Environmental Youth Alliance
500-610 Main St V6A 2V3 Vancouver, BC, Canada

Roots & Shoots Interns just finished up their 7th week on the ground! The interns finalized their garden design plan for the restoration project near our greenhouse and presented it to the Program Sites Manager, Marika. We also applied our soil knowledge to start prepping the restoration site for planting. Roots & Shoots had a workshop on food plants and planted salmonberry and sweetgrass in our Youth Garden. Our employability workshops were focussed on financial literacy an...d navigating job searching. We had fun building out our budgets, understanding job descriptions, and managing our mindsets with these skills. We also continue to grow our environmental education skills and had a workshop on understanding the learning cycle, facilitation styles, and writing lesson plans all in preparation for our workshops coming up! Big thanks again to @esdc.edsc and @ahmeddhussen for funding this unique career development opportunity for our youth and @redfoxsociety for partnering with us

The land guardians program with @unyayouyh is back together after a restorative spring break. We welcomed in April by starting the first step of making deer hide rattles, which we will let dry so we can finish them next week! We also made skits to teach ourselves about different components of an honourable harvest, such as offering tobacco, and sharing medicine with our community! Metis herbalist and educator Lori Snyder @earthandcompany shared her time with us and shared her plant teachings and guidance of how we can relate to and interact with these lands! We are so grateful to all of our youth for the time, love and energy they put into our garden spaces, and to our funders @lawsonfoundation, @greenestcity @cityofvancouver, @GCIndigenous, @WildlifeHCanada

Biodiversity boosting GIVEAWAY alert! To celebrate next week's launch of our annual Native Plant Fundraiser we have three exciting prizes available for three lucky winners! 1st Prize: Almost-ready-to-hatch blue orchard mason bee cocoons, plus a cavity-nesting bee hotel to support native leafcutter bees, mason bees and wool carder bees!... 2nd Prize: a bundle of 10 youth-grown native plants! 3rd Prize: a $25 giftcard at Nada Grocery! To enter, sign up to our newsletter* at eya.ca/signup. *Already signed up? Email [email protected] with Giveaway in the subject. T&C - Open until April 7th, 10pm. Winner will be contacted by email on April 8th. - Winner of the bee hotel and cocoons must be available to pick up from Strathcona Community Gardens, Vancouver, BC before April 30 (before the bee hatches), live somewhere with spring flowering plants nearby (e.g. cherry tree, Oregon grape, flowering currants, etc), and have a ledge or post at least 1m off the ground, and facing the morning sun (east or southeast) to place the hotel. - Winner of the plant bundles must be available to pick up from Strathcona Community Gardens, Vancouver, BC in early May. #giveaway #restoretheearth #givenature #nature #environmentalleaders #youthleadership #fundraising #campaign #vancouver #eastvan #DTES #biodiversity #climatecrisis #habitatrestoration #yvr #supportlocal #BIPOC #environmentaljustice #strathcona #communitygardens #gardening #habitat #generosity #education #outdoored #nativeplants #youth #pollinators #conservation

The Seed Generation Youth had a day full of harvesting and supporting our plants in the nursery this past weekend. The youth harvested Stinging Nettle in the Youth Garden that we will use in a tea blend later this spring. We also harvested dead nettle & lemon balm for fresh tea to enjoy on the cool spring day. The youth cared for and learned about camas and thimbleberry through potting them up in our nursery, we are so excited to see the plant babies grow! Thank you Seed Ge...n for another awesome day of connecting with each other and the land. Thank you to our amazing program partner @redfoxsociety. The Seed Generation Program, a program based in community volunteering, is generously supported by our program supporters, community funders, and program donors @esdc.edsc @ahmeddhussen. Thank you so much to everyone supporting this program! #rewild #natureinthecity #pollinators #wildlife #greenestcity #strathconagardens #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #veryvancouver #dailyhivevan #vancouverisawesome

Our friends at Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House are hiring an Urban Farm Project Manager! 5 month contract / 21 hours per week / $20 - $22 per hour. Apply by April 15th. https://workinnonprofits.ca/jobs/view/69662/

Today’s two Native Plant Nursery Programs worked really hard through wind and rain! We explored big ideas as we delved into the world of seeds! We also worked with beautiful evergreen huckleberry and coastal strawberry...just two of the many plants that are part of the restoration projects these youth are part of. A huge thank you to one of our generous funders, Wildlife Habitat Canada, for helping youth play a central role in environmental restoration. They are the future! #vancouver #ecologicalrestoration #vancouverparks #vancouverparksboard #eastvancouver #youthleadership

