Month: July 2019

Today was about the birds where we had the opportunity to hang out with Sam, a bird expert and learn about birds, their benefits to the environment, and their habitat. Birds and food go together, whether as pollinators, pest control, or providing soil nutrients bird poop. Saw some bushtits, crows (of course), starlings, and chickadees. Later spent the afternoon building swallow birdhouses to gift to Maplewood Flats Conservation Area which we will be visiting next week.

Got down to some work today in the Environmental Youth Alliance youth garden at the Cottonwood Gardens. Watered and weeded some of the veggie beds. Also harvested wonderful Mulberries from a large tree that we later used to make fruit leather. Meanwhile over in the Native Plant Demo Garden in Strathcona Gardens, we dug a hole to erect a tall bird perch and nesting pole. Much of the focus with this year’s Wild Minds is on birds and understanding the interrelationship between birds, plants, our food source and ecology in general.

It is fun to be running Wild Minds again this summer with the Environmental Youth Alliance and a wonderful group of 12 youth, many from Britannia School. The youth are quite engaged. First day is typically a bit of an orientation discussing what wild means and the benefits of rewinding urban spaces while also getting to know the many garden and food forest spaces at Strathcona Community Gardens and Cottonwood Community Garden where there is so much to explore, learn about, and taste. It was a special when we found a large patch of ripe salal berries to eat, especially since many of the youth had not eaten salal berries before. Wild Minds is largely about reconnecting with nature in the city, whether it be learning about native plants or birds, food growing and more. For starters the youth are learning to identify native plants and learn about their characteristics.