Plenty to share at Parc La Salle

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This article was published 16/09/2019 (2443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With cucamelons and potatoes in hand, students at Parc La Salle School are getting a lesson in food production and community caring.

In June, kids in Grades 3 and 4 plugged dozens of seedlings into a new set of raised vegetable gardens in front of the St. Norbert elementary school.

The project was taken on by multi-age teacher Nancy Estabrooks, who wanted to take the plant and soil systems curriculum out of the classroom.   

Estabrooks said her students were keen to get their hands in the dirt, and together they planned the garden, incorporating Indigenous agriculture practices in their design, with the intent to grow enough produce to host a school-wide meal.  

“Of course that’s dependant on how well it works,” Estabrooks said.

In the fall of 2018, a portion of the grounds at Parc La Salle was refurbished and old shrubs and foliage pulled out to make way for the new raised beds.

“We’ve been working towards changing those front gardens so they were more usable and accessible to the kids,” Estabrooks said. “We wanted to experiment this year with it, and next year we’ll do more intentional planting than this year, plant our own seedlings, and put them into the garden.”

Before school let out for the summer, students were responsible for watering and weeding, and with help from green thumbs on the school’s caretaking staff and parents in the community, the corn, beans, peas, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, squash, pumpkins and a few “mystery plants,” have blossomed over the summer.

The young gardeners said they’re proud of how the garden has developed and particularly enjoyed harvesting the potatoes and carrots.

“It’s been fun,” said Grade 4 student Owen, who with his brother Alec and parents tended to the garden over the summer. “It grew a lot, that’s all I can say.”

“It went from a two, to a solid 12,” added classmate Mimi.

Now that the fall harvest in full swing, students are contemplating how to best use the bounty: 350 potatoes, 200-plus cucamelons, a number of cucumbers, 95 carrots (although some had been picked by neighbours), and more.

“We’ve been doing math with the potatoes and the cucamelons,” Estabrooks said. “We figured out how many kids are in the school and how many cucamelons we had, and the kids divided them up today… and the kids went and shared with them what they are and talked to them about it.”

Once all the veggies are picked, Estabrooks said her classroom will decide what to prepare — whether that’s potato soup or stew — and with help from community volunteers will cook a dish for their peers.
Principal Teresa Hampton said the garden has helped reinforce a sense of community for students within the school and with neighbours.

“This term we’re talking about belonging as a classroom community and as a school community,” Hampton said. “So it’s being able to connect what’s happening in the classroom school-wide, and sharing in belonging.”