Our Roots & Shoots interns are just finishing up their second week! Over the weekend, our interns helped support a few of our nature stewards programs and will continue to do so every Saturday until the end of our land-based sessions! On Tuesday, our interns visited Still Creek for a Native Plant IDing workshop and some weeding of the native flower meadow at Copley Orchard. We also had a very awesome workshop on Honourable Harvest, where learned protocols such as asking for ...consent and leaving some for others. They got to practice these protocols while harvesting blue spruce for tea. Additionally, we had a social media marketing workshop (look out for intern photo features on our social media in the future!) Finally, we worked on our teamwork with some fun teambuilding exercises which involved being blindfolded, effective communication and working through some intense survival scenarios. Good job this week team! Big thanks again to Employment and Social Development Canada and Ahmed Hussen for funding this unique career development opportunity for our youth and Red Fox Society for partnering with us

This past weekend the Seed Generation Program, an EYA and @redfoxsociety partnership, welcomed 16 new youth to our spring cohort! We are so excited to start this community service project with such talented and dedicated youth. Swalklanexw Dallas Guss from the Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations welcomed our program with a song and with words to empower the youth to connect with the land. During the day we learned to identify and harvest blue spruce & pine for an immune boost...ing tea to warm us up and we also made seed bombs to plant native wildflowers in the city. The youth met two new plant relations - Kinnikinnick and Salal - and were introduced to their identification, ecology, and traditional uses. Thank you to everyone who helped make this awesome welcome day happen! Thank you to our amazing and generous program funders @esdc.edsc @ahmeddhussen and individual donors and community supporters. #rewild #natureinthecity #pollinators #wildlife #greenestcity #strathconagardens #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #veryvancouver #dailyhivevan #vancouverisawesome #vancity #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #environmentalyouthalliance #youthleadership #nativeplants #wildlifegardens #natureinthecity #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #vancouverparks #eastvancouver #eastvan #stillcreek

After months of preparation, countless emails and dozens of phone calls, we are so so happy to finally start meeting the youth in our spring Nature Stewards programs! Today marks the launch of a new program called Rewilding Still Creek. For Day 1, we landed at the Strathcona Community Garden and met one another, as well as a few of the plant relations around us. Next week, we'll begin our restoration adventures at Still Creek! We are very grateful to our supporters and funders whose support allows us to continue this work. Thank you CLICK - Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids and Johansen-Larsen Foundation. #environmentalyouthalliance #vancouverparks #eastvancouver

Our third cohort of Roots & Shoots interns just finished their first week! We are so excited to welcome 6 new interns to our third round of program. This week, our interns were welcomed to the program with drumming, round dancing and an introduction to the garden. Next, they received their health and safety training and peer mentorship training as they will be helping support our EYA Staff with our nature stewards programs on Saturday. Our interns also got some online digi...tal literacy training with using google drive in a professional setting. On Friday, one of our program coordinators Hailey, led a beading workshop. They got their hands dirty with some weeding in our rewilding area in Strathcona park. In the afternoon, they learned about protocol & accountability to nations & space. We look forward to sharing more of their land-based sessions over the next 10 weeks! Big thanks again to Employment and Social Development Canada and Ahmed Hussen for funding this unique career development opportunity for our youth and Red Fox Society for partnering with us

We’re so excited to introduce our new Program Assistant, Mya Bordeau. Welcome to the EYA team, Mya! Mya is part of the Squamish people on her mother’s side, she also has Mohawk ancestry with the Iroquois Confederacy of the eastern door, on her father’s side. She was born in North Vancouver on Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, Stolo, and Squamish peoples’ traditional territories and grew up on the Xwemelch’stn Uxumixw (Capilano Village/reserve) in West Vancouver and is currently ...living there now. Mya was enrolled in the Roots and Shoots youth program including a 12 week training and 10 week work placement at EYA. Through the program she was thrilled to develop environmental job skills like native plant horticulture, medicinal plant knowledge, ecological restoration, teaching and facilitation. Mya is anxious to share her culture and teachings! She also likes to spend her time with family, doing sewing projects and practicing pow wow dancing, hopefully to dance and travel to powwows again. Pronouns: She/Her

The native plants seeded and re-potted by the amazing youth in our fall programs are growing fast and will soon be ready to be gifted to local community groups and schools, and sent out to backyards and balconies through our spring fundraiser. Keep an eye out for more exciting details coming soon!

