(type your personal land acknowledgement here in the box)

I would like to acknowledge the lequongen speaking peoples of the esquimalt and songhees nation and the W̱SÁNEĆ first peoples whose land we live, learn and laugh on.

Throughout our time visiting Swan Lake we read this book and responded with our own thoughts to various sections. This is one of my responses.

Braiding Sweetgrass

Never Take the First pencil

Ask Permission

Listen for the Answer before you question

Take Only What You Need before studying

Minimize Harm to learning equipment

Use Everything You Take to help you learn

Share the knowledge

Be Grateful for the knowledge you have been given

Reciprocate the Gift of knowledge with your attention

These are some highlights of what I learned

- Within restoration, I learned about an invasive plant called daphne. You are able to remove it by cutting the bottom of the stem. Daphne grows slowly and is able to reproduce fast so you often find them in big groups that take up space for native plants. Daphne has shiny green leaves and yellowish green flowers. It was an introduced species that was originally from Europe. Be careful when removing daphne because its stem is poisonous and can cause rashes, swelling and nausea so wear gloves and use clippers when removing. Removing daphne helps give more room for other plants to grow. When removing daphne you don't have to bag it up but it's good if you move it so you don't leave dead daphne all over the ground. When removing daphne it can give you a sense of self accomplishment because you can see the impact and the change you have made and so I recommend everyone to do some restoration work to help make a change.

-within pollination, I have learnt that it is very important that we protect and preserve our pollinators because without pollinators humans would literally die out. We learnt about a few important pollinators that I didn't know about before this. At the start we mainly learnt about the basic well known but still important pollinators like bees and wasps but later into the year we learn about bats and beetles and moths which I had no idea they where pollinators and pretty important ones at that for example bats pollinate over 500 different plant species. In our pollination lessons we learnt about relations between plants and pollinators and how plants can reproduce because of pollinators which I found very interesting.

-within ethnobotany, I learnt about lots of different plants but my favorites are great camas which you can find on hills/mountains and other ecosystems like garry oak ecosystems like at swan lake. Camas have a bulb under ground and it can be dug up and cooked and then eaten but you have to be careful because there is also a type of camas called death camas which has white petals instead of blue and the bulb is poisonous so watch out for that. Another of my favorites is arbutus. I love the feel of the tree and the way the limbs grow. The arbutus is my dads favorite along with camas so I think I get my liking from him. You can find great camas to the right of the nature house if you're facing the center. There aren't many around swan lake but if you look carefully you can find them. The arbutus is located to the left of the nature house. Once you get to the end of the forested area walk left towards the garry oak trees and you can find some hidden within that area.

Braiding Sweetgrass

I have a garden at the front of my house but it doesn't currently have any plants that you can eat If I could change it I would want to have raspberry, bushes some carrots and some radishes and anyone could eat them I would have a sign that would say something like "community garden" or something like that so not only can I enjoy them but the people around me can enjoy it to

Braiding Sweetgrass

needs

Water       Cattails can purify water

Food.    Duckweed contains 20-30% proteins

Air.            All plants help create air

Entertainment    Cattails are funny and entertaining    

Shelter.    Conifer trees have thick canopies to protect from rain

Warmth.   Old man’s beard it a good fire starter

Rest.   Moss is comfy

Relationships     If you help the environment and the ecosystem then you can have a healthy relationship with it