Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Please describe your garden, is it raised beds, in the ground, do you have a greenhouse?
We have a small greenhouse, raised beds, potato beds, a mud kitchen and a composter.
What vegetables/fruit do you grow in your garden? What do you have a difficult time growing in your school garden?
Cucumber, squash, potatoes, peas, butterfly garden, garlic, kale, raspberries, strawberries.
We have a hard time growing things that need a lot of sunny weather and warmer temperatures.
Why did your school decide to add a school garden?
We were hoping to increase land based learning opportunities and experiential learning with activities in the garden. Seeing that you can tie so many curriculum components into garden projects, it was a great way to work on increasing food literacy in our school.
What classes participate in the garden, what subjects are taught in the garden?
Mainly kindergarteners participate in the garden at Conrad. Lessons are tied in to science, observational skills, literacy (stories about food), hands on learning with cooking lessons, lessons about community (social studies) etc...
Who manages the garden day to day? Who manages the garden over the Summer break?
Our two kindergarten teachers mainly manage the gardens day to day. In combination with the District Food Coordinator, the garden gets managed over the summer break.
What do you do with the harvest from your garden? Do you have a harvest celebration? Do you use it in the cafeteria, or culinary classes? Do you donate some of the produce?
We did not have enough produce to donate any. The class harvested the potatoes and made hashbrowns for a snack one day. The peas were harvested and preserved for use in another school meal.
Do you have community involvement? Do you have parents and volunteers? Have been able to source other funding to help your garden grow?
We do have other funders that have supported the garden in the past. As for parents and volunteers, we haven't been very successful at recruiting consistent volunteers for our garden. The hope in the future is that the garden can be involved in community programming run in collaboration with the city's civic recreation programming.
What are your future plans for the school garden?
We hope to continue to use it as a teaching and learning space. Ultimately, I would love to see the garden become more productive and be able to integrate some of the produce into the meals programs.
Any words of encouragement/tips for a school starting a school garden?
Keep at it! Have a long term vision that doesn't need to happen right away, but that can be built upon one step at a time.
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