On-the-land cultural restoration program in full bloom despite pandemic

The AlterEden Minogiin Gitiganis — Gardens Growing Well program interns created 72 Anishinabemowin wood cookies with names of boreal forest plants to be hung up in the Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School garden in Thunder Bay. – Photo supplied

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — AlterEden is looking to expand its Minogiin Gitiganis — Gardens Growing Well program to other communities after working with more than 60 invited youth at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School (DFC) in Thunder Bay.

“It’s an experiential on-the-land cultural restoration program currently located at DFC,” says Verlin Lloyd James, program coordinator and beekeeper with AlterEden and McDowell Lake citizen. “The basis is Native plants, so it’s emphasizing the importance and relevance and beauty of Native plants to the environment.”

The program includes seven interns, all McDowell Lake citizens, who have been gathering and sharing skills at DFC for about two years and are now sharing their skills virtually during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The DFC site includes two greenhouses and a garden with a variety of boreal forest plants, including sweetgrass, bearberry, wintergreen and tamarack.

“There hasn’t been any interruption at all from our programming from last year — the only exception is we’ve kept it to this pod [of interns] rather than inviting other youth participants,” says Gillian Leitch, designer with AlterEden. “So we’re offering virtual opportunities to the other participants.”

James says the program is about engaging with youth and providing them with the practical and theoretical aspects of working with plants.

“They are very interested in what we are doing,” James says. “It’s mostly hands-on practical applications that we’ve taught with them, like maintaining plants, maintaining the greenhouse, weeding, understanding its connection to nature, the fact that these are Native plants that you can’t really buy up in Thunder Bay.”

The AlterEden Minogiin Gitiganis — Gardens Growing Well program created two greenhouses and a garden with a variety of boreal forest plants at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay. – Photo supplied

Leitch says the interns have also developed skills in land restoration as well as cultural and traditional skills restoration. One of the projects they worked on during the pandemic was the creation of 72 Anishinaabemowin wood cookies with names of the plants to be hung up in the DFC garden.

“They’ve taken part in language classes and traditional teachings and they are creating a real vibrant space, gathering skills and identifying what they are uniquely interested in and skilled at,” Leitch says. “So they are now at a stage where they are really awesome peer ambassadors.”

Leitch says AlterEden is also looking to be invited to share the program in other communities. AlterEden has been sustaining places that feed the need for nature since 1999.

“We had a really great conversation with someone from [Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg] the other day and she saw the benefit of this kind of healing process for her own community,” Leitch says. “We customize our process to the community so it is always going to look different depending on what community we are engaged with because the needs and location will be different. It’s not a cookie-cutter process or program; it’s really customized to the community and to the land.”

James says the long-term goal for the program is about protecting the boreal forest.

“One aspect with allowing the youth to become very familiar with Native plants, especially boreal forest plants, is that they will be able to identify invasive species which in some cases have already been introduced,” James says. “If you drive from Vermilion Bay up to Red Lake [in northwestern Ontario], you will see a lot of invasive species along the route so it’s to prevent or curtail that when that does begin to happen.”

James says the on-the-land cultural restoration aspect is also tied in with environmental restoration, which would allow people to restore disrupted locations to their natural state.

Information about AlterEden, including contact information, is available online.