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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

I find myself deeply connecting with Indigenous wisdom as well. I'm slowly working on cultivating variety in our gardens at home so that we can harvest some of our own food, herbs, and flowers. It's a slow process here at the beginning but I'm looking forward to being able to sharing that experience with my kids.

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Aleesha Neal's avatar

Love it! What kinds of things are you learning to grow in your area? Did you grow up gardening?

We bought a house 2.5 years ago in a part of our town that has huge lots, and our garden has been a wonderful experiment/learning curve/bonding activity with our kids and even dayhome kids. Next year I want to add more pollinator spaces and take out more grass!

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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

I did a bit of gardening with my parents - not the most consistent, but some vegetables and flowers at different times. We have a raised bed that was left by the previous homeowners that we're about to prep for spring to start some vegetables, and I've got a variety of flower seeds for a little tiered garden area. I got a few transplants from a friend this year, one of which is a rose of Sharon that we're going to put in the front yard. We're planning to add two fruit trees in the spring, which I'm really excited about, and I'm looking forward to adding more pollinator friendly plants as well. I also am hoping to remove a lot of grass space and use it for indigenous plants.

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Aleesha Neal's avatar

We’ve added 2 fruit trees and a hazelnut tree to our front yard as well, and some haskap bushes (a type of berry that’s like a blueberry, raspberry, and Saskatoon all in one). What zone is your area? We’re in zone 3 here, so it’s hard to find fruits that work!

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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

We seem to be on the cusp. I've seen maps where we fall into either 5 or 6.

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Aleesha Neal's avatar

I hope that means you have a lot more good options :)

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A. Wilder Westgate's avatar

We've definitely got at least a few! I'm leaning toward peaches, but I want to look into it more.

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