Seed Generation went virtual this past weekend for a cozy day of learning and connecting! The youth had a dialogue about our preconceptions of 'weeds' and what it means to reimagine and decolonize our ideas of these plants and how to reframe them as very accessible medicines. We talked in depth about commonly under-appreciated medicines such as red clover, dandelion and chickweed, and ways that we can decolonize and have more localized diets in consuming these. We also playe...d trivia to distinguish native species versus invasive species, using some common plants in these territories. Thank you to @redfoxsociety for being an amazing partner on this program. We also want to thank our generous program and community funders for making this program possible @esdc.edsc @ahmeddhussen. #rewild #natureinthecity #pollinators #wildlife #greenestcity #strathconagardens #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #veryvancouver #dailyhivevan #vancouverisawesome #vancity #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #environmentalyouthalliance #youthleadership #nativeplants #wildlifegardens #natureinthecity #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #vancouverparks #eastvancouver #eastvan #stillcreek

Our final session of the fall Plants & People program, run in collaboration with Afro Van Connect, took place this week! We celebrated our time together, and expressed our gratitude for the many friends and knowledge keepers who helped us safely learn together in these unprecedented times. Our adventures invited us to see nature in new ways. From invasive removal to weaving, potting up seedlings to medicine-making, we explored concepts and learnt practical skills to help us s...upport the native ecology of this land. We learnt to see the many ways nature also nourishes us...providing food, medicine, and fibre. Plants and people have been bound together since our earliest days. With these experiences, we can continue strengthening that vital relationship, which is the foundation of all environmental leadership. These youth are a gift to the community, and we feel so blessed to be learning with them! Thank you to these incredible friends who visited and enriched our program: Elder Sharon and Natasha, Fatima of Ango Natural Food, Emma and Sierra from Still Moon Arts Society, and Stephanie from Mim’s Farm. To our funders, CLICK - Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids and Johansen-Larsen Foundation we are so grateful for your ongoing support. #strathcona #vancouverbc #ecology #youthleadership #vancouverparksboard

A sneak peak at what’s been happening in our Wild Mind field trips in the past couple of weeks. We’ve been investigating native plants in Rainbow’s Meadow, making seed bombs, learning about potting up baby plants and what they need to grow into healthy, strong adult plants. #experientiallearning #fieldtrips #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #metrovancouver #cityofvancouver #explorevancouver #iliveineastvan Thank you to BC Minister of Environment George Heyman for supporting land-based education during a time when outdoor learning is so important.

During our fifth gatherings of Land Guardians, our Genesis South, @unyayouth Aries & Cedar Walk youth immersed their hearts in mystery & rememberance, and their (gloved!) hands in life-giving soil & medicines, and With All Hallows Eve, the Full Moon, and Dia de Muertos very near, we hosted Anishnabe Elder Sharon and her niece Natasha, a gifted singer and dancer. They guided us through prayer & ceremony, shared a frightening legend filled with monsters and mosquitos, and ...finally, created space for us to honour those we have lost From plant medicines harvested in earlier weeks, we prepared (with love) a vibrant Cold & Flu tea blend, that included Rose Hips, Yarrow, Pearly Everlasting and Sumac. Outside of EYA's Native Plant Nursery, we potted up a gathering of Sword Fern and Yarrow, both living medicines that will be gifted to the community in our giveways next Spring. Thank you to Vancouver's Greenest City Initiative, City of Vancouver - Local Government and The Lawson Foundation for supporting our youth to engage in this work of cultural, heart-centred, community-level reciprocity! #environmentalyouthalliance #unyayouth #indigenousyouth #youth #ceremony #culturalknowledge #diademuertos #allhallowseve #nativeplants #plantmedicine #communitylove #reciprocity #eastvan #rewild #natureinthecity #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverisawesome

