GUELPH, Ont. — A community on Lake Huron’s eastern shoreline at the base of the Bruce Peninsula is looking to the past to move forward.
Gardening, including forest gardening, is part of an effort for renewal at the Saugeen First Nation, says project co-ordinator Gregg Root.
“What we’re trying to do is honour those traditions that are still alive. This project is a community effort to help with a lot of these problems we have,” Root said.
“This is basically about food sustainability and reclaiming our culture.”
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The effort began six years ago with the launch of a community garden.
Root was working as a labourer to grow vegetables, which are distributed to elders and other community members.
The experience brought back memories of when Root was guided, and occasionally prodded, into the right direction as a youngster by his mother.
“The first year with this program, something clicked; it woke up inside me,” he said.
“Everything she taught me began to come back.”
Summer students are now routinely employed in the garden with the idea that they build skill sets and pass on their knowledge to others in the community.
“In the past, everyone here had a garden,” Root said.
“We’re doing a lot of work with the community to let them know it’s safe to come out and embrace our traditions.”
Last year, as an extension of the community garden, the RED TREE (rural economic development through restorative environmental engagement) project was launched to reclaim a 10 acre location on the reserve.
Native trees, shrubs and herbs, including food plants, were planted as part of the pilot project.
Next year, there are plans for beekeeping, seed collecting, a greenhouse and an expansion of wild gathering for nutrition and healing. Gtigaan ki is the Ojibway term for tree garden, or forest garden.
Forest gardening, or wild gathering, is still practiced at the Saugeen First Nation, but in a small way.
Root said the RED TREE effort will be expanded to other parts of the reserve. The intent is to generate positive ecological and economic outcomes and perhaps catch the interest of other people living in the region.
The area is dominated by a patchwork of farm fields, but there are also many forested areas where a better understanding of the natural bounty, other than timber, could be encouraged.
Root has been working with Amanda Hutter, a student at Lakehead University and the project lead, along with other community members, including elder and storyteller Gene Petonaquot.
The project is supported by industry groups, educational institutions, farm and food organizations and the Saugeen First Nation.
