Come out to one of the Museum at Campbell River’s new Fun Friday Programs, Native Plants and Their Traditional Uses, for a guided tour of the Museum’s Native Plant Garden.
The tour winds through the Museum grounds identifying shrubs and trees and giving insight into how they were historically utilized. More than 30 native plants can be found on museum grounds, including salal, soapberries and the cornerstone of coastal First Nations’ living, the red cedar.
Here on Vancouver Island, we are surrounded by plants that not only fill important roles in our ecosystems, but are very historically significant.
“It was rewarding to be able to learn about the plants that you see all the time, but don’t know much about,” remarks summer student Marita Lindenbach. “I already knew some of the surface information, like how skunk cabbage looks and smells for instance. But I didn’t know that the leaves were used by First Nations to line food boxes, or that they ate skunk cabbage in times of famine.
“These are the facts that make the plants more interesting to me.”
Following the tour, try your hand at cedar bark weaving, or practice your new plant identification skills with a leaf rubbing craft. Samples of traditionally prepared tea will also be provided to give you a taste of the past.
The Native plant tours are offered today, July 29 and Aug. 12, and will run at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. No preregistration is required and the program is included with Museum Admission.
For more information go to crmuseum.ca/fun-Fridays or email summer.programs@crmuseum.ca.