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August 2012
August 31st marks the last volunteer weeding day of the summer! The garden has seen a few changes over the course of the summer, including the new path constructed to the permanent interpretation sign, as well as some touch ups on the garden path with new shale.
JULY 2012
Children from the daycare have visited and have done activities with the garden throughout the summer.
On July 6th children from Ecology Camp for Kids visited the garden to come and learn about it as well as do some activities. Thank you everyone who has come out to learn about the garden!
JUNE 2012
This year’s Sowin’ Love event was attended by four school groups on June 12th. It was a successful day with warm weather and great activities. Guest speakers included Chet Neufeld from the Saskatchewan Native Plants Society, Shereen Kukha-Bryson and Adrianne Begg from Agriculture in the Classroom, speakers from Sci-Fi Science Camps, and Lennox Saunders from Meewasin Valley Authority.
AUGUST 2011 activities.
Thank you to everyone who came out, learned about Saskatchewan’s habitat, and had a lot of fun!
JULY 2011
Many thanks and appreciation to everyone who helped and participated in the Prairie Habitat Garden’s Barbeque on Tuesday July 12th! $162.61 was raised to provide a day in the garden for youth from Saskatoon’s Indian and Métis Friendship Centre. Thank you for coming, enjoying some good food, great company, and strengthening our community! Thank you to Angela Shindelka, Joan Wolf, and Meagan Guttormson, all of the College of Education, for helping to make this event a success.
Over the course of the month many children from the University of Saskatchewan’s Ecology Camps for Kids visited the garden. They got their hands dirty with some planting, learned about Saskatchewan’s habitat, explored the garden with magnifying glasses, and participated in scavenger hunts.
On July 28th youth from Saskatoon’s Indian and Métis Friendship Centre visited the Prairie Habitat Garden! Everyone had a wonderful time learning about the plants, searching for ant nests, and planting their very own sunflowers to take home. Thank you to Elders Walter and Maria Linklater for joining us and speaking with the group about the medicine wheel. Thank you to Jeff Baker of the College of Education for helping to make this event a success.
JUNE 2011
Thank you to everyone who came out for the staff and faculty picnic in the Prairie Habitat Garden on Thursday June 2nd! It was a great success with plenty of food, excellent conversation, and laughs.
This year’s Sowin’ Love Day of Learning on June 15th had an excellent turn out of four groups of school children from across Saskatoon. Guest speakers included Greg Fenty from the Saskatoon Zoo Society, Andrew Whiting of The Meewasin Valley Authority, Shereen Kukha-Bryson & Jessie Best from Agriculture in the Classroom, and Janet McVittie from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Education.
MAY 2011
Thank you to Chet Neufeld of the Saskatchewan Native Plant Society (NPSS) who donated seeds to the Prairie Habitat Garden along with plenty of teaching materials to give away and use throughout the summer!
We now have two new picnic tables in the Prairie Habitat Garden! Please feel free to use them at your leisure. Enjoy the sunshine, breeze, and habitat of your community! A big thank you to Andrea Crowdis of the College of Education for helping to paint, assemble, and transport them to the garden.
JULY 2010
Thank you to all volunteers who joined us in the garden for our Come and Go weeding days on May 27th, June 24th and July 22nd.
It is much appreciated and always great to extend this valuable resource to the community.
Our last Volunteer Weeding Day
Thursday August 12th from 11am to 6 pm.
Please RSVP garden coordinator Laurie at laurie.b@usask.ca
Snacks and refreshments will be provided.
JUNE 2010
Sowin' Love Days of Learning
June 1 and 8
Noon to 3 pm
Eight Elementary Schools will visit us this year to learn about Saskatchewan's Natural Habitat. They will take part in four different hands-on activities, which include guest speakers from the Saskatoon Zoo Society, Ecology Camps for Kids, Beaver Creek, and our very own Prairie Habitat Garden.
MAY 2010
Come and Go Volunteer Weeding Day
May 27 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
RSVP to lab457@mail.usask.ca
Refreshments, snacks and gardening tools will be available.
Come and Go Volunteer Weeding Day!
Prairie Habitat Garden Located by the west entrance of the Education building
Thursday July 30th Noon-7:00 pm
RSVP to mec120@mail.usask.ca to ensure we get enough snacks and juice for volunteers!
Bring your own gardening gloves.
Volunteer Gardening Days - throughout May-August
June 2, 2009 - Sowin' Love Event
Four elementary schools came to the Prairie Habitat Garden to participate in a number of events. In the garden, students did a bison stomp to plant grass seeds. The Saskatoon Zoo Society, Ecology Camp for Kids, and Beaver Creek all sent volunteers to do environmental sessions with the students.
