Inspired by the impulse of the children in P.L. Travers’s beloved Mary Poppins — to “ephemeralize” their tuppence rather than capitalize on it —“Feed the Birds” invites reflection on our collective participation in a system of interconnecting values far more complex than we can conceive of individually, or even as a species.

In collaboration with artist Kiva-Marie Belt, Trecia Schell, the Decoste Culture Hub, and the Pictou Library, a pollinator garden was constructed in the summer of 2024 as an invitation to

• learn about, and/or share current knowledge about the role of native plants and pollinators in Nova Scotia forests, farms, and gardens 

• consider how environmental and climate pressures have affected—and will continue to affect—the migratory patterns of human and animal populations 

• reflect on the complex histories, the vast networks of memory and relation, and the ongoing imaginative work that give rise to the idea of place— and the potentials of community. 

It may be, this project asserts, that our greatest tools for recognizing this larger value-system, and activating our responsibility within (and as part) of that system, are our capacity to recognize and appreciate the beauty of the world around us, and exercise our imaginations.