Learning Gardens
Our Learning Gardens program took off in 2017 with the help of financial aid from the B.C.’s Grow Local Program. Our goal was to deliver experiential local food and gardening workshops to over 600 elementary school students in the Bulkley Valley School District.
We began with Groundbreakers producing a northern BC food security and gardening educational kit titled Kids Dig Food: Know it, Sow it, Grow it, Eat it! to assist in mentoring teachers in the learning potential of gardens and the production of food. Now the Learning Gardens Program is integrated in elementary school gardens across our community, thanks to key funders like the Wetzink’wa Community Forest Corporation.
The Learning Gardens Program is a core deliverable of Groundbreakers to foster local food appreciation and curiosity in elementary students and their families. As part of the Learning Gardens Program, we develop and lead hands-on workshops to teach about where our food comes from, getting to know local agriculture and producers, gardening and soil study, and the harvesting and cooking of foods grown in school gardens and by local producers.
Groundbreakers June Salad Days and fall Harvest Soup days are regular highlights of the outcomes of the school gardens and the learning workshops.