After a disconnect of more than two years, the Better Beginnings Better Futures (BBBF) organization in Sudbury welcomed friends, neighbours and sunshine to its annual reopening of the Spirit Garden on Morin Street Saturday.
Jim Eshkawkogan, manager at BBBF, said it was a welcome event after the two-year "disconnect" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he was pleased to invite community members back.
"This is extra special with the intent to bring the community back together to reconnect with our friendships in our neighborhood and with our neighbors," Eshkawkogan said.
He said the Spirit Garden is more than a community garden for growing food.
"It is a place where we have the four sacred medicines of the Indigenous culture," he said. This includes tobacco, sage, cedar and sweetgrass, he said. Eshkawkogan also presided over a smudge ceremony for the group.
The garden also features several planting boxes where the BBBF members can grow vegetables and fruits including strawberries. But more than that, said Eshkawkogan, it is a place to grow knowledge for young people of the community. He said they get a sense of the importance of growing their own food and how they can contribute to their own food security.
"And culturally it is to promote our understanding of our connection with the natural world; to be thankful for the plants, thankful for Mother Earth for what she provides for us," he said.
Eshkawkogan also said much of the successful preparation of the garden boxes was due to the work of Curtis Maiangowi and Shane Carrier. He said it was a huge effort and was so appreciated.
Jeanette McQuabbie, part of the Indigenous led team at BBBF, said the annual opening of the garden was important because it helps connect young people with the idea of community gardening.
"It's very important to connect with young people because they're our future. We need to teach them while they're young, because children learn faster when they're young," McQuabbie said.
She said it was important not just to get children more connected with the land through community gardening, but to have them learn the environmental importance of taking care of it as well.
"So it's an important time to teach them when they're little you know the importance of taking care of the land, Mother Earth and our water to ensure that there's water and and land all for future generations. We're not doing that just for ourselves. We're doing it for future generations and looking forward to that and ensuring that they have a good future," she said.
