The St. Mary School community celebrated the launch of a much-anticipated community project last weekend.
The project is a garden on the grounds of the school, to be used by students as well as by seniors at their residence located next door.
The garden came about through a partnership with Agrium and through Breakfast Clubs of Canada. The school had put in a grant application and were awarded $10,500 to build a learning garden.
On Saturday morning, the garden construction was kicked off with a ground blessing ceremony. There were plans to actually start work that day, but the participants decided to hold off due to the cold and rainy conditions.
This is actually a pilot program for Agrium and for Breakfast Clubs of Canada. Amber Northcut with Agrium Inc. welcomed the chance to partner with Breakfast Clubs of Canada to help students gain knowledge about food.
“We have a chance to not only make sure that children have breakfast so that they start their day and are prepared to learn,” said Northcut, but “they’re also learning where their food comes from.”
Once constructed, there will be a mix of raised beds and in-the-ground garden plots at the location. A variety of fruits and vegetables will be grown, which students will incorporate into their breakfast programs.
Plants will include such things as peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons and a variety of other varieties.
Students will also be building relationships with seniors, who will mainly be involved in the maintenance and planting side of things.
The garden will be open throughout the year, with harvest happening in the fall. Regular maintenance will take place during the winter until planting is ready to resume.
Chalaine Halladay, a teacher at St. Mary School, said the students were excited to get involved. They have been picking out seeds and planting them and watching them grow already, and are looking forward to transplanting them to the garden.
“They’re going to be able to choose what’s going into their food and that kind of thing, and be able to see that go from the garden to the kitchen,” said Halladay.
It’s also valuable for the kids to learn that “they can do this on their own” and be able to “learn the skills to plant a garden and grow their own food.”
Every classroom will have its own raised bed and be involved in some way. The hope is this will be a long-term project where they can keep adding to the garden in future years.
Light of Christ Catholic Schools Director of Education Cory Rideout welcomed the garden project. Ideally, he’d like to see “every school have a garden similar to this. The educational value is second to none,”
Rideout also noted the proximity to the seniors home and the rest of the neighbourhood. He believes the garden will be “adopted and well looked after by the community here around St. Mary.”
