08/29/2026
Growth happens in relationship.
Hands in the soil.
Voices raised.
Hearts open.
On Tuesday, September 1, we gather again at the Thorold Indigenous Unity Garden for CommUnity Gardening with Jesse.
What I love about this garden is that it was never meant to simply be a beautiful Indigenous space within a park.
It was created to be lived in.
A place where we return. Where we tend the medicines together. Where songs move through the garden as our Youth Drummers gather. Where sweetgrass is harvested and shared. Where conversations happen naturally between people who may not otherwise have found themselves standing beside one another with their hands in the earth.
For me, this is where placemaking becomes something deeper.
We can design a space.
We can plant a garden.
We can install a sign.
But relationship cannot be installed.
It has to be tended.
That belief sits at the heart of the work we do at Kakekalanicks. We create Indigenous-led places and experiences that invite people to listen, participate, discover, and build meaningful relationships with story, land, and one another.
The Unity Garden continues to remind me that the most meaningful measure of a place may not be what we put into it, but what begins to grow between the people who gather there.
And like any garden, that takes time.
Sharing. Discovering. Connecting.
Every strand strengthens our CommUnity.
🌿 Join us Tuesday, September 1 from 5:30–7:00 PM at the Thorold Indigenous Unity Garden at Mel Swart Park.
