STORIES WOVEN THROUGH HARVEST

by Rainbow Kester

[This audio drama is designed to be experienced at the Food From Home Garden Site]

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  Hello. My name is Rainbow. I feel grateful that you are here, with me, right now. If it is safe to do so, sit down somewhere comfortable and close your eyes. If not, you can just stay still and lighten your focus. How are you feeling right now? Where is your breath?

Pause

What color do you feel like? What texture? Do you feel grounded? Perhaps you are floating? Or maybe you feel like you are traveling at a fast pace. Can you feel the earth as it supports you from below? However you feel, can you accept it? Accept yourself? Please try to accept the feelings you are experiencing right now. It’s just right now. I invite you to welcome your beginner’s mind to this adventure. Welcome your curiosity. Welcome your openness and eagerness. Good. Hello.

  If you are able to, can you stand up and begin exploring this space? Are you alone? Are there gardeners or other visitors today? Is there anything that you see that fascinates you? Perhaps something you’ve never noticed before? Try to be curious about your surroundings, and about what stories and histories have shaped this space. What do stories mean to you? A loved one, reading you a story at bedtime? The  novel you have been reading lately? / Or, do you think of your own story? I think of my dad coming up with bedtime stories that he would create off the top of his head for my brother and I. Here, at this gardening site, there are many stories. People from all over the world gather here, now. One harvester was born in Nepal and traveled to Canada to learn about the transfer of knowledge. Other harvesters came from Nigeria and now grow their own cultural foods in this space.

  In a time before colonization, this was the space where the Hodinöhsö:ni’ and Anishaabeg resided. Some still live here today. I am an Anishinaabe woman from Lake Temagami, Ontario, and I am now living in this sacred space where some of my ancestors lived.  Can you feel their energy, their stories? 

(Sounds of women laughing and wind blowing)

  The people who gather here co-create space and a sense of community that encourages newcomers and other settlers to embrace themselves, their culture, their strength and their resiliency. ‘Food from Home’ is a space where newcomers to Canada can share sacred knowledge and teachings with one another.

  It is a site made for comfort. Do you feel comforted? / Take a deep breath. Fresh, purified air is floating around and through you. There is a relationship between you and the plants and trees around you. Maybe you can smell blossoms from the nearby flowers; during the summer this space flourishes with color and vibrancy. If you’re listening during another season right now, can you visualize the harvest blossoms? The light tangerine petals of flowers that surround this gentle garden? Ripe red bell peppers are being twisted off of the stems that fed them. Bright Lights Swiss Chard is being illuminated by the sun, so vividly that it looks luminescent. Laughter.

a soundscape of the actions described above plays.

there’s a beat.

Time. You have time. Can you stand still for a while? How are you feeling? What color do you feel like now? What texture? / Take one headphone out and see what you can hear for a moment. If you’re comfortable I invite you to close your eyes and listen. 

A few beats

Lovely. Please put your headphone back in and keep exploring.

  Can you see the soil? Look at how rich it is. Get a closer look if you can. Ahh. A single teaspoon of soil has more living organisms than there are people on Earth. Without this biological diversity, there would be no life on our planet. It is all in this – right here. This rich soil. Can you smell the soil? This is what Earth has created. This is an organic ecosystem. Inside of soil there exists bacteria, natural decomposers of organic matter. These bacteria lock up nutrients close to the plant’s roots and feed these nutrients to the plant at the end of its life cycle. It’s an essential, intimate relationship. The plant’s roots provide the carbon that the fungus needs to grow, and in turn, the fungus provides water and nutrients to the plant’s roots that are beyond its reach. Another relationship. Called mycorrhizae. Soil is where life begins, making plant growth possible. The plant is further cared for with watering, positioning in the sun, and surrounding it with friends. And then, when the plant has received enough of the soil’s nutrients, it’s time for the plant to be harvested by the hands of the people who now gather here.

  This was once a space of genocide, of forced conforming, of cultural hatred. It is still a space that is scarred with trauma for many Indigenous peoples. It feels nice to see meaningful change and to know that there is a reconciliation taking place here, through new relationships. Do you see yourself in this relationship? If not, I invite you to think about your own relationship to this space, and in all spaces that you enter. How are you carrying yourself? Is it with grace? Is it with a beginner’s mind? I hope so.

  A secluded, yet inclusive space. Beautiful. Whole. Comforting. Encouraging. Sacred. This is what I feel when I am in this space. What do you feel? Speak it to the plants, to the air. Be a part of this relationship. It is important for us to voice our thankfulness to this space, and to this land. We are here because they are here.

  I invite you to take a moment to acknowledge how you are feeling right now.

a beat – ambient sounds

Beautiful. Thank you for being here. If there’s anyone else here today, maybe you can ask to hear their story and share yours with them; maybe you could form another relationship. It is up to you. I feel proud. I hope you can proceed with compassion and courage. Thank you.