As we approach the coming garden season I would like to pose a few questions to everyone in the hope that some ideas can be shared between those teachers who built gardens last year, and those new teachers on the Footprint Garden project who might be wondering about a few things as we 'step' closer to the build days!
I will of course be working dilligently to answer some of these questions myself, and also to help clarify the best ways that I can be supporting the Footprint Gardens moving forward.
However, as Janet Gibson at Gledhill has demonstrated with her school-wide seedling start-plan(it was brilliant), I find the ideas coming from teachers are of a much different quality, relevance, and voice for the project.
Moreover, I am often overwhelmed reconciling the micro vs macro solutions to the challenges of a working with a group of ten schools, some of which have only recently come on board the project and who are engaged in playing 'catch-up'.
Without daily access to students and your school environment and my availability being spread more thinly through the coming months, it is becoming more challenging for me to implement creative solutions that will provide your each garden commitee and school with accurate and effective leadership.
So, it is getting very exciting indeed! From my experience with recent visits to L'amoreaux and Warden Ave, the need for children to be engaged in meaningful activity developing a place to call their own is evidenced by their joy in being outside!
Lets all pull together and support one another to ensure this spirit continues through to the fall!
Some Questions for School Garden Coordinators, both old and new.
1. Have you created a summer stewardship plan? If so, what does this look like? eg setting up a Watering schedule-Watering Wednesdays? Harvest Fridays? Weedy Weekends?
2. Have you planned any celebrations for your gardens? What are some neat ways that you will attract passionate people in your community to join in the garden fun?
3. Have you sat down with people in your school/garden commitee to brainstorm the many tasks that might be involved in building and sustaining a garden?
4. What garden/community tasks have you got your parents involved with? What works?
5. How will you try to spread the workload evenly amongst garden commitee and community members?
6. What are your plans with the food that you grow?
7. How are the seedlings going? When is the best time to put them in ground?
8. Where can Foodshare's support be improved? What things do you feel ok to handle your own?
9. Have you thought about creating a system to keep track of community people on school grounds? Perhaps some colorful garden name-tags would work!
10. What school or community events are upcoming that could host a small info table or presentation on your school garden?
11. How do you feel about the project? Have you connected with your Toronto Public Health Nurse/Garden Coordinator about ways they might be able to support you?
12. Since participation in the Footprint Garden project guarantees delivery for each school-community six Foodshare Workshops that are open to the public, (Home and School Composting, Local Food in the Community, Organic Gardening, Trees: Nature's Tools for a Healthy Climate, Water Conservation, and Modeling Sustainable Food Habits)...
Have you considered the possibility of incorporating some of the above workshops into your summer garden programme?
Cheers
Michael