The Seed Generation Youth this past weekend experienced a land based decolonization workshop with Kim Haxton at the beautiful Renfrew Ravine. Kim Haxton lead us through incredibly connecting and reflective activities to begin to decolonize our minds and spaces - and we are so grateful for her presence and knowledge in our program. We also put some roots in the ground and planted oregon grape and red osier dogwood - two native plants that will help support the local habitat of... Still Creek. We are feeling so grateful for our youth and the wonderful knowledge keepers and guests that join us on our Seed Generation journey. Thank you to our amazing partners on this program @redfoxsociety. We also want to give a huge thank you to our community supporters of Seed Generation and partners at Still Creek - @esdc.edsc @ahmeddhussen @stillmoonarts @sitkafoundation @patagoniavancouver. #rewild #natureinthecity #pollinators #wildlife #greenestcity #strathconagardens #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #veryvancouver #dailyhivevan #vancouverisawesome #vancity #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #environmentalyouthalliance #youthleadership #nativeplants #wildlifegardens #natureinthecity #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #vancouverparks #eastvancouver #eastvan #stillcreek

7th week of the Native Plant Nursery program and we are so grateful to be outside and learning with our cohorts again. We took a week off and it’s doing our hearts, bodies and minds good to be back outside with everyone. Today we potted up over 250+ native plants, including sword fern, maidenhair fern and deer fern. We are excited for the communities that will be receiving these plants in the springtime as part of our plant give-aways! Also check out the lupin babies we started over a month ago in the nursery. They grow up so fast #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #metrovancouver #cityofvancouver #explorevancouver #iliveineastvan Thank you to Patagonia for supporting our work with native plants to build wildlife corridors in our urban ecology.

Where would we be without plants? That's a big question we are exploring with our Plants & People youth, as we deepen our connection with these relations! This week we had the opportunity to see how plants gift us with materials we can weave with! It was a magical experience to meet Himalayan blackberry and English ivy again- last week we removed them as they were invading Renfrew Ravine, and this week we learnt how we can work with their beautiful materials. We cannot do thi...s work alone, and the experience and knowledge shared with us by Still Moon Arts Society has been an incredible gift as we take these steps. Please scroll to the end to see our talented guests, Emma and Sierra! And as always, thank you to Afro Van Connect for this partnership. To our generous funders, Johansen-Larsen Foundation and CLICK - Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids, thank you for making this possible! #ecoart #youthleadership #vancouverparks #vancouverbc #greenestcity

Roots & Shoots is more than half way through their land-based portion of the program! This week, Lynn-Marie & Melissa-Rae Angus, the sister co-founders of Sisters Sage of Gitxaala, Nisga’a, and Metis Nation decent came in to conduct a bath bomb workshop. They shared their story about creating their business and the struggles and successes they faced and taught us how to make bath bombs with different sacred and traditional medicines from their nations. Thank you so much for ...sharing your knowledge and stories with us! In addition, our youth had an intro to soil workshop which focused on the role of soil in our environment, recognizing different soil characteristics and soil formation. We also completed garden work tasks such as transplanting some nursery seedlings and planting kinnikinnick in our Youth Garden. Also, we received a generous donation of Muskeg (Labrador Tea) from Camosun Bog Restoration Group that our interns helped process for medicinal use. Thank you! Finally, we had some remote workshops on Resilience with @shevalesco and Intro to Project Management. Big thanks again to Employment and Social Development Canada and Ahmed Hussen for funding this unique career development opportunity for our youth and Red Fox Society for partnering with us

We are proud of our youth for supporting urban ecological restoration work, despite some chilly fingers and toes today! In week 5 of our Native Plant Nursery program, we found homes for salmonberry and vine maple plants at the Renfrew Ravine. We learned about the importance of native plants in relationship to other beings, and reflected on what we all need to thrive as human and non-human inhabitants of the land. Sun, water, air, and some laughter! #vancouverparks #vanpa...rkboard #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #metrovancouver #cityofvancouver #explorevancouver #iliveineastvan #stillcreek Thank you to Environment & Climate Change Canada & Minister Jonathan Wilkinson for supporting our work at Still Creek in freshwater habitat restoration with youth. And always full hearts to our friends Still Moon Arts Society.

Seed Generation had another lucky Saturday full of sunshine joined by artist Leonard Williams. Leonard Williams shared knowledge and stories with us through cedar, as we learned to weave cedar baskets and cedar roses, inspiring many of us to continue to embrace practicing art in our daily lives! The other group of Seed Generation Youth discussed our Ancestral Connections and the importance of locating ourselves and our relations as a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ...youth. We then learned about our powerful relative's Salal and Sword Fern and helped to transfer them into bigger pots to support their growth and development. As always our day was full of laughter and games, and we thank all of you who support us to engage in this program together! Thank you to our community supports and program funders - @esdc.edsc @ahmeddhussen. And a huge thank you to our wonderful program partner @redfoxsociety! #rewild #natureinthecity #pollinators #wildlife #greenestcity #strathconagardens #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #veryvancouver #dailyhivevan #vancouverisawesome #vancity #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #environmentalyouthalliance #youthleadership #nativeplants #wildlifegardens #natureinthecity #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #vancouverparks #eastvancouver #eastvan #stillcreek

