LFS:UBC Farm Audio Tour Aboriginal Hub

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This teaching, learning and research garden is coordinated by the Institute for Aboriginal Health at UBC. The IAH works to improve the health of Aboriginal peoples in a number of ways. This includes building relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and agencies, improving health education and Aboriginal research, working with B.C. communities to make sure that they are actively involved in advancing their health and wellness, and providing programs that will directly enhance health. Some of the initiatives run by the IAH include the Summer Science Cultural Program: a camp for Aboriginal youth interested in pursuing health science education, and the Aboriginal Health and Community Administration Certificate Program. In addition, the IAH facilitates tours for various groups throughout the summer who are interested in learning about the garden. The aim of the IAH garden is to serve educational and research needs related to indigenous food security while increasing knowledge and access to both traditional and non-traditional plants and herbs. This garden, as with the other indigenous plots at the Farm, operates under the belief that ‘food is medicine’ and thus that a holistic understanding of health and healing includes the food that we eat. Currently, the IAH is growing food plants—which include the three sisters, corn, beans and squash—as well as an expanding collection of native and non-native medicinal plants including tobacco, comfrey, mullein, wild rose, bergamot, columbine, valerian and yarrow. These plants are grown specifically to address three areas of Aboriginal health: cancer, diabetes and arthritis. Workshops on medicine-making are held with the guidance of elders, while ceremonies marking planting and harvest are a regular part of the IAH garden’s operation.

The IAH garden engages with visiting groups throughout the year, as a space for learning and engagement. These groups include camps, schools, and community groups engaging Aboriginal youth as well as local and international community-based researchers. Visiting groups take part in gardening, cooking, and interactive activities while learning teachings through oral histories. Many of these groups have been regular visitors and participants have built important personal relationships with the land.

Since July of 2010, the IAH has partnered with the First Nations House of Learning (the hub for Aboriginal students, faculty and staff at UBC) to hold a monthly community kitchen at the First Nations House of Learning Longhouse on campus, called the ‘Feast Bowl’. Participants of this free, public meal help harvest the produce from the IAH garden before cooking and eating it together at the Longhouse. Combined with interactive presentations and printed resources about Aboriginal health, this meal helps the UBC Aboriginal community develop skills in health, nutrition and growing, while providing a space for dialogue and community-building. The future of the IAH garden includes procuring, growing and harvesting a greater number of medicinal plants native to this region, dedicating more food crops to the monthly Feast Bowl meal, finding ways to make the garden a more engaging learning space (through the addition of informative signs, for example), and developing teaching resources for visiting groups. Collaboration with the Farm’s three other indigenous gardens has been central to the growth of this garden, and continues to be an important part of its future.