Pedagogy

Gardens are art themselves. Where you plant, when you plant, and the species that you plant combine into a complex assemblage of interacting components. As gardner-artists, we can play with colour, texture, aromas, fuzzyness, and taste. We have been planting gardens as art forms for thousands of years. Just think of all of the types of gardens that exist: Italian, English country, Japanese, rock, rose, topiary, and of course kitchen - which is what this project is most interested in.

Pedagogy Questions: How does ongoing reflexivity through journalling influence our understanding and abilities to think deeply in artful, creative, and intuitive ways?

Garden Journal Activity (Do this right here and now!)

Harvesting from your garden is an amazing experience. Part of the experience of growing a garden is that of witnessing. Marking the change of your garden by sketching, drawing, and collecting leaves will help you understand the patterns occurring in your garden and provide you with an artful and creative experience. Creative journals have few boundaries, and thus you can paste leaves, smear mud or dirt, and press the journals against plants to get impressions.

Connecting your journal with the nature around you can help you experience nature more fully and have a keepsake that immediately takes you back to the moment you created that journal entry.

As you did with the field poetry, find a quiet spot in your garden. Select a piece of your garden (like a leaf, soil, or berry) to glue, smear, or imprint onto the paper. Draw arrows to label your piece and identify the species if you can.

Consider colouring your drawing. If you paint with watercolours, try to use water from your water supply, then there will be even more connection to place on your page. Provide context for your garden, draw a map of your garden and locate your plant on it. Also, write the day, month, year, and time.

Activity Questions: Other than humans, are there other animals that like the plant that you drew? (ex. aphids, slugs, birds, bees?). What time of day, month or season have you seen them? Is there any evidence of them passing through?