Reflection on the Honourable Harvest during my Nature Walk at Gibbons Park

            For my nature walk Raven, Alex and I went to Gibbons Park, located off of Grosvenor St. It’s quite a large park, with many different features such as several parking lots, picnic sites, picnic shelters, swimming pools, a wading pool for children, tennis courts, play areas and play structures for children, and a foot bridge that allows you to exit the park by walking over the Thames river. There are also many forested areas, pathways leading all throughout the park and even paths that are marked yellow and red, indicating that they are wheelchair accessible. Dogs are allowed in the park, but they must be on a leash at all times. Overall, the park looks like it’s well-maintained and there are phone numbers available on park signs if individuals need to report issues such as dangerous debris or obstructions on pathways. It was my first time visiting this park, and despite it being winter, I really enjoyed my visit!

            While we were at Gibbons Park, we had to look for evidence of settler colonialism, as well as Indigenous presences, settler presences and immigrant presences in the neighbourhood. I can say with certainty that the very existence of this park is blatant evidence of settler colonialism, as it is a large plot of land that has been taken and transformed by the city of London to suit the needs of its inhabitants. While reflecting on this, I thought about the idea of the “honourable harvest” that Robin Kimmerer discussed during her TED talk titled “Reclaiming the Honourable Harvest.” She states that the honourable harvest is about asking the land for permission and waiting for the answer before taking anything. It means taking only what you need, be grateful, share with others, and most importantly give back to the land, either through a physical act such as re-planting seeds or spiritual act such as honouring the land and fiercely protecting it (Kimmerer, 2012). She also believes that we should take the morals of the honourable harvest beyond the land and apply it to social, political and economic decision-making. We often feel powerless to evoke change due to the actions of multinational corporations, but we have control over our own honour. We, as individuals, can live by the morals of the honourable harvest, ask for permission, take what we need, give back to the earth, and do so by choosing not to consume things from these multinational corporations with no honour. She states that by doing so we can work towards true sustainability based on the honourable harvest and create a powerful social movement that rejects dishonourable harvest by these corporations, one person at a time (Kimmerer, 2012).

            When I think about Gibbons Park, I think about how it was created by a system that functions using the ideals of a dishonourable harvest. The very act of settler colonialism in London functioned this way, as we not only took from the land and used it how we wanted without giving back to the land, but by this twisted moral we did the same to Indigenous peoples, their relations to the land, their cultures, languages, relationships, and livelihoods. We took from these people without asking, without honour, and we did not give back in any true manner. When I think of Gibbons Park, this is what I imagine. The Thames River, which runs through Gibbons Park, was surely a lifeblood to local Indigenous communities, ones which we took lands and waterways from and made them our own, fulfilling our own needs without thinking of the needs of others. After learning about the honourable harvest and reflecting on my walk through Gibbons Park, this was a shocking revelation for me. I did not realize how closely related the honourable harvest and settler colonialism were, when looked at through the lens of applying the honourable harvest to human relationships throughout history, as well as in the present. 

            When thinking about how I could apply this to my own teaching practice, I realized that the teaching of the honourable harvest could be integrated perfectly into the framework of outdoor education. I think I could teach the morals of the honourable harvest to my students at the beginning of the year and build on these ideals as we interact with nature throughout the year. This could easily be integrated into other grades as the children grow, where you could further the discussion each year while gradually introducing Indigenous relations to your students. I also believe the ideals of the honourable harvest can easily be integrated into citizenship education, where they not only learn about respecting the land, but they also learn how to reflect on their morals, beliefs, and interactions with others, how to have opinions, beliefs and ideas about the way the world works, learn how to participate and raise their voices for matters they believe in, which in turn builds a strong sense of personal identity. Teaching children the ideals of the honourable harvest early on allows them to build upon a foundation of honour, respect, grace, manners and good will, and I will surely integrate these ideals into my own teaching philosophy and pedagogy.

References:

Kimmerer, R. [TEDxTalks]. (2012, August 18). Reclaiming
the Honourable Harvest: Robin Kimmerer at TEDxSitka [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz1vgfZ3etE