My Summer with School Gardens: Learning to See the Bees

Hello! My name is Erin. I joined SPEC this past summer to assist with their School Gardens Program. Having worked on an organic farm, I was excited for the opportunity to continue learning about growing vegetables.

Each week I spent my days between six gardens, getting to know some new neighborhoods in Vancouver. My job was to weed, water, sow some seeds and harvest from the gardens; to ensure they are in good shape when students return in September and the gardens once again become important places of food-related learning. 

This summer I learned to appreciate some new aspects of gardening.

Starting my internship in June, I participated in several end of year harvest parties with students and teachers. Despite it being the last week of school, I was inspired by the commitment of teachers and I loved seeing the excitement of students entering the gardens, eager to find the vegetables they had planted.  


The energy of June contrasted with the quiet days of July and August, where I worked in the gardens mostly on my own. Sometimes I was joined by children from nearby summer programs and together we explored, laughed, planted, and talked about what we noticed happening in the gardens. 


Before starting this internship, I imagined having an active role in the implementation of the gardens. I envisioned planting neat rows of carrots, beets and lettuce, all perfectly timed for the Fall. But as it turns out, school gardens are mostly planted by the children during the school year.

This is as it should be. But it led me to re-negotiate my role in the gardens. I faced a tension of wanting to safeguard what had been planted, while making space for new vegetables. I was eager to have a variety of vegetables ready for students in the Fall. Looking back, I might have told the 3-month-younger version of myself to relax a little. 

Nevertheless, my role as intermediary led me to exercise a new gardening self-restraint. I relinquished some of inclination towards planting something new. I left vegetables with (what I saw as) questionable futures firmly in the soil. And in the process, I experienced the delight of unexpected outcomes.  

For example, the mizuna (pictured above). Early in the season I noticed that the mizuna was beginning to bolt. I was tempted to remove it, for what purpose could bitter mizuna have for the students in the Fall? I let it be, however, and I returned one day to find a wild array of yellow flowers. Not only were these flowers beautiful but they bloomed all summer long and I discovered that the bees love them. 

In fact, through many hours of watering gardens, I saw firsthand the love that pollinators have for flowers. Honey bees and bumble bees and wasps abounded in places where flowers were present. Often, I was amazed by their number.

I realized that in my focus on growing vegetables I had neglected to remember that gardens are important places for other creatures, too. Of course, not only are gardens important for pollinators but pollinators are essential for much of the food that we eat.  

We don’t always grasp the connections that permeate our world. Gardens are places that remind us of these connections- speaking to us one by one and collectively. They are full of complicated lessons, perhaps revealing what we most need to hear. This summer, I was reminded of the invitation to wait, to pay attention, and to work with curiosity.

I am grateful for the past few months and I am excited to entrust these gardens back to their wonderful caretakers!