Native Plants Workshop

Today, Veronica from Douglas College came to talk to us about plants that are native to BC. She did a puppet show of two friends walking in the forest and telling us about what they saw. She talked about how the plants are and/or were used by aboriginal peoples and taught us a Coast Salish story about the pine cone from a Douglas Fir tree. Then we did some art that narrated the story.

See below for the story our art tells...ask your child if they remember it

Michael and Gida puppet show

Used as medicine for problems in mouths and lungs. Tastes a little bit like licorice.

Moss. It is special because it does not have stems, flowers or roots. It grew when the dinosaurs were still alive!

Nootka Rose: First Nations Peoples used to eat the fruits and leaves. But never try them without an expert present as some parts of the plant can make you sick!

Salmonberries: They do not taste like fish but get their name because when they are ripe, they are the same pinky-red colour as salmon.

Part of a cedar tree that fell during one of our big wind storms. This one was 96 years old. It was fun to look at and count the rings!

Here are the pine cones from the Douglas Fir tree. The bark from a Douglas Fir tree is very during and protects the tree. Coast Salish Peoples say that once their was a forest fire and all the animals ran away except for the mice. The mice climbed the trees and hid in the pine cones and were protected from the fire. That is how you can tell a pine cone came from a Douglas Fir, it looks like there are mice hiding in the cone!