Vision

Our vision is to promote the system of growing your own herbs rather than purchasing them from a grocery store, which is more environmentally friendly and also draws in bee activity to further develop a healthy agriculture system, one garden at a time. Bee-attracting herbs are essential for pollination to foster food production by utilizing the ecosystems’ natural resources. St. Mary’s Academy wanted to promote home gardening in this consumer-based society while also bringing bees back into our neighbourhoods. Some benefits of growing your herbs at home include having your own inexpensive produce, greater bee activity and, when we garden, creating a human, nature connection with the Earth. We wanted to have a Plant Sale in a high-traffic area in our school as a way to start this positive change in our community. We also recognized that when you purchase herbs from the store, they are often wrapped in plastic wrap or enclosed in a plastic container. With this project, we wanted to eliminate as much plastic waste as we could. We also wanted to focus on the presentation of the plants so people would be excited to purchase them, and we used as little plastic as possible with the whole process, as we took into account the pots that the plants would be sold in so we chose biodegradable plant pots that are safe for the environment rather than a plastic container.

Action

We purchased soil, seeds and a hydroponic station for our project. We planted sage, rosemary, mint and oregano and over a 4-week period, we monitored the plants and added water to the hydroponic station to ensure that the plants had a continuous supply of water. When the plants were ready to be transplanted into larger pots we used biodegradable plant pots and then decorated them with twine and homemade corresponding labels. On April 18, 2023 we had a school-wide Plant Sale to promote growing your own herbs and to attract bees for an overall healthy agriculture ecosystem and to eliminate as much plastic waste as possible. We did this by choosing biodegradable plant pots that are safe for the environment rather than plastic containers. We also promoted this event on social media to ensure that the whole school community would have knowledge of this event and learn the importance of growing your own herbs. Members of our school club called the Green Team, which actively runs the composting system and leads environmentally friendly school-wide events, created posters for around the school. With the very few leftover plants that remained unsold on our April 18th Plant Sale, we planted the rest of the herbs in our own home garden and we are excited to be a part of the herb growing system and all of the benefits that it brings.

Reflection & Celebration

After planning, taking action and reflecting on our months-long Plant Sale results, we concluded that we were successful in educating the school body on the benefits of starting your own herb garden and in making money to cover some of the costs of the project for where we went over budget. Our informational poster aided in teaching our school about why bees are attracted to certain herbs and why one should start their own at-home garden.

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