A Canadian Foundation
A Canadian Foundation
Moncton, New Brunswick
Please describe your garden, is it raised beds, in the ground, do you have a greenhouse?
We started with raised beds. We have 16 currently, and started a small in ground garden patch last spring that produced lots of butternut squash for us!
We are currently purchasing a 20' greenhouse as well!
We are growing microgreens and hydroponics in the classroom.
What grade levels worked in the garden and did you or another teacher link some of your curriculum outcomes to the garden?
Intro to Agriculture
Environmental Science
Nutrition for Healthy Living
Culinary Tech (*through preparing some of the food and contributing to our compost).
What vegetables/fruit do you grow in your garden? What do you have a difficult time growing in your school garden?
We grew a lot of different things! But, we are going to focus more of foods that will be used for the lunch program! Currently, the culinary tech. teacher is piloting a small lunch program as a band-aid to combat some of the food insecurity within our school community. With a federally funded lunch program, we will aim to grow more fall ready foods like squash, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli, turnip, tomatoes, and so forth.
We had difficulty with green peppers (I think blossom rot) and broccoli being eaten by cabbage moth or going to seed, and some beans didn't get picked on time.
Why did your school decide to add a school garden?
We now have an agriculture class, so it is a great addition to the class. But, we did have a garden previously that was started for extracurricular purposes.
What classes participate in the garden, what subjects are taught in the garden?
Intro to Agriculture
Environmental Science
Nutrition for Healthy Living
Culinary Tech (*through preparing some of the food and contributing to our compost).
Who manages the garden day to day? Who manages the garden over the Summer break?
Teacher and the Intro to Agriculture class for the day to day.
Summer is more of a challenge. We would like to install irrigation systems down the road. For now, school staff have signed up for 1 or 2 weeks of the summer to stop by a couple of times and water. This was difficult with our drought this summer.
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 have prepared salsa, pesto, pumpkin bread, salads, and pickled turnips! We donate most to culinary tech for the lunch program, and some students and staff have taken some as well.
Do you have community involvement? Do you have parents and volunteers? Have been able to source other funding to help your garden grow?
We sourced a grant from the Whole Kids Foundation of $3500. This was quickly spent on the greenhouse.
We currently do not have volunteers outside of the school community.
What are your future plans for the school garden?
To expand and provide rich learning opportunities, and to increase food production that will be used to feed our school community. I think a student run cafe would be a wonderful outcome!
Any words of encouragement/tips for a school starting a school garden?
I guess just get started! Start small and build capacity. There is a lot of support out there in terms of education and grants. It is a time commitment, but a very rewarding and ever-changing pursuit that is worthwhile. What I love most is seeing students outside of the classroom and school, away from their devices, working together to create something! I have noted that being outside and working in this way can transcend the social barriers present in schools, and have truly enjoyed seeing students collaborate. We had couple of salamanders living in our small tool shed, which was a big hit with the students!
Nutrients for Life is supported by:
The translation of our website has been made possible by the Government of Canada
