Gratitude for the Earth's Abundance
Twenty people gathered around the Sacred Fire on Sunday, September 20th, to welcome the Fall Equinox in Ceremony with Elder-in-Residence Peduhbun Migizi Kwe/Dr. Catherine Brooks. We were honoured to be part of Toronto Urban Agriculture Week 2026 as we prayed gratitude for the Land's abundance and were taught that equal days and nights remind us to seek balance in our own lives.
We say we grow more conversations than food (at least for humans) in Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan. Some of those conversations have taken place this season with the children of the Hippo Nursery School who visit with their caregivers every Tuesday morning. The children tapped Maple once the Thunderers spoke, and sowed wheat, rye, and amaranth once the soil warmed, otherwise known as "Growing Cookies." Each class had their own bucket potato patch: last week, they harvested 91 potatoes to eat with lunch.
Our Crew harvests weekly for The Stop Wychwood Open Door: small baskets of greens, garlic, wild leek, miniature tomatoes and cucumbers, herbs, berries, and flowers. The EcoConscious Cooks program learned about some unfamiliar edibles: cut and come again plants such as red orach and Oaxaca amaranth, nasturtium leaf and flower, the miniature cucumber known as a "mouse melon."
From young to old, we all learn to offer Tobacco in gratitude when we harvest, and say "Chi Miigwech!, Chi Miigwech!, Chi Miigwech!, Chi Miigwech!" to the Four Directions and to Creator, as Elder Catherine and Elder Mary Lou have taught us.
Comments