St. Matthew's United Church

Garden White butterfly A month to the day since the We Are All Water Protectors Gathering, and Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan is filled with changes, as it is with gardens, always. The hot days followed by a full day of rain made a morning of work on our corner full of the pleasures of adding to beds already diverse with indigenous perennials and observing insects and other signs of animal life. Thank you to Toronto Nature Stewards for sharing plants from your greenhouse with us. So

Pollinator Week fun in the garden. Photo by Vanessa Barnes. "Pollinator Week is a time to raise awareness about Toronto’s wild pollinators," began Pollinate TO's Happy Pollinator Week message to the gardens this City of Toronto rewilding program supports. Gardens that support indigenous pollinator species are key to "supporting healthy and biodiverse ecosystems,' the message continues. "Toronto is home to one of the most diverse pollinator populations in Canada! These species

Watering is always a favourite activity. When Hippo School parents and caregivers came to pick up their children on May 19th, they were met with an entire Crew of gardeners removing the last remaining grass from the Children’s Garden. Construction in the school entranceway combined with electrical work by the city had left little behind along the railing, compromising the teaching and learning space. With the Tuesday morning Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan program moving into plantin

Preston Warberg and Cath Lofsky working to clean up the Noojimo'iwewin Gitigaan Garden. Tuesday’s chill didn’t keep the Hippo School children inside, but the Children’s Program Team did retreat to the Butterfly and Berry Garden in the laneway. The Team shared the story of Turtle Island, and gave thanks for the whole planet with puppets, movement, song, and chalk in the colours of the world. We honoured Muskrat, whose desire to help Skywoman at last brought Soil from the botto

April is Earth Month, and the flag that reminds us of the beauty and vulnerability of our planet is flying. On one side is the flag of the Anishnabek Nation, for the wisdom our Elder-in-Residence Dr. Catherine Brooks brings to us here. On the other is the flag that reminds us of lost children, but also of the hope for generations yet to come. Flag reminding us of lost children, Earth Month flag and flag of Anishnabek Nation in the garden Join us for the final workshop of We A

Brainstorming at the We Are All Water Protectors workshop . The We Are All Water Protectors Community Art Project continues to evolve The second We Are All Water Protectors community art-making workshop unfolded on March 27th at the Oakwood-Vaughan Oasis Centre for Healthy Aging, with the expert guidance of emerging artists h kryworuchko and Aysia Tse of tiny cultural centre. Hodgson Middle School students and Oasis Centre seniors were quick to respond to the prompt "What are

Two birch trees grow side by side outside Tollkeeper’s Cottage Museum on the corner of Gete-Onigaming--the portage route now known as Davenport Road--and Bathurst Street, planted by Mississaugas of the Credit and Community History Project (CHP) leadership when the Museum first opened. Indigenous and Settler people coming together in the spirit of Right Relations was felt again Saturday, February 28th, as little hands and big got busy around Reva-Marie Peters-Ackroyd’s Tea, Ba

We began at the curb in the St. Matt’s parking lot, where asphalt over degraded soil meets undulating paver bricks up to a side door and over into the Bracondale House courtyard. The first snow of the year had melted. We looked at the puddles, how water had pooled, seeking a way underground. We looked at the catch basin, barely visible under the back of an SUV. We looked up at the doors on which We Are All Water Protectors will be installed next May. tiny cultural centre foun

Beginning with a Body: Found just inside Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan’s entranceway garden, the pigeon had just begun to be plucked. Two parallel wounds on either side of the breastbone suggested powerful talons. On the back, identical wounds on either side of the spine. The strike had been from above and behind. The pigeon didn’t have a chance. I hadn’t found a body in the garden for some time, though I knew red-tail hawks hunted here. Our neighbour on Rushton Rd. had told us th

Soil. Sun. Water. Love. From spring to summer through autumn, the Hippo School children have learned all that our Plant Relatives need to grow. They have come to understand that plants offer gifts to us as humans, and to insects and other animals along the way. They’ve observed bees gathering pollen and butterflies nectaring in the Butterfly and Berry Garden. And they’ve found evidence of other animals harvesting, just as they do. Tuesday mornings in October have been all abo