Roots & Shoots have completed their 4th week! Earlier this week, R & S visited Still Creek and fiercely tackled some blackberry patches. They also visited Copley Community Orchard to mulch the border of our native flower meadow. In the youth garden, we started winter prep our raised beds. We also got the opportunity to go on a very educational bird walk with Sam, an EYA alumni, at Trout Lake Park. In addition, our interns had a day focused on decolonizing weeds. This include...d learning about medicinal properties of weeds and harvesting dandelion leaves and roots. Roots & Shoots had an intro to propagation workshop coupled with potting up some bunchberry plugs to bigger pots. Lastly, we had Ali from ShEvalesco conduct an extremely useful workshop on Financial Literacy! Big thanks again to Employment and Social Development Canada and Ahmed Hussen for funding this unique career development opportunity for our youth and Red Fox Society for partnering with us

In Week 5 of Land Guardians, @unyayouth 's Cedar Walk and Aries programs were visited by Leonard Tiger Williams of Quatsino and Tlowitis nations who shared his amazing gift of cedar weaving. The baskets were woven with strips from the inner bark of the tree of life, Western RedCedar. Leonard is an experienced, kind and patient knowledge keeper... The youth loved working with him and the slow, meditative and tactile work of weaving. Youth in the Genesis South program ad...ventured to Renfrew Ravine to do some wildflower meadow restoration work. We weeded (& harvested for teas) dandelions and other colonizing plants, and planted some nodding onion and douglas aster for next year's pollinators and urban critters! We're so grateful for the support of BC Gaming @georgeheyman that allows us to connect Indigenous youth and youth facing barriers with this healing cultural and land-based work. If you have capacity, please help us keep this program going in 2021 by donating today at eya.ca/donate or by emailing us at [email protected]. And finally, thank you to our existing individual donors, your support makes all the difference in getting us through these challenging times. #environmentalyouthalliance #youth #indigenousyouth #cedar #treeoflife #weaving #culturalknowledge #meadows #restoration #natureinthecity #eastvan #greenestcity

This past weekend Lori Snyder, Métis herbalist and educator, visited the Seed Generation Youth for medicinal salve making. We made a beautiful blend with yarrow and calendula to help with dry hands and wounds. The youth also spent time in the nursery starting native plant seeds (yarrow and nodding onion) that EYA has seed saved with youth over the summer and fall! These seeds will stay in our greenhouse until spring time when we will see them germinate and grow. We learned ab...out our potting mix and how it will help support the seeds health. We want to give a huge thank you to Lori for sharing her wisdom and knowledge on our medicine friends, all of her visits are magical. Thank you to @redfoxsociety for being an amazing partner on this program. We also want to thank our generous program and community funders for making this program possible @esdc.edsc @ahmeddhussen. #rewild #natureinthecity #pollinators #wildlife #greenestcity #strathconagardens #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #veryvancouver #dailyhivevan #vancouverisawesome #vancity #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #environmentalyouthalliance #youthleadership #nativeplants #wildlifegardens #natureinthecity #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #vancouverparks #eastvancouver #eastvan #stillcreek

This weekend, Plants & People youth had an incredible day at Renfrew Ravine! We help grow and tend to thousands of native plant seedlings, and this beautiful ravine is one place they are planted! To help them thrive, we spent time removing two plant guests which are overtaking their neighbours: Himalayan blackberry and English Ivy. We'll continue learning how we can work with these two plants next week, when we learn to weave with their vines! #greenestcity #renfrewravine #y...outhleadership #cityofvancouver #vancouverparks #vanparkboard We are grateful for our partnership with Still Moon Arts Society in this restoration work, and AfroVan Connect in this program! A big thank oyu to funders CLICK - Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids and Johansen-Larsen Foundation!

