Family Day Fun at Terra Nova with Victory Gardens for Diversity!

What a glorious day we had for the launch of Victory Gardens for Diversity! Many thanks for the lovely time we had at the little red barn.

As we prepared the tables for some creative action, one honeybee from the Sharing Farm apiary was trying to be extra helpful.

One of the reasons I love collaborating is because I get to spend time with some of my favorite people: Lori Snyder, Jenn Pearson, Catherine Shapiro (in photos below) and Crystal Lee. Do check out their artist bios at the link on the right of this blog.

Using wind-fallen materials gathered by yours truly, we invited participants to create a "nest" or sculptural piece which would later be returned to the birds for them to use as nesting materials.

The "eggs" that you see were made out of playdough that Crystal Lee made with kitchen ingredients and dyed with carrots and beets!

There's the lovely Catherine Shapiro (on the front left) making her sculpture with our guests. Catherine is giving an artist talk at the library at VanDusen Gardens on April 15. Reservations recommended!

Lori Snyder suggested these nests could be attatched to an Alice band or ribbon and made into fascinators, which I think is an awesome idea!

The batting in the background is unbleached cotton. You can also put out human hair, string, yarn and raw wool for the birds, but make sure it is cut less that six inches in length so they don't get tangled in it. You can put materials out in a bowl, net bag, or suet feeder. Natural fibres are best.

Lori Snyder spoke about the important of making your own medicines from sustainable local sources. She has made her own incense from Christmas trees!

The fragrance of the powder used to create the incense was the essence of the forest itself!

Here's a peek at the barn owls I talked about on our tree walk.

Photo by Crystal Lee

Another honeybee came and visited the pot of rosehip tea Lori prepared for us!

Photo by Crystal Lee

Yours truly, Madame Beespeaker channeling Frieda Kahlo and Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus!

Lori Snyder is a member of the David Suzuki Butterfly Rangers and we'll be collaborating with them to add more butterfly habitat to the site!

Lori Snyder was separating medicinal milkweed seeds from their fluffy bits, so she gave us the chaff to add to the nests.

 

Participants also made impressions from the tree pieces with the natural play dough.

 We installed some of the nests in the nearby trellis. It was so cool to see everyone's unique creations!

Next, I lead a tree walk on the site, with the assistance of Lori Snyder, who always has amazing plant knowledge to share. We agree it's good medicine to hug a beautiful beech tree!

I hadn't noticed this fungus on the weeping birch in the archway on the west side of the farm. I'll have to ask Michael Griffith about that.

Pussywillows are blooming alongside the red osier dogwood!

The beaver lodge on the right is a formidable structure, but the inhabitants were being shy and hunkering away from human eyes.

Finally, leave it to the youngest person on our tree tour to discover a very cold bumblebee queen hunkered down in a purple crocus blossom! She'll have a drink of nectar and then find her spot under the ground to wait until it's warmer and there's more food available. You might keep some sugar dissolved in water (50/50) to feed queens that emerge prematurely.