This week I was asked to be a guest speaker for a grade 7 class at Bayview Elementary School. The faculty are interested in setting up a school garden and asked for my input.
Talking with the kids was fantastic! I was so impressed with their attitudes and how much knowledge they have about vegetables and gardening. Numerous students have gardens at home, which is GREAT! Plus, all of them had many ideas on what they would like to grow. I'll be dropping off some topsoil and compost this weekend. Then hopefully on Wednesday which looks to be sunny we can start setting up. I have set aside a bunch of seedlings to give them a head start plus many students will be bringing in seeds. Flowers, veggies and fruit are all to be included.
The students were amazed when I was described how many wonderful varieties of vegetables there are. Tye-dyed coloured lettuce, purple carrots, red and gold striped tomatoes are just a few fun delicious varieties you don't usually find in the grocery store.
My hope is this can be a year round project including the whole school. The primary students already plant little pumpkins each year where my son Navarre's grew to produce a 9 pound Jack-O-Lantern last year. Also each year the grade 2's have butterflies in their classroom so maybe we could make one bed a butterfly garden.
Having a school garden is very important. It teaches children where their food comes from, uses hands on learning for science, math, social studies, language and visual arts, and also good nutrition. This project is very exciting and I am very happy to be a part of it.
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