"If we had our own garden we could grow whatever we wanted and eat it for snack!"
This simple statement by a young student brought about a wonderful idea of creating an organic, permaculture-inspired edible ecosystem A.K.A. a garden.
We were updating the snack menu for our school age program and the children were getting frustrated by the limitation of the snack budget and the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables through the year.
These frustrations brought forth a statement from a child that would change our snack program forever! He said, "If we had our own garden we could grow whatever we wanted and eat it for snack!" Here sprouted the idea of a
school garden which we could use to supplement our snack menu with nutritious, delicious FRESH food. Our idea grew and grew as we discussed ways to use our project to help the earth as we maintain our garden. This is where we came up with creating an organic, permaculture-inspired edible ecosystem. Our attempts of gathering information for a grant in the fall ran short, but this spring we were successful in obtaining a grant through Promise Years which will allow us to construct, implement and maintain the
project for this year and years to come. Some of the ideas we have are to used gardening raised beds and an herb spiral to grow various vegetables, herbs and fruits. Eventually we plan to add apple and pear trees, a comfortable sitting area and a greenhouse. Our current recycling and composting projects will be used within our edible ecosystem. The cardboard we have saved will be used in the place of landscaping fabric, composted materials will be used to supplement the soil and rain water
will be collected and used for watering. Construction is set to begin at the beginning of June for the raised gardening beds, local businesses and volunteers are being used where possible for materials and construction. Guy Williams (principal) and Marcel Deslaurier of the Souris School have
generously provided us with an area in front of the school where our edible ecosystem will flourish and help enhance the learning experiences of everyone at the school including math and science, soil ecology and statistics. Beginning in Nursery School and growing with each student as they progress through school we hope to assist in teaching a basic to advanced program about permaculture, organic growing and plant maintenance.
Stayed tuned for more posts and learn along with us as we create and implement this earth-friendly project.
This simple statement by a young student brought about a wonderful idea of creating an organic, permaculture-inspired edible ecosystem A.K.A. a garden.
We were updating the snack menu for our school age program and the children were getting frustrated by the limitation of the snack budget and the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables through the year.
These frustrations brought forth a statement from a child that would change our snack program forever! He said, "If we had our own garden we could grow whatever we wanted and eat it for snack!" Here sprouted the idea of a
school garden which we could use to supplement our snack menu with nutritious, delicious FRESH food. Our idea grew and grew as we discussed ways to use our project to help the earth as we maintain our garden. This is where we came up with creating an organic, permaculture-inspired edible ecosystem. Our attempts of gathering information for a grant in the fall ran short, but this spring we were successful in obtaining a grant through Promise Years which will allow us to construct, implement and maintain the
project for this year and years to come. Some of the ideas we have are to used gardening raised beds and an herb spiral to grow various vegetables, herbs and fruits. Eventually we plan to add apple and pear trees, a comfortable sitting area and a greenhouse. Our current recycling and composting projects will be used within our edible ecosystem. The cardboard we have saved will be used in the place of landscaping fabric, composted materials will be used to supplement the soil and rain water
will be collected and used for watering. Construction is set to begin at the beginning of June for the raised gardening beds, local businesses and volunteers are being used where possible for materials and construction. Guy Williams (principal) and Marcel Deslaurier of the Souris School have
generously provided us with an area in front of the school where our edible ecosystem will flourish and help enhance the learning experiences of everyone at the school including math and science, soil ecology and statistics. Beginning in Nursery School and growing with each student as they progress through school we hope to assist in teaching a basic to advanced program about permaculture, organic growing and plant maintenance.
Stayed tuned for more posts and learn along with us as we create and implement this earth-friendly project.