The Unsettled Garden – Details, episodes & analysis

Today we're back with Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, an Indigenous woman of Cree and Métis descent. She is a professor in the department of sociology at York University; the author of Our Knowledge is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings; and the editor of: Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do is Ask. In this episode, the second of a two-part series, Wendy Makoons talks about what we can learn from Anishinaabe botanical teachings and the importance of preserving Indigenous Knowledge in the garden.

To learn more from Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, pick up a copy of her books at your nearest library or your local independent bookstore. 

For more about this podcast, visit alisonralph.com

I spent years learning the Latin names of the plants in my garden before it struck me: Indigenous Peoples in Canada have names for and ongoing relationships with the flora and fauna here, that existed long before early European botanists started to give Latin names to native plant species.

Today we're talking with Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, an Indigenous woman of Cree and Métis descent. She is a professor in the department of sociology at York University; the author of Our Knowledge is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings; and the editor of: Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings. In this episode, the first of a two-part series, Wendy Makoons talks about what we can learn from Anishinaabe botanical teachings and the importance of preserving Indigenous Knowledge in the garden.

To learn more from Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, pick up a copy of her books at your nearest library or your local independent bookstore.

For more information about this podcast, visit alisonralph.com.

Today we’re back with part two of my conversation with Dancing Water Sandy, of the Secwepemc and Cree Nations. She is an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, First Nations Curriculum teacher, and she serves as a Council member at Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia. In this episode, the second of a two-part series, she talks about how the knowledge we carry shapes our worldview, and what we can learn when we shift our mindset from one of resource-based control to one grounded in relationship and reciprocity.

To learn more from Dancing Water, read "Gardening in Ashes: The Possibilities and Limitations of Gardening to Support Indigenous Health and Well-Being in the Context of Wildfires and Colonialism" co-written with Kelsey Timler.

Learn more about this podcast at alisonralph.com.

If you’re like me, gardening has been a learning curve, from choosing plants, to soil health, and how to spot potential hazards like poison ivy.

The knowledge we carry matters. It shapes how we interact with gardens every day.

Today we’re talking with Dancing Water Sandy, of the Secwepemc and Cree Nations. She is an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, First Nations Curriculum teacher, and she serves as a Council member at Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia. In this episode, the first of a two-part series, she talks about how the knowledge we carry shapes our worldview, and what we can learn when we shift our mindset from one of resource-based control to one grounded in relationship and reciprocity.

To learn more from Dancing Water, read "Gardening in Ashes: The Possibilities and Limitations of Gardening to Support Indigenous Health and Well-Being in the Context of Wildfires and Colonialism" co-written with Kelsey Timler.

Learn more about this podcast at alisonralph.com.

The pandemic showed us how important access to outdoor space is for us as Canadians. But who has access to outdoor space? Today we’re talking with Jacqueline L. Scott, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, a writer, and an adventurer. She's kayaked in Algonquin park, hiked Hadrian’s wall in the north of England, and traveled through parts of southern Africa. Her research is at the crossroads of race, outdoor recreation, and environmentalism. In this episode, Jacqueline talks about who gets to garden, and how we can make gardens and green spaces welcoming for Black and Brown people.

Learn more from Jacqueline L. Scott at blackoutdoors.wordpress.com.

Read more at alisonralph.com

If you're a gardener in Canada, you've probably come across one of Lorraine Johnson's books. There are 14 of them, including Tending the Earth: a Gardener’s Manifesto, published 20 years ago, and 100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens, now in its 3rd edition. Lorraine is a cultivation activist with three decades of experience researching and writing about environmental issues. She is the past president of the North American Native Plant Society, and a long-time community activist for urban agriculture, community gardening, and protecting urban forests. Her latest book is A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee, and in this episode she talks about what is meant by the politics of gardening, and our shifting relationship with the land in a changing climate. 

Learn more from Lorraine Johnson at lorrainejohnson.ca. 

Read more at alisonralph.com

What do climate change and reconciliation have to do with your garden? I’m Alison Ralph, a writer and gardener living on the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, 1 in 5 Canadians took up gardening for the first time. Maybe you did too. If you’re like me, spending time in the garden has raised so many questions, from practical things like what to plant, to the philosophical, connecting with the earth and the people around me.

That’s why I’m launching The Unsettled Garden, a podcast about the politics of gardening in Canada. We’re going to hear from leading experts like Dancing Water Sandy, Dr. Wendy Makoons Geniusz, Jacqueline L. Scott, and Lorraine Johnson, about our colonized landscape, and how gardens have a role to play in climate change, community building, and decolonization.

Whether you’re a new or experienced gardener, this podcast has something for you, so go ahead and follow The Unsettled Garden wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn more at alisonralph.com/theunsettledgarden