Sage, Sweetgrass, and Solitude: A Land-based Learning Experience with Green Thumbs Growing Kids

Our shed at Winnie.

On Valentine’s Day, 2023, I was hired as a Program Leader at Green Thumbs Growing Kids under a year-long contract. This was a great fresh start for me as I was just moving into my new apartment with my sister after living at a women’s transitional house for a few months. The time I had being a garden educator, integrating Anishinaabemowin with hands-on gardening programs was an experience I will always reminisce, I left with a full heart and great friends.

I had no experience working with children and youth, but I always wanted to be a mother. Children are curious beings that love to explore the great outdoors, their fearlessness grants them the ability that adults lack—one of which is holding insects that freak me out.

My average day consisted of following children through the gardens, watching them pick up worms, grubs, and snails—they would occasionally ask me to grab them some fruit too. Once red currants grew, I facilitated a workshop that allowed them to pick currants while being mindful of how much they are taking from the land. I shared teachings on sharing resources and only taking what you need, which I believe is crucial for brain development. With overconsumption on the rise, during an economy so cruel, it is important to know how to ethically harvest in today’s world.

Below the currant bush was lemongrass, students rubbed the plant in-between their fingers to smell the delicious fragrance that it had. They were in love with it, little interactions like this within the school gardens meant the world to them.

A cornhusk doll made during one of our workshops on Haudenosaunee traditions.

My job was enriched in cultural practices and intergenerational knowledge, being able to experience my teachings in real life alongside my coworkers was so healing for my spirit. We harvested and braided sweetgrass, made cornhusk dolls, and developed programs rich in culture and language. Together we were living the life our ancestors lived thousands of years before European contact, I felt as if I finally had belonging.