and rich #FirstNations, #Inuit and #Métis cultures.

"From the banks of the St. Marys River in #SaultSainteMarie and #LakeSuperior in #ThunderBay to downtown #Toronto, learn about the important role of Indigenous gardens in honouring #IndigenousCulture and knowledge in Ontario.

"Traditional plants, including the four sacred medicines — #sage, #tobacco, #cedar and #sweetgrass — are often integral to Indigenous gardens.

- Sage is often used in smudging, where the smoke is washed over participants to cleanse away negative energy.
- Cedar is a protective medicine that can be used as cedar tea, cedar baths or hung in the home to guard against bad elements.
- Sweetgrass is a kindness medicine. It reminds us to be good to others, the world and ourselves.
- Tobacco is a relationship medicine offered to start things: before a harvest, before a hunt, before asking for assistance from an Elder or to start the day. It opens up communication and ushers in good energy.

"Learn more about Indigenous gardens in Ontario and their significance. This is a short list of the many Indigenous gardens across the province. Please respect these Indigenous spaces, as not all gardens are open to the public."

Learn more:
https://www.destinationontario.com/en-ca/articles/indigenous-gardens-ontario

#SolarPunkSunday #Canada #FirstNations #CulturalPreservation #TraditionalAgriculture #TraditionalMedicine #MedicinalPlants #IndigenousKnowledge

#Australia - Creating an #Indigenous plant-use #garden: harvesting

April 14, 2022, #LandCareAustralia

"The satisfaction of eating straight from the garden is one of life’s best learning experiences, however we need to be respectful and mindful to only harvest what we need to allow the plant to continue to thrive for generations to come.

This activity involves the assessment and mapping of local environments to create a successful and thriving Indigenous plant-use garden.

To understand local perspectives and support these activities, we recommend reaching out to the local #TraditionalOwners and #FirstNations peoples community groups who can assist in knowledge sharing and understanding local land, histories and culture. This is an important consideration to ensure that any reconciliation initiatives are being driven in a local, meaningful way.

This learning activity is the last part of a sequence of 6 individual learning activities focused on creating an Indigenous plant-use garden. The order of these learning activities are: resources from the bush, vision, plant list, site assessment, planting and harvesting.

Landcare is an amazing grass roots, volunteer movement that harnesses individuals and groups under the ethic of caring for the land. There are approximately 6,000 volunteer environmental group across Australia that fall under the Landcare umbrella. The movement focuses on the sustainable management of all of Australia's natural resource assets and encompasses individuals and groups across the whole landscape from coastal to urban and remote areas of Australia."

Watch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkZ6GRx2rZg

Full learning activity:
https://juniorlandcare.org.au/learning_activity/creating-an-indigenous-plant-use-garden-harvesting/

Landcare website:
https://landcareaustralia.org.au/

#SolarPunkSunday #HonorableHarvest #IndigenousAustralians #IndigenousGardens #IndigenousPlants #NativePlants