{"id":1720,"date":"2021-12-23T16:28:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T16:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/viraltimes.climateactionchildhood.net\/?page_id=1720"},"modified":"2022-08-17T19:11:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T19:11:21","slug":"narancay-eng","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/viraltimes.climateactionchildhood.net\/index.php\/gardens\/narancay-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"The Narancay Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Soil as life, life as soil<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Educator: Ximena Borrero
Children: Santiago, Emily, Isabella, Emma, Cristobal & Mart\u00edn<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Situated on Cuenca\u2019s southwestern border, Narancay is a connector to other cities in the south of Ecuador. As a passageway to the south, Narancay has morphed from a tourist destination to a commercial hub, changing the geography of the place.<\/h5><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In the\u00a0Narancay\u00a0garden\u00a0we are enveloped in edible plants and flowers. As we initially start to attend to the growth of these various plants, we notice\u00a0holes in the soil. The holes come in different sizes and we find\u00a0traces of\u00a0 tiny soil mountains or “dirt mounds” that are presumably created by\u00a0other species.\u00a0We notice the children continuously asking \u201cWhat bug lives here?\u201d To try to find out, Santi puts some sticks in the holes to see if something comes out. He notices that the holes are deep and endless, and that whatever is down there is impossible to currently trace.\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n\n
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As a group we are asking: What is under the ground? What lives and moves beneath us that we can’t see?\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n
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With these questions we hesitantly come closer to the ground…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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We run into a hole that is large and difficult to unsee. As we sit around the hole, enchanted by its size, the children wonder and imagine possibilities about where it came from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who made this hole? <\/em>-Santi <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spiders may have made this one. –<\/em>Cristobal <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ants live there<\/em>. -Ema<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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As teachers we become inspired by the children\u2019s desire to think about the unknown under the soil and specifically their hesitancy to touch the holes, and the soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ground is dirty from bacteria<\/em>. -Emily <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bacteria are bad<\/em>. -Ema <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bacteria make us sick like the Corona Virus<\/em>. -Santi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We wonder and are concerned about our separation from the ground as an isolated component of \u201cnature\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do the ideas and speculations Santi, Cristobal and Ema have about holes offer us an entry way to work through our estrangements to the lives underneath and in the soil? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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With some hesitation, Isabella and Santiago crouch down looking for sticks to\u00a0reach the bottom of the hole. They try different stick sizes while they attempt to track\u00a0possible \u00a0movements through the tunnel. \u00a0No living being reveals itself.<\/mark><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cI think these holes may be the houses of the bugs at night.\u201d <\/em>-Santiago<\/mark><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We see a Devil\u2019s Coach Horse Beetle <\/em>nearby beginning to dig very rapidly and we wonder whether this is the digger we are searching for. We are drawn to find other entryways where we could trace lives under the garden. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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With magnifying glasses, we attempt to come closer to the diggers of the soil that we have previously ignored. Although we still do not find many insects, the roots of the plants, and various tunnel systems draw our attention to the world in the soil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“You can see the roots and tunnels but they\u2019re hard to follow” <\/em>– Emily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We envision multiple tunnel systems in the soil and find it difficult to imagine where they go. The soil is very compact, and we are unable to dig in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a different area of the garden, we notice insects that are a little more accessible as we observe them seeking refuge under rocks. Although the children are slightly uncomfortable with the abundance of insects, they curiously and cautiously  lift stones. When we lift the stones together, we see very thick worms lingering and moving slowly.  There are also thousands of ants and some of them have wings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cristobal theorizes that \u201cthey are queen ants\u201d because they are shaped differently. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We are drawn to slow down and to work more closely with soil as a micro-cosmic community. <\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We introduce soil on fine white paper. To tell stories about the various life forms that we witness on the ground, the children discuss what might emerge in the soil.<\/h4>\n\n\n
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Emily,\u00a0Mart\u00edn and Ema agree that the bugs live in the soil. Ema puts her fingers on the paper to make tunnels.\u00a0She imagines creatures in the tunnel: “These tunnels are where ants live”.<\/em><\/h3>\n\n

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Reworking and collaging components of the soil onto paper somehow exposes and concentrates our gaze onto the multi-relationality of the soil. We slowly sift through parts of it, as we notice smaller and smaller pieces: stones, sticks, leaves, flower petals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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We mix these elements with some water and adhesive solution. As we mix it, things become sticky<\/strong>, including our fingers. Children\u2019s fingers stretch the soil elements on the paper surface, at the same time that many artifacts found in the soil stick to their hands.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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As the glue dries, we can see\u00a0that the\u00a0tunnels become indistinguishable and\u00a0fluid with soil.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We take inspiration from the insects that surface on the grass -such as worms, ants, spiders,\u00a0scorpions, beetles and centipedes- and\u00a0draw\u00a0how we might envision their bodies. We sketch out each insect body as ovals and circles, and use colour pencils and charcoal to design details in them. We finally cover them with watercolour.\u00a0<\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Isabella draws spiders using charcoal as she sits on the grass outside. Her spiders all have many legs. She imagines spiders with eight legs, three legs and no legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n