Vision

The goal for our action project was to go through the process of setting up a garden at our school to explore the theme of food sustainability. Our school received a small seed starting kit from Youth in Food Systems and Seeds of Diversity Canada that provided us with the seeds we needed to start a food garden. After receiving the grant from Learning for a Sustainable Future, we were able to put our goal of creating a food garden into motion. Our action project was led by the Grand View Green Team which consisted of a group of grade 4-6 students who were interested in an enrichment opportunity and environmental topics.

Action

Our Green Team started the process by researching various aspects of creating a food garden such as, effective planting methods, types of garden beds, plant pairings and ideal locations for raised beds. We held weekly meetings where students would collaboratively work through key questions related to our gardens. During this time, students were also responsible for planting and maintaining all of our seedlings indoors. As we got closer to growing season, we started to address the larger decisions that we needed to make for our garden. Our first big decision was deciding where we would place our gardens. We consulted with our custodian, who also reached out to the school board maintenance department, to confirm what regulations we needed to be aware of when selecting a location. At this point, we also discussed the possibility of installing a rain barrel and we determined that we would not be allowed due to safety concerns. We were able to find a location that was ideal for growing vegetables and followed all of the school boards suggestions. Students then researched which galvanized raised beds would be the best for our growing needs. We decided that four circular raised beds would be cost effective and easily accessible to younger students. We purchased these beds from Rona. After ordering our raised beds, students had to calculate the amount of soil that we would need to fill our new beds and the pre-existing beds that our school had in storage. The Green Team divided into a few groups with some groups focusing on how to calculate the volume of the different containers and other groups researching what type of soil would be best for growing vegetables. Once we had the volume and type of soil needed, the students researched options for purchasing the soil and we compared each option to determine the best one for our school. We decided to purchase soil from a nearby garden centre as it was the option with the least plastic waste (no bags of soil but a dump truck delivery instead) and the most economical option. While we waited for our soil to be delivered, we set up our garden beds and discussed drainage options. We were able to place large stones at the bottom of our beds to help with drainage and then layered some wood chips on top. After our soil was delivered, the Green Team got to work shovelling the soil into all of our garden beds. As the weather warmed up, the Green Team started to get excited about transplanting the seedlings that we had been caring for over the past couple of months. To prepare for planting, we researched how to acclimate seedlings to outdoor conditions and reviewed our plans for the locations of specific plants in the garden. Once the weather was ideal for planting, we transplanted the seedlings into the garden and started the process of caring for our food garden. The art club at our school was gracious enough to paint rock plant markers so that students of all grade levels would be able to identify the plants in the garden.

Reflection & Celebration

Our students were very committed and motivated to learn throughout our action project. Last year our Green Team facilitated the updating of our green roof. While we were doing this project, many students expressed wanting to be more involved in the process of planting and maintaining the garden as only our custodian was allowed to go out onto the roof. The interest in wanting to be directly involved in a gardening project was part of the motivation for setting up a food garden. We also felt that allowing students to have hands-on experience would offer a rich opportunity to introduce the topics of food sustainability and the impact of local gardens and farms. Once our learning became visible and plants started to appear in windows throughout the school. The impact of our food garden stretched beyond our Green Team. From a teacher perspective, growing plants in the school sparked many great conversations in the hallway. Students and teachers outside of the Green Team asked questions about the plants or checked regularly for progress. Based on these interactions, our action project truly sparked an interest in food production and gardening for a large portion of our school.

As we approach the end of the school year, we hope to continue to use the food garden as a focal point for learning. We will be presenting our Google Slide presentation that details the process we took to build the food garden to the school during an assembly. There will also be a short portion of this presentation that touches on food sustainability. The Green Team is hoping to encourage students to explore growing their own gardens at their homes. We also hope that now that the plants are in the garden, classes will start to explore the food garden and take part in its maintenance. We have already noticed that families who walk past the garden during pick-up and drop-off times often stop to check out what has changed since they have last visited. Our hope is that even after school is done for the summer, our community will continue to check in on the garden and perhaps care for it or benefit from the food that it produces.

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