Che – amiskwacîy/Treaty 6 and Metis Nation of Alberta

Pumpkin, Marigold (summer 2025)

At the start of the season, I placed the pumpkin seeds in damp paper towels and sprouted them in an airtight container on the kitchen counter at home. When their white roots had pushed through their seed coats about a week later, I brought them over to the communities garden at CO*LAB to plant along the arched trellis of the pathway in the sunny courtyard like Lorin dreamed of. At the next meeting of the weekly Garden Club, one of the kiddos and I seeded Marigolds, Nasturtiums and Dill among the Potatoes that were planted back in April. We watered and waited as the first cotyledons and true leaves emerged from where sod and dandelions were growing just weeks before. We worked in compost and added leaf mulch as the vines pushed against gravity and earth, taking to the sky and flowing into the grass. With weeks gone by, their leaves gave way to flowers, and in some cases set fruit. From then on, it was a battle waged against powdery mildew, extreme drought, heat waves, and errant weed whackers. We were able to harvest a few pumpkins and save some marigold seeds before the plants succumbed to disease and inevitable demise.