This is the story of a school garden and how it inspired teachers, students and their parents to think about food, where it comes from and how food choices influence health.
Summerville, Nova Scotia was founded in 1784. This area was settled because of its proximity to two natural resources: the sea and the soil.
The sea for its bounty of fish, the soil which was excellent for growing crops and raising livestock. Over most of the last two centuries children in this area were raised close to the land and sea. Much of what they ate came from their own or neighbours’ homes. They knew what went into producing the food on their tables. Most children helped their parents farm or fish. Their lives were intertwined with the food they ate and the seasons.
Over the last fifty years that relationship with their environment and the food they eat has changed for many of the children in this community. Food has become something you buy, not something you grow or catch. The wonder of watching a seed grow to become food on your plate has been replaced by a weekend car ride to a supermarket. And with that; nutrition has taken second place to packaging, advertising or the popularity of a food product. Seasons don’t mean much anymore, most foods are available year ‘round.
And, if this is true in the country it is even more pronounced in the cities and towns where fast food is available on every corner bringing with it access and excess. The impact on eating habits and health are only too evident and worrisome to many education professionals.
Three years ago Hazel Dill, Principal of Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary School in Summerville, Hants County and Kathy Aldous, Health Program Coordinator for the Hants Shore Community Health Centre, decided to reintroduce the students to the process of growing their own food. They started an organic vegetable garden in the school yard. Students from all grades decided which seeds to plant, tended the garden and harvested the produce. Teachers were encouraged to use the garden as a tool to teach parts of the curriculum. A healthy lunch program was developed using ingredients from the garden whenever possible.
The results have been dramatic. Hazel Dill says that “the students have become excited about the garden, mentor each other on how to tend the garden and have started making healthy choices about what they eat.” Kathy Aldous says that “the nutritional value of the school garden program has gone beyond the school yard. Children have brought the lessons of the garden home to their families and the community at large.” Attitudes towards nutritional eating are changing. As Kathy Aldous says, “The look of pleasure on a child’s face when he or she tries a new food for the first time and likes it or seeing a grade 6 student bouncing into the kitchen and announcing that this is the best school because they get to cook, bring it all home.”
This 20 minute video will follow a year in the life of the garden at Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary School. Through planning, seed selection, