Vision

Our Early Learning Center, Terra Learning Learning created a Community Garden!

Our school has embarked on a journey to establish a Community Garden, as part of our commitment to sustainability and community engagement. From our school’s inception, the vision of creating a garden where students, families, and staff can collaboratively engage in a meaningful project has been central to our mission. This garden is designed to be a hub for diverse individuals from our community to come together, share experiences, and forge lasting connections.

Our aim in creating a community garden is to sustainable and inclusive space that fosters community engagement, promotes environmental stewardship, and addresses various Sustainable Development Goals. The primary objective of our Community Garden is to create a sustainable and inclusive space that fosters community engagement, promotes environmental stewardship, and aligns with multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our long term goal is to nurture this garden to produce fresh, healthy food for our school community, thereby encouraging healthier eating habits. By growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs, we can promote healthier eating habits within the community.

Action

Our Support Team started by identifying a suitable location for the garden and engaged families to participate in building the garden beds. The delivery of our soil was coordinated to the school, and we sought assistance from a long-time community member, Earl, to borrow essential equipment like a wheelbarrow.

With active participation from students, staff, and families, we collaboratively filled the garden beds with soil and planted vegetable plants such as bok choy, tomatoes, green onions, herbs, along with various seeds. It was beautiful to witness family members so engaged and motivated to support the growth in our community garden. In particular one of our student, Matilda’s grandpa, Mr. Park came every day after the garden was built to water and check on the newly planted vegetables and fruit, demonstrating strong community support and engagement. Moving forward, the Community Garden will serve as an educational platform for children to learn about composting, natural pest control methods, and water conservation techniques, aiming to minimize our environmental impact, and enhance community engagement.

In summary, our Action Project for a Community Garden not only provides tangible benefits such as access to fresh food and educational opportunities but also contributes to broader sustainable development goals by promoting environmental stewardship and social inclusion.

Reflection & Celebration

We began our project in May and are excited to see its progress! We love witnessing the interaction among community members as they choose what to plant and discuss how to care for their selections. As a school, we are incredibly fortunate to receive support from the LSF, which enables us to create a customized Action Project that is both relevant to our school and developmentally appropriate for our young students. The Community Garden will be highly beneficial, providing our young learners with hands-on, sensory experiences in building, maintaining, and caring for a garden they have cultivated.

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