Spend an hour with the Victoria Native Friendship Centre’s Métis Garden Team Lead, Julie Parrell, and Non-Indigenous Head Gardener, Stephanie Sketchley, as they invite you into the heart of their land-based work. Together, they’ll explore what it means to shift our mindsets when tending the land, and share the joys and complexities of running programs for the Urban Indigenous community as Reconciliation in Action. You’ll learn about the medicines, traditional foods, and native plants they grow, gain an overview of how native plants support native pollinators, and leave with tangible ideas for how your own backyard gardening can become part of the work of Reconciliation.

Instructor Bios: 

Julie Parrell is a proud Two-Spirit Red River Métis, who was born here on the unceded lands of the Lekwungen people and raised on their traditional lands in Treaty 1 territory. Julie began their deep dive into all things food after being a health researcher in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. They saw the gap between what Urban Indigenous people needed and what they were being offered. How can a diabetic regulate their blood sugar when they have nowhere to store insulin and all the meal programs offer white flour-based meals? This question led them to studying Permaculture, Holistic Nutrition and Western Herbal Medicine. The Victoria Native Friendship Centre offers Julie the space to see her dreams come into reality with over 2000 square feet of gardening beds and a supportive community hungry for change.

Stephanie Sketchley is a settler born and raised on the unceded lands of the Lekwungen speaking and W̱SÁNEĆ people. Stephanie grew up with gardening – both of her parents came from families that tended large gardens to help feed their families. She has a degree in Anthropology from UVic and has done archaeological work in Tseshaht and Tsimshian territories. One of her favourite memories from working in the north is attending a feast and tasting oolichan oil for the first time. Stephanie currently works part-time in the Food and Medicine Garden at VNFC and spends the rest of the time working with chocolate. Stephanie enjoys looking at bugs, birds, and plants, and learning about the history and cultural significance of chocolate.

Discover vegetables you plant once and can harvest for years—sometimes even decades! Perennial vegetables are often less work, more nutritious, and more resilient to challenging growing conditions, and there’s a whole world to explore beyond the familiar asparagus and rhubarb. In this session, we’ll look at the benefits and drawbacks, explore varieties suited to wet versus dry sites, as well as shady areas, discuss management strategies, and even share a few recipe ideas.

Instructor Bio: Michalina Hunter grew up gardening and saving seeds with her mom on the Sunshine Coast, and started growing seeds for her mom’s seed company in 2017. She founded the Squamish Seed Library in 2018 to empower and educate gardeners to save and share seeds with the community. In 2021 she launched Cicada Seeds to supply hard-to-find perennial vegetable seeds and plants to gardeners across Canada. She loves sharing her knowledge and passion for seeds, gardening, and soil with others. She lives in Errington at the base of ts’xuliqw (Mount Arrowsmith) with her partner, cat, dog, and lots of chickens.

Seed saving is something we can all do. In this session, we’ll cover the basics of plant reproduction and pollination, then explore where to begin with easy, beginner-friendly crops. We’ll also look at intermediate seed-saving skills, including how to plan your garden in community to support healthy seed stewardship. Along the way, we’ll address common challenges with home-saved seeds—such as cleaning, storage, and germination—and share practical strategies for overcoming them.

Instructor Bio: Lisa Willott has worked in small-scale farming for 20 years. She managed a seed company for several of those years, has supported emerging seed libraries and is currently the Vancouver Island Seed Coordinator with FarmFolk CityFolk. This position has allowed her to support all things seedy, including growing a few crops to seed with the BC Eco-Seed Co-op, educational programming, and touring seed cleaning equipment around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.