School Garden

In Manitoba, we have great access to Education for Sustainable Development resources. Unfortunately, not all teachers are aware of this. Below is the link for the ESD department of Manitoba Education. There are several resources and information available on this website.

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/esd/

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In terms of gaps in formal education, although this website is a wealth of resources, there are very few professional development opportunities for teachers to learn about introducing food and gardening to their respective schools. Most of this training seems to happen informally, almost on a word of mouth or school-to-school basis.

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The professional development needs for teachers and schools to begin introducing food and gardening are many. More training or information is required to answer some beginning questions such as: Where do we start? Is there grant money available? What are my garden design options? How can my school garden become a learning garden for my community? How do I integrate gardening into curricula?

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Not only is professional development needed but also a community of teachers willing to participate in the planning, building and sustaining of the garden. In Manitoba, the best months for growing fall outside of the regular academic year making it difficult to maintain the garden over the summer months.

 

Considering self-watering systems or having a team on hand who will take turns with weeding and watering will be important. Families can sign up for a week at a time to help split the load.  Having signage with instructions for weeding and watering is very helpful as well. 

 

There are a number of Manitoba curricular documents that connect to food. Having recently explored some of the connections to the elementary, middle and secondary school curriculums there are a wide range of topics that offer cross-curricular study using an outdoor sustainable garden.

 

Helping teachers make these links will assist in promoting the value of outdoor spaces like a garden with ties to content that are still a focus of many models.

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Not only would teachers and schools benefit from some initial training about gardening for a school, they also need support with grants and then once the garden is established, making it a space that is used to its fullest potential.

 

 

Accessing funds, grants and resources to sustain and grow your garden

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Funding from school divisions, the Government of Manitoba and community partners is needed to help start learning gardens at schools across Manitoba.

 

Schools would also benefit from partnering with local greenhouses or like businesses (perhaps farms) for support. It would be beneficial for the local greenhouses to become mentors for the schools so that students and teachers could learn from experts. This would help with any troubleshooting in the future, could help answer key questions and would make sure that money coming from any grant was being put to appropriate use.

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Prior to starting the planning stage of your garden, check out what other schools are doing. It’s amazing to see the diverse range of school gardens out there from 2 or 3 beds to large community style gardens, to greenhouses that run gardening clubs all year. Having this prior knowledge will help as you begin to plan your own garden or present your ideas to administration for their approval.

 

The following networks need to be better established in order to encourage more schools to introduce food and gardening

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Funding – Schools: Currently, funding opportunities exist for schools however, they are not well known and if consolidated into one space, would make it easier for schools to access.

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Experts/mentors - Schools: Once funding is established, schools would benefit from the support of a local expert. This relationship will help maintain the garden, inform students and teachers and increase productivity. 

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What can you do with the food?

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• Check out food banks/shelters in your local area to see if they can accept fresh produce.

• Is there a local cafeteria in your division willing to use the produce? They could have a special featuring something the garden has grown as an ingredient.

• Do you have students or families that regularly access nutritional support that could use some fresh produce?

• A tasting table which spotlights some food related issue while allowing students to try some fresh locally grown produce from the school garden.

• Welcome the community by way of signage to walk through and take a small sample but be respectful.

• Hold a potluck that is supplemented with some of the produce from the garden as a school kick-off in September. (our school does this)

• Using produce for a school-wide breakfast program. (our school does this)

• Plan ahead with your recipe in mind for a home-economics class.  (our school does this)

• Plant vegetables that can be canned or frozen to use during the winter! (zucchini bread is a school favourite)

 

Do we have to build a school garden to encourage deep learning about food?

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There are many smaller projects that could be considered to get students thinking about food and the environment. Below are a few suggestions:

Smaller indoor gardens could be started to grow herbs or starter seeds for kids to take home

Green Action Centre in Winnipeg has been helping schools do waste audits for the past three years. These audits reveal not only the amount of waste produced in a 24-hour period but also what is being thrown away. At our school we were shocked by the amount of food waste much of it perfectly good. We also realized that there is a need for composting in the school.

Visit a local farm, market or organic delivery centre to learn about what they do.

Consider looking at Fair Trade products within your school. A local high school in Winnipeg managed to get their school Fair Trade Certified.