Harvesting a garden of earthly delights

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This article was published 18/05/2024 (874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Coleen Rajotte incorporates energy, spirit and vitality into everything she does. The former CBC TV journalist of Cree heritage is always embarking on new projects and creative adventures, from storytelling and filmmaking to blogging and gardening.

These days she’s immersed in thoughts of planting, and looking forward to the launch of Season 3 of Vitality Gardening, which airs on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).

The weekly show explores growing and preparing food in an organic way, and shares traditional and contemporary knowledge about the vital relationship between the plant world and Indigenous Peoples.

“When you are digging in the soil, that scent of the earth impacts your brain the way an antidepressant would,” said Rajotte. “Getting dirt just ground into your nails — there’s science behind the scent of the earth … gardening is so good for you on so many levels.”

As the show’s host, Rajotte loves to share what she knows about traditional foods, gathering plant medicines and cooking garden-fresh recipes. The journey to learn about Indigenous plant medicines is for everyone and Rajotte encourages viewers to partake of it along with her.

The former journalist has spent much of her life sharing stories, and it’s that interest in background, history and facts that fuels the lifelong learning, and knowledge-sharing and demonstrates the power of stories to transform, teach and inspire.

Rajotte wasn’t always a gardener. She used to consider it too challenging. But that changed after she did a number of health shows and then began to learn the basics about plants.

“I wasn’t a gardener, and after I did 60 health shows, I thought, ‘What am I gonna do next? What if I learned how to garden and do a show about that?’”

Since then, Rajotte has been using her back and front yard, not only as her personal gardening space, but as a filming location for the show.

There, Rajotte plants everything in abundance, from fresh herbs, beets and tomatoes to the four sacred medicines: cedar, sage, sweetgrass and tobacco (plants used in ceremony and for smudges), and more.

Her beloved dogs, Maggie May and Selena, naturally appear as two central characters in the new season of Vitality Gardening. They’re an important part of her family after all, and she and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I get to know everybody in the neighbourhood,” she chuckled, referring to the many people who stop by to ask about the different plants.

Rajotte’s enthusiasm about the topic of growing things is contagious: whether it’s tiny seedlings sprouting, growing and harvesting bushels of tomatoes for tomato sauce, freezing bagfuls of fresh basil, or smudging for medicinal purposes — all of the rituals involved in growing and harvesting plants are sacred.

“Everything has a spirit and is alive,” explained Rajotte in an earlier episode of the show. “For thousands of years we have approached plants with respect and humility. Traditional ways of growing vegetables, harvesting plants and saving seeds for future generations. Wild plants have been used for centuries as traditional medicines.”

The first two seasons of Vitality Gardening focused more on the basics of gardening and pruning. Season 3 is a little more adventurous and Rajotte learned how to grow things she’d never grown before.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Rajotte said. “As a gardener there’s a lot of things to learn, lots of failures,” including the complexities of growing asparagus over several seasons and trying to grow spinach in a drought.

Rajotte’s extensive knowledge includes sharing what she learned directly from Indigenous ancestors all over North America: the Indigenous way of growing varieties of corn, beans and squash, the system of planting and growing vanilla, popcorn, potatoes. She even tried to grow sunflowers the way of the Hopi people, who harvest the seeds to make dye. Rajotte managed to grow them to nine feet tall with flowers but the seeds never came.

“Live and learn. There’s a climate difference between here and the southwest U.S.”

One of the many fascinating plants she recently learned about is the black diamond willow fungus, which is used as smudge medicine and in the treatment of anxiety and relieve depression. Inhaling the sacred smoke is also used in treatment for asthma.

The fungus has been described as having protective qualities “and is used in ceremony,” Rajotte explained, adding that discoveries like these are the reason she’s motivated to continue to learn more about traditional medicines.

“It ties us to the land and to our ancestors. My ancestors did this for hundreds of years. We are part of a small speck on this earth.”

Gathering water from the birch tree is another annual Indigenous tradition. Rajotte has travelled many hours up north to meet with elders to walk the forest and learn how to tap the tree until clear water comes running out.

“Birch water is marketed as a health drink in the U.S. now,” said Rajotte. “It’s a very nutritious water,” she said, pointing out that there have been 1.4 million views on her birch-tapping video.

“There is natural medicine in the wild. The knowledge is being lost. We need to make sure that people know, to get out on the land, to pick, to forage and to gather — to provide food for our families.”

With more and more people interested in learning about gathering medicine plants, what they’re used for and how they can enrich daily life, Rajotte looks forward to sharing her learning with her viewers.

“I’m always learning. I get to meet all kinds of interesting people on my journey. When I’m in the forest now, I always ask, ‘What kind of plant is this? How did our people use this plant?’ I learn. Everywhere I go I learn something, from the elders, the knowledge keepers.”

And when she’s back in her urban garden Rajotte stays grounded and relatable.

“I head out with my dogs in ugly gardening outfits. Nobody is doing my hair and makeup. I’m just digging around in there. I sweep the floor. I do everything. It’s very real.”

Season 3 of Vitality Gardening will air in June.