Vision

Many Indigenous Peoples believe the natural world is sacred, consider themselves as one element of the natural world, and believe that it needs to be whole for future generations. As the weather begins to cool and the outdoor gardening season comes to an end, the Woodstock First Nation Health Centre wanted to find a way to continue the growing season and expose the community youth to healthy nutrition year-round.

A collaboration between the Woodstock First Nation Health Centre and the Woodstock First Nation Aboriginal Head Start, this proposal puts forth the “Indoor Gardening at Preschool” project to offer youth opportunities to participate in hands-on learning and understand where their food comes from. The benefits of indoor gardening are plenty. Recent research has stated that indoor plants may help reduce stress levels, be therapeutic, and improve the quality of indoor air. The Indoor Gardening at Preschool project will focus on cultivating cultural and culinary knowledge through gardening. It will foster a sense of belonging as youth watch the seeds progress and care for their growth. The project will promote healthy lifestyles through presentations and activities offered by the Health Centre staff and equip youth with the abilities and resources to make empowered choices.

Action

The Registered Dietitian at Woodstock First Nation Health Centre collaborated with the Child Development Centre to provide gardening education. Due to the time of year (during the school year), the only children that participated in this program were aged 5 and under. The Dietitian visited the centre for the first education session on March 28. During this visit, the children helped set up the Click & Grow system by planting the pods (tomato, lettuce & basil), ensuring there was enough water in the machine, and were taught about the lighting system. In this first session, we talked about different types of plants, what plants need to grow, and their experiences with gardening. The second visit to the centre was on April 27. The Dietitian was accompanied by the Community Youth worker. The purpose of this visit was to check in on the progress of the plants. We provided the children with a colouring page of a farmer in his garden with vegetables, fruit and animals. We discussed which fruits, vegetables and grains the children enjoyed. Farm animals and their purpose were also discussed. Due to the colder weather in Atlantic Canada, we have been unable to transplant the vegetables/herbs outside before the project end date, but that is our goal. It is also the goal to harvest the vegetables and herbs and use them in recipes. With the remaining funds, we were able to purchase an indoor greenhouse for the Child Development Centre to use year-round, along with other outdoor gardening tools. The Health Centre plans to continue collaborating with the Child Development Centre in the future.