For those who weren’t there, we had a marvelous tour of some of the re-indigenized orphan lands, with the plant medicines and food plants arranged according to the teachings of the elders. We learned how families from the Indigenous community are adopting lands and working in relationship to maintain their adopted area for the generations to come. We also learned about the sophisticated technology traditional of the mounds for the three sisters companion planting that predate permaculture by thousands of years.
We also shared some delicious food provided by the participants, and we danced, sang and told stories around the fire. Special thanks to Kevin and Doug who organized, to the Indigenous community members who tended the lands, and to Moyo and his son for the beautiful African music.
This month, we will continue the experiential path we have embarked upon. On July 27th we will have the opportunity to work alongside the NKG group to experience and learn together in our evolving connection with all creation. We’ll have a chance to get to know each other and the place, tell a few jokes, listen to the land, make ourselves useful. There’s lots to see and learn together.
Come out and help when you can get there (we’ll start about 4, but even if people come at 6 that will help) until 7 or 7:30, then we’ll share a meal.
Wear long pants and shoes with socks, as there’s some poison ivy and worse…
Wednesday July 27, 101 Emmett Ave (directions below)
4-7 pm: digging, conversing, planting, joking, listening, getting to know each other.
7:30-9:30 pm: Potluck Picnic and Circle
$15 suggested donation to cover travel and other expenses of our guest hosts.
Students/unwaged PWYC. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Please bring:
- your own plate, cup and utensils
- a potluck picnic dish to share
- lawn chair and/or blanket if possible
*The Emmett Avenue Communal Garden is a cooperative venture involving NKG, the Black Farmers Collective, the Afrocentric School collective, Social Planning Toronto, City of Toronto Parks and Recreation, and communal garden volunteers. Grown communally rather than in individual plots, the garden is used for sustainable food production and distributed to low income families as a contribution to food justice. NKG have been reclaiming the area in an around the Humber (Tanaouate) River, including in this Garden, restoring indigenous responsibilities to the land and water, and supporting indigenous cultural learning on the land in the city. They are growing Three Sisters mounds (corn, beans and squash), a sophisticated and sustainable system that will provide long-term fertility and a healthy diet, in a generational project that will see families taking up responsibility for the mounds for Seven Generations.
"Indigenize or Die" is honoured and excited to be building a collaborative relationship with these front-line warriors who are on the ground, doing the re-indigenizing work about which we have been dialoguing.