post

Hello from Norquay – Art in the Park

Reflections from the Sharing Garden

The signs in the Norquay Park Sharing Garden are up! As I mentioned in the last update, we’re so excited to see folks from around the neighbourhood take part in the humble harvest that our small garden in the middle of the park outpours for the community – definitely come by if you still haven’t checked it out.

It fills my tender heart to see the red, rosy cheeks of the raspberries smile back and lengthy arms of the beets and turnips stretching out across their bed when I go out for a morning watering session. This has become a highlight in my day as I begin to spend more time in the fieldhouse as more COVD-19 restrictions ease up. All so often, especially during this busy season for Fresh Roots, we can get tangled in the art of getting by. Like busy bees, we fly from site to site, pollinating the programs on our schoolyard farms, hoping to produce rich fruit within each camper or youth we have the pleasure of learning from. Moments like these, watering and harvesting, remind me to stop and take the time to celebrate what we have accomplished as a community and look ahead to what is to come.

There’s a lot to look forward to at Fresh Roots, including our Backyard Harvest Dinner with Friends in a few weeks, and you’re invited! I’m also hoping to provide updates to what you can expect in the garden to harvest next month, so stay tuned for that.

New FREE Family-friendly Drop-In Sessions!

Norquay has become the common ‘hive’ for many of our paths intersect, for both Fresh Roots staff and park goers. Perhaps you’ve wondered about our educational programs or wanted to find out more about what we’re all about. Introducing Fresh Roots’ newest addition to Norquay Park – Norquay Art in the Park!

Starting this Thursday, kids, families, and artists of all ages are welcomed to stop by our booth at Norquay Park by the playground for garden-focused arts and crafts straight from our Summer Camps! Led by Molly, one of our experiential learning experts from Camp Fresh Roots, get a taste of our educational schoolyard farms with a fun and creative environmentally-friendly activity that you can take home. This week, we will be making seed bombs!

For more information, follow along our posts on social media:

Norquay Art in the Park

Time: 10:45 AM to 12:45 PM

Where: Norquay Park (by the playground)

Admission: Free drop-in

Dates:

  • Thursday, July 29
  • Friday, August 6
  • Friday, August 13
  • Friday August 27
  • Friday, September 3
  • Friday September 10
  • Friday September 24

*COVID-19 precautions and practices will be followed to ensure the safety of all participants

Hope to see you there,

For the first Art in the Park!

Hello from Norquay,

 

Vivian

Seed Saving is Rad

Seed saving is rad and I mean that in the literal sense of radical, meaning something that relates to the fundamental nature of a thing. Seed saving is the act of collecting seeds, a plant’s reproductive material, directly from the plant as opposed to buying or procuring the seeds elsewhere. Last week I was collecting sweet pea seeds and I was reminded of how seed saving reconnects us to the fundamental nature of plants. It reminds me of the intelligent design of plants and the fact that plants can reproduce without human intervention.

My seed collection including seeds saved by hand, store bought seeds, and farm bought seeds.

Now, I’ll be frank, seed saving is no easy task. There are many steps to the process and oftentimes I find myself wondering if it is worth the the 4$ most packets of seeds cost. The process is different for fruits and for vegetables because one of the defining characteristics of fruits is that the seeds are collected from the fruit itself whereas for vegetables the seeds are collected from the plant from which the vegetable is harvested. For example, for apples the seeds must be taken from the core of the apple and left to dry whereas to harvest kale seeds, the plant from which the kale is cut must be left to flower and then from the flowers of the plant the seeds are collected. Depending on the priorities of the gardener, seed saving may or may not be cost-effective, however the power in seed saving is not necessarily saving money. The power of the act is experiencing the full life cycle of a plant and understand that it occurs independently of us even though we have inserted ourselves in the lifecycle of the plants we consume. This is yet another way we can understand where our food comes from.

 

Collecting seeds from the plant is an important reminder that like vegetables, seeds do not come from the store, but from the plant itself. The fundamental nature of plants is that they are completely independent. Photosynthesis allows them to produce their own food and sustain themselves from the beginning and although we may help them along the way sometimes by weeding around them or giving them a little extra water, seed-saving is a good reminder of the fundamental independence of plants.

Fireweed Seeds

Fruit vs. Vegetable: Summer Botany Edition

Originally, I was going to write a long, detailed article about a new type of squash I encountered in the garden, however in the midst of telling a friend about this idea we got into a discussion about the technical differences between fruits and vegetables. The answer surprised me. Sure, we’ve all heard about how a tomato is technically a fruit, usually from some know-it-all kid in elementary school who posed the question in such a way to embarrass anyone who didn’t know the answer. What this kid in elementary school probably didn’t tell you was why a tomato is a fruit.

Fruits develop from the flower of any plant, whereas vegetables are any other part of the plant; this usually means the leaves, stems or root. Working in the garden certainly helps with understanding how each plant grows, but just from shopping in the super market one can discern what is a fruit and what is a vegetable. Anything with a stem is probably a fruit. For example: peppers, both bell and hot, are fruits because they develop out of the flower of the plant, same goes for tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers, beans, and peas. Don’t worry; potatoes, carrots, kale, spinach, and broccoli are still vegetables. Rhubarb, although generally paired with fruits like strawberries, is technically a vegetable because the useful part of the plant is the stems.

These may seem like trivial botanical facts for plant nerds like myself, but thinking about which vegetables are botanically fruits forces us to reexamine our relationship to food. It mends the gap between our thinking about food and plants that plagues those of us that get the majority of our food from grocery stores. When you ask yourself whether what you are eating is a fruit or a vegetable, you’re asking about the plant it stems from (pun intended). This gets us thinking about our food in new and exciting ways.