Two years ago the Queen Mary Community Garden was built in North Vancouver. Included in the garden were four large plots dedicated to the students at Queen Mary Elementary School – right next door. The Edible Garden Project had been working with the students at Queen Mary Elementary for a number of years as part of our “Fed Up” program that focuses on growing food and healthy eating.
We partner with the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company to deliver activities and hands on healthy snack making in the classroom. Students get the opportunity to try out new and simple recipes made with ingredients straight from the garden.
Outside, students take part in planning, planting, and maintaining the garden plots for their classroom. We work with students from grade 3, 5, and 7. They each have a compost bucket in their classrooms that they empty in the garden composters. It’s a great way to learn about closing the loops between food waste and helping their garden grow.
Our Fed Up program is unfunded, which has made it difficult to dedicate the resources and time to the program to really make it grow! We would love to be able to offer Fed Up to more schools when we secure adequate funding. In particular, we are enthusiastic to offer our program at Brooksbank Elementary School because they’re located right beside our new Loutet Farm. Children at this elementary school will have the chance to explore, play and taste at the farm. Our ‘all season long’ programming will give them a taste of where food comes from, how it’s produced, why healthy food is so important. Plus, they’ll get to help real, live urban farmers at work!
We’re entered in the Nature’s Path Gardens for Good contest, offering three prizes totalling $65,000. You can vote every day from now until September 30th if you would like to support expanding our Fed Up program and Loutet Farm! VOTE NOW!
