BY ALEXANDRA KLARER
A group of volunteers gathered at the new Medicine Wheel Garden at Sheridan College this past Saturday to plant and complete the garden for students.
The group of about 20 people were up bright and early at 10 a.m to plant in the garden in front of Trafalgar Campus. The group consisted of students, faculty and staff, and members from Oakvillegreen and Sheridan’s Mission Zero.
The Medicine Wheel Garden is designed as a place for students to sit and relax. It is also the home of many endangered prairie plants. Some are healing plants, such as sage and wheat grass that is burned by the indigenous for healing purposes. This makes for a perfect place to take some time off and gather thoughts.
The garden is shaped as a circle and is split up into four quadrants.“In the first nations medicine wheel they have four colours and depending on which nation they are, different first nations use colours slightly differently,” said Sustainability Coordinator Wai Chu Cheng.
Each quadrant typically holds plants that are a specific colour. In the Sheridan Medicine Wheel, the north quadrant is white, south is blue, east is yellow, and west is red and pink. “We try to integrate the plant colours to make it work for this garden,” explained Cheng.
The garden helps nurture bugs and insects as well. The plants will attract pollinators that help bee colonies grow. Bees and insects help our environment and planting these gardens around our community will help save those species.
“It is a space not just for us but also for nature as well,” Cheng says.
— Alexandra Klarer (@AlexBKlarer) September 16, 2017
The Mission Zero co-op group was eager to get everyone together to help the environment.
“Today we are not just planting we are also taking care of our volunteers and we’ve ordered a pizza lunch for them as well,” said Mission Zero member Guri Singh.
The environment was welcoming and calming while people were working at their task. Everyone planted together in harmony.
The garden is now open to students who want to sit by, destress and maybe meet someone new. Be on the lookout as the garden will start to bloom and grow for everyone to see.
