In honour of Indigneous History Month & Pride Month, Free the Fern hosted a free public event, BioDIVERSITY, on Saturday, June 22, 10am-1pm. It was held at the beautiful Douglas Fir Teaching Garden, which was recently designated a National Healing Forest for reconciliation. Approximately 40 local citizens gathered for this event beneath the Douglas Fir trees.
The event began at 10am with a blessing ceremony by Metis Herbalist, Lori Snyder.
At 10:15, Adrian Levesque, Indigenous Outreach Coordinator for Qmunity from the Cree nation, led a Two-Spirit History Talk.
We then took a break at 10:30-10:45am for mingling. Elder Marge Wylie of the Tl’azt’en nation shared her Bannock & Jam.
At 10:45am we gathered again for some nature journaling led by eco-artist, Joshua Ralph. Joshua also discussed “Queerness in Nature”. Plants, much like queerness, suggest new ways of being, living and loving. Plants can be bisexual, trans, asexual, hermaphorodite, agender, and gender fluid. They are other and in between. Queerness is the “norm” in the plant world.
We then took a nature walk through the Red Alder Trail and into Everett Crowley Park
At 12:15pm we returned to the Douglas Fir Teaching Garden for a complimentary vegan lunch catered by Chau Veggie.
It was so wonderful to be able to learn from so many amazing knowledge-sharers and within the beauty of our healing forest.
This event was made possible thanks to financial support from: Park People, Neighbourhood Small Grants, Miller’s Your Independent Grocer, and Qmunity.
In addition, we thank the Champlain Heights Starbucks for donating coffee for our event.
Special thanks to our amazing volunteers who helped with event set-up, fascilitation and clean-up: Antone, Catherine, Cole, Connor, Erin, Genevieve, Grace, Jeannine, Kiki, Liam, and Sylvia.