Free the Fern was invited to return for a second year to the Harvest Festival organized by South Vancouver Neighbourhood House and held outside David Thompson Secondary School. It was truly a lovely community event, with complimentary chili, hot chocolate, and treats for the kids. Plus lots of crafts, carnival games, educational booths, music, and tours of the Fresh Roots Market Garden.
4 Free the Fern volunteers came out to help run our Free the Fern booth and bookmark craft activity. To prepare for our craft, Free the Fern Executive Director, Grace Nombrado, had pressed a variety of native plant leaves, including: paper birch, vine maple, Indigenous plum, Western red cedar, and bracken fern. To make a bookmark, participants chose a piece of cardstock and tied a string of 3 beads on. Then they painted glue across the bookmark and added pressed leaves. The bookmarks turned out really lovely and captured the colours of fall.
In addition to the bookmarks, we had examples of native and invasive plants and shared about our stewardship effort through an educational poster. Children were also welcome to participate in a nature quiz, with a a candy prize.
All in all, in was a lovely, well run community event, with many locals participating. We hope to continue to participate at future Harvest Festivals in the years to come!