On Tuesday, March 25, 2024, Squamish carver, John Spence, and his son, Koda, arrived in Champlain Heights to begin the process of carving cedars into a healing circle in the Douglas Fir Teaching Garden, South Vancouver. This carving project is part of our Healing Forest… Read More »Harvesting Cedar for Carving- March 25, 2024
Today we were honoured to welcome master cedar weaver and natural dyer, Rita Kompst, of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nation to lead a cedar bracelet weaving workshop. 15 participants joined this very healing workshop. Rita shared how she began to weave 10 years ago after the… Read More »Cedar Bracelet Weaving Workshop – March 16, 2024
Despite forecast of rain or snow, we were blessed with bright beams of sunlight shining through the Douglas fir trees. 16 amazing volunteers came out to help along the Red Alder Trail for our monthly invasive pull, including 5 volunteers from Wild Outside. Together, we removed… Read More »Invasive Pull – March 2, 2024
Today we were honoured to partner with artist, Marisa Pahl, to run a Douglas Fir Watercolour Workshop. 12 participants attended the workshop made possible thanks to funding from Park People. Each participant were supplied with travel paint swatches from Beam Paints, handcrafted in M’Chigeeng First… Read More »Douglas Fir Watercolour Workshop – Feb 24, 2024
We had a wonderful Invasive Pull today on Saturday, Feb 3, 2024. 20 volunteers came out (6 for their first time) to help with invasive removal. Recently, more youth have been coming out to volunteer with Free the Fern. Today, we were happy have 5… Read More »Invasive Pull – Feb 3, 2024
Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming BCIT Forest Resources faculty, Julia Alards-Tomalin for a Buds, Branches, & Bark Walk. Julia, along with her students, have been doing groundbreaking work with identify native plants in Winter. The third edition of their work, Buds, Branches &… Read More »Buds, Branches, & Bark Walk – January 20, 2024
Three years ago, on January 15, 2021, a windstorm had blown through the area of Champlain Heights. Large branches were down in the streets and the surrounding trails. Grace Nombrado decided to go out out behind Kinross Creek Co-op where she lived, along the Red… Read More »Happy 3rd Year Anniversary!
After several days of heavy rain, we were blessed with a bright, crisp, cool day. The sun shone down through the Douglas Fir trees as 17 volunteers gathered on the Red Alder Trail for our first invasive pull of 2024. We focused our efforts just… Read More »Invasive Pull – January 6, 2024
On Sunday, Dec 17, 2023 we celebrated our third annual Light up the Night in Champlain Heights event! This year we had 11 local artists collaborating to create beautiful lanterns for the festival. A month prior to the event, Lead Artist, Joshua Ralph, led an… Read More »Light up the Night in Champlain Heights – Dec 17, 2023
Today we had a busy day full of lantern building! We began the morning with a Globe Lantern Workshop from 10am-12pm. It was led by Artist, Kiki Nombrado. 9 participants joined in for the free workshop. Kiki taught the technique of creating a lantern using… Read More »Globe & Jar Lantern Workshops – Dec 9, 2023