June 10, 2009 - Dandelion Lunch on the Garden
A delicious lunch of fried dandelion blossoms, dandelion salad, and a root beverage was served in the garden! Participants received an informational brochure about the nutritional information of dandelions and their historical uses.
Dandelion Lunch Brochure (PDF)
June 15, 2009 - Pipe Ceremony with Elder Walter Linklater
Introductory Medicine Wheel (PDF)
Medicine Wheel Booklet (PDF)
May/June 2009
We have had 7 volunteers come through the garden so far this summer to help weed! Thank you volunteers for your time and energy-it is greatly appreciated.
AUGUST 2009
Thank you to the 18 volunteers who have spent time in the garden weeding this summer! It is greatly appreciated.
Please send us an email if you are still interested in weeding and watering the garden during the rest of the season!
Sowin’ Love – June 4, 2008
Third Annual Sowin’ Love. Students from a number of elementary schools will visit the garden to help plant grass in a buffalo stomp. Students will participate in a variety of activities, including the buffalo stomp and games with guest speakers. Teachers will be presented with information packages about how to incorporate lessons on gardening, the environment and Aboriginal uses of plants into their classrooms.
Volunteer Gardening Days – throughout May-August
Anyone interested in donating a morning(s) or afternoon(s) to keep the garden beautiful and free of weeds is certainly welcome and appreciated. Project coordinator Erin Birns is available to work with you in the garden Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, weather permitting. Please contact her for more information.
Addition of medicine wheel by Darcie Conway – ongoing throughout July-August
Outdoor Recognition Donor Pillar Unveiling – September 3, 2008
End of February: elementary school teachers and Sharla Scyrup met at the Department of Horticulture greenhouses to plant seeds. Teachers took their seeds home to nurture them with, first, four to eight weeks of cold, then four to six weeks of warm. Most prairie plants require a period of cold weather before they will germinate. The seeds for the Prairie Habitat Garden were left in the greenhouse in the cold room for eight weeks, then put on the heated greenhouse floor to germinate.
May 12, 2007: Let’s Chip It:Volunteers and College of Education and Facilities Management employees laid landscape fabric, and then shoveled wood chips into wheel barrows to cover the space between the College of Education building and the fence. This area was unsightly, not receiving enough sun or rain to produce any plants other than scraggly weeds. The fabric and wood chips should keep the weeds suppressed for several years.
May 23,2007: Community Stewardship: Ecoquest and the HUE club from Aden Bowman came to the garden to remove weeds prior to the College of Education hosting the annual Canadian Society for the Study of Education annual congress.
May 24, 2007: Planting of purchased plants: Darcie, Mel, and Janet planted bushes and forbes purchased from Prairie Originals in Winnipeg and the Little Tree Nursery in Martensville.
June 6, 2007: Second Annual Sowin’ Love. Students from six elementary schools will visit the garden to help plant seedlings. Students will participate in three activities: planting seedlings, building bird feeders, and learning about Aboriginal uses of plants.Teachers will learn about authentic assignments for students for gardening and the outdoors.
June 11, 2007: 9:30 a.m. Pipe Ceremony. Walter and Maria Linklater will hold a Pipe Ceremony in the garden.Male guests are requested to wear long pants and long sleeved shirts, and female guests, long skirts and long-sleeved shirts to show respect to the elders. Also, women who are on their moon time should not attend this ceremony.The Pipe Ceremony will help Maria and Walter understand the land, to help them hear where and how the Medicine Wheel should be constructed.
March 17th, 2006:The seeds were planted. Thank you to the volunteers from the College of Education and from the four elementary schools working with the Prairie Habitat Garden to establish native plant gardens of their own.
May 3rd, 2006: We received wood roses from Shand Greenhouse. These roses will be incorporated into the garden.May 10th, 2006: The sod was removed by Facilities Management on Wednesday May 10th, 2006.
May 12th, 2006: The path was dug out by Facilities Management on Friday, May 12th.
June 7th, 2006: Wednesday June 7th, 2006, was the Official Opening of the Prairie Habitat Garden. We celebrated this day by hosting "Diggin' with the Dean and "Rollin' Stones" where a Prairie Rose was planted and the red shale path was laid.
June 9th, 2006: Friday , June 9th,was dubbed "Sowin Love". During this event, the seedlings planted in March were transplanted to the garden. Four local elementary schools assisted us with the planting. During the afternoon, the students participated in building bird houses, learn about native plants with the Ecology Camp for Kids and delve into prairie animals with the assistance of the Saskatoon Zoo Society.