Teens cultivate character, cukes
THEY'RE teens who didn't know the difference between a zucchini and a cucumber. But a program at Winnipeg's FortWhyte Alive, has a group of inner-city teens rolling up their sleeves, getting dirty, and savoring the vegetables of their labour.
"We want to help them increase their self-reliance by teaching them to grow their own food," said Ian Barnett, special programs manager at FortWhtye Alive.
Barnett and his team have spent the last four years helping Winnipeg teens learn the principles of eco-friendly urban agriculture on the farm at FortWhyte. The idea is to teach them responsibility, nurturing, and caring for themselves and their families.
The teens tend the gardens, help with beekeeping to collect honey, and sell their harvest at the FortWhyte farmers' market.
FortWhyte hired seven teens as full-time interns for the summer.
Barnett said he sees a lot of side benefits of the program.
"I can see a difference in maturity levels, leadership skills, and even complete changes in personality," he said.
FortWhyte Alive’s young gardeners: (Back row, from left) Rose Meekis, Brent McCann, Candace Harper, Lawrence Meekis, Stewart Monias, Ethan Nobiss. (Front row, from left) Ian Barnett, Jesse Gair, Leo Eaglestick, Debbie Thiessen.
On Wednesday, the teens learned about giving back when they donated vegetables and cooked dinner for the Siloam Mission downtown.
Leo Eaglestick, 18, has been with the program for the last three years and said it's important to him because he learns about growing his own food.
"I'm trying to take something back to my reserve," he said. "I can teach them to farm and then they don't have to depend as much on food from outside sources."
This is 18-year-old Ethan Nobis's first year with the program and he said he has had a lot of fun with it.
"The atmosphere is very chummy and friendly," he said.
Nobis said he's never gardened before and agreed that the food he grows tastes better than what comes from the grocery store.
"We've made jam and quesadillas, and we've had to figure out what to do with all the zucchini. We've got a lot of zucchini," he said.
But the teens said it's also a lot of hard work.
"I'm very tired at the end of the day, especially when we work with the bees," said 16-year-old Lawrence Meekis, adding that he's been stung twice this summer.
"But I really enjoy it," he said. "It's good to work there."
nisha.tuli@freepress.mb.ca
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