EYA is offering fall field trips from now until the end of November at our home base at Strathcona Community Gardens. If you’re a Gr K-7 educator looking for outdoor, hands-on learning for your students, we welcome you to investigate our urban wildlife and ecology alongside of us. Field trips take 1.5 - 2 hours long and involve scavenger hunts, working with native plants, and inquiry-based games. We are currently waiving fees for this season to get your class outdoors a...nd making this as accessible as possible for you! To register, visit eya.ca/field-trips We’re looking forward to stomping around in the garden with your budding student ecologists! #experientiallearning #fieldtrips #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #metrovancouver #cityofvancouver #explorevancouver #iliveineastvan

Week 4 of Native Plant Nursery! We learned about all the different parts of soil and had a giggly good time making a whole lot of it. With this soil, we seeded lupin and pearly everlasting in the nursery. Our 16 youth are contributing to growing 1000+ plants that will be distributed to the community members next spring to create wildlife corridors in the city. Did you know that lupin seeds need to be soaked for 2 days before seeding? This was a helpful reminder that sometime...s we can feel a bit waterlogged, but that growth is on its way! We also dissected owl pellets and discovered some yellow toothed critters, and chatted about the importance of native plants for bird habitats. #vancouverparks #vanparkboard #greenestcity #vancouver #vancouverbc #yvr #eastvancouver #metrovancouver #cityofvancouver #explorevancouver #iliveineastvan Thank you to Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation for supporting our land-based youth programs.

This week, Roots & Shoots learned more about common native plants in urban areas and how to ID them. They practiced these skills by doing a native plant scavenger hunt. They also removed some very feisty Himalayan blackberry in our youth garden. Additionally, our interns had the opportunity to have a workshop on Understanding Place which included a walking tour of marginalized communities in the Vancouver East side, and making personal accountability statements to this place and its original stewards. Finally, R&S also completed several workshops on personal management (self-care, goal setting) and on self - advocacy. Big thanks again to Education & Skills Development Community - ESDC and Ahmed Hussen for funding this unique career development opportunity for our youth and Red Fox Society for partnering with us

In our fourth week, Land Guardians youth in the Genesis South program helped care for Rainbow's Meadow in the Strathcona Community Garden orchard by weeding, then harvested more Pearly Everlasting and Lemon Balm for our healing medicinal tea that we will prepare in a couple weeks! UNYA - Urban Native Youth Association 's Cedar Walk youth took a trip out to Renfrew Ravine, to take part in an ongoing ravine edge restoration project that EYA is collaborating on with our fri...ends at Still Moon Arts Society! We pulled up many young shoots of the strong, competitive, introduced Himalayan Blackberry to help our recently planted native species (including Nootka Rose, Oregon Grape and Salmonberry) thrive. We also got started on a multi-week project constructing cavity-nesting bee houses under the beautiful fall sunshine! Offering our deep gratitude to the G&F Financial Group and CLICK - Contributing to Lives of Inner City Kids who support our youth to engage in this meaningful land-based work #environmentalyouthalliance #indigenousyouth #youth #rewild #greenestcity #vancouverparks #eastvan #natureinthecity #plantmedicine #metrovancouver #vancouverisawesome

We're sad to learn of the loss of journalist and activist Bob Sarti, who mentored EYA youth and staff in the 90s. .

On the third day of Land Guardians, youth from the Genesis South and UNYA - Urban Native Youth Association Cedar Walk programs gathered at Copley Community Orchard for a community rewilding project... In the morning we poured our energy and sweat into the land by moving wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of life-giving soil into the middle of the orchard. Eagles soared above in the sky as we shovelled and raked. After lunch we were joined by youth from the Roots & Shoots who he...lped us finish this work (and had also gifted this land with their labours a few days before!). We *safely* gathered in circle, as Hailey and Mya led us through beautiful song & ceremony to centre our hearts. We each gathered a handfull of seeds and held them close to our hearts, nourishing them with our wishes and gratitude. Then we scattered our young plant relations onto the earth. After being blanketed by winter's rains and snow, these seeds will spring into a colourful native wildflower meadow. For many springs & summers to come, its flowers will provide our winged & many-legged community members with food & habitat, and our two-legged ones with beauty and reverence. Much gratitude to Copley Community Orchard for being our amazing site partners and allies in this work. Also, a heartfelt thank you Saanich Native Plantsnativ for providing wildflower seeds and guidance through the twists & turns of our meadow making process. And finally, to The Lawson Foundation, we honour you for funding this multi-year wildflower meadow project that has allowed Land Guardians youth to create 3 beautiful meadows across the city! #environmentalyouthalliance #youth #indigenousyouth #ceremony #seeds #wildflowers #nativeplants #rewilding #natureinthecity #climateaction #greenestcity #eastvan