Vision

The vision of this project was to encourage our students and community to consider gardening and growing their own food to improve their mental and physical health, as well as reduce our carbon footprints by decreasing our trips to the grocery store that is a 30 minute drive from our town.
Students wanted to explore alternative gardening methods in an effort to expand our growing season. They also wanted to see if using a hydroponic gardening method would produce similar yields to traditional gardening methods.

Action

Students researched hydroponic gardens and purchased an AeroGarden that will be used to grow tomatoes in our school. They also purchased vegetable and flower seeds as well as seed starting trays. They planted the seeds in the AeroGarden and in the trays within 2 days of each other (due to sceduling conflicts) and have been monitoring their progress.
As of right now, the Aerogarden tomatoes have grown into strong plants, but the tomatoes started in soil are very slow to grow.
Spring in Manitoba is very unpredictable and we have not been able to transplant any of the vegetables or flowers outside yet due to risk of snow and frost.
Throughout the growing season, students will compare the growing patterns of the AeroGarden and traditional gardens and collect data on the amount of produce collected from each.
To encourage our community to garden, students will create their own cooking segment as part of their ELA broadcasting unit. This cooking show will utilize vegetables grown at our school and offer gardening tips and tricks for their audience. Students will also showcase their AeroGarden and encourage community members to grow their own food.

Reflection & Celebration

Students were very interested in growing their own food and showcasing their hard work through a video production. We are still working on this project and plan to continue it into the next school year.
They have been intrigued by how quickly the AeroGarden plants have grown, but also wonder about the ongoing costs associated with a hydroponic system as opposed to traditional gardening methods, but feel that the fresh tomatoes in the winter months would likely be worth the investment.