From First Harvest to a Living Food Forest

This season marked two important milestones at Q Healing. We celebrated our first harvest with crisp radishes grown by the hands of children and families in our community garden, and we planted the first apple trees that will become the foundation of a living food forest.

Our land-based programs bring youth, families, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers together to learn through doing. By planting, harvesting, and caring for the land side by side, participants build relationships with one another while developing a lifelong understanding of environmental stewardship, food sovereignty, and reciprocal responsibility to the land.

These gatherings also create opportunities to revitalize Secwepemcstin in a natural setting. Children and families learn the names of plants, animals, seasons, and the land itself while hearing stories and teachings from Elders. Language becomes something lived and experienced rather than simply studied, strengthening cultural identity through everyday practice.

The food forest is more than an orchard. Over the coming years, it will grow to include apples, berries, potatoes, tomatoes, traditional medicines, herbs, and native plants that provide food, habitat, and opportunities for ongoing learning. Each planting day becomes an opportunity to teach ecological relationships, biodiversity, pollinator protection, seed saving, and regenerative growing practices grounded in Indigenous knowledge.

The project also contributes to climate action. As trees mature, they will capture and store carbon, improve soil health, increase biodiversity, provide shade, retain moisture, and help build resilience to a changing climate. By combining food production with perennial tree systems, we are creating a landscape that nourishes both people and the environment while demonstrating practical approaches to carbon sequestration and ecological restoration.

For our families, healing extends beyond ceremony. It happens while digging in the soil, harvesting together, sharing stories across generations, speaking Secwepemcstin, and watching children discover where food comes from. These experiences cultivate confidence, belonging, and a deep sense of responsibility for caring for the land.

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Our first harvest may have been only a few containers of radishes, but it represents something much larger. It marks the beginning of a long-term vision: a living food forest where community wellness, Indigenous language revitalization, environmental stewardship, climate resilience, and food sovereignty grow together for generations to come.