While we continue to nurture our fruits and berries as part of our\u00a0community garden\u00a0and\u00a0storytelling\u00a0project, this year we made a conscious effort to expand on\u00a0herbs\u00a0and spices.\u00a0Sage, with its rich history and versatile uses, was naturally one of the main additions. It\u2019s been amazing to watch these plants settle into our expanded grow boxes and plots, bringing another layer of sensory experience to our hands-on learning at the\u00a0Land Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This summer at the\u00a0Land Lab, community members are diving into combining the\u00a0arts\u00a0with\u00a0sustainable agriculture. Our focus isn’t just on what we grow, but the stories behind it \u2013 how these plants connect us to the land and to\u00a0traditional knowledge. This year, we’re undertaking detailed\u00a0plant documentation\u00a0of a whole range of garden and\u00a0traditional plants, including herbs like sage, understanding their roles and histories. This work builds beautifully on last year’s pilot programming that was supported by Manitoba Agriculture and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, allowing us to cultivate community relationships and\u00a0nature connection. This ongoing\u00a0garden expansion\u00a0is key to our\u00a0environmental education\u00a0efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sage plants themselves are doing incredibly well. Their leaves have that distinctive bumpy texture and a beautiful, muted green colour that hints at their aromatic power. After a slow start, they’re growing stronger and bushy, clearly enjoying the sun and the care we’re giving them. This commitment is part of our broader\u00a0urban farming\u00a0initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adding sage to our collection feels significant. It\u2019s a plant often associated with healing, cleansing, and wisdom in many cultures, including Indigenous traditions. And in cultivating it, we’re not just adding another plant to our garden; we’re inviting conversations about its historical uses, its role in wellbeing, and its place in the diverse collection of plants that sustain us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond the tangible act of growing, the\u00a0Land Lab\u00a0supports our incubator program for creativity, deeply integrating with our media arts and storytelling initiatives. It’s a place where the rich narratives of the land become the subject. Through activities like oral history storytelling, we capture the diverse voices and traditional knowledge connected to these plants and this place. Artists engage in photography workshops, documenting the subtle beauty and growth cycles, turning everyday observations into compelling visual stories. This unique intersection of nature and creativity makes our Living Land Lab program one of the main hubs for our arts incubator program, supporting life long learning and creative expression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This summer we’re documenting garden and traditional plants while supporting community engagement on the land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,13],"tags":[559,503,165,199,236,239,288],"class_list":["post-46706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-garden","category-food-security","tag-food-innovation","tag-food-security","tag-manitoba","tag-northwestern-ontario","tag-sdg15","tag-sdg2","tag-winnipeg"],"yoast_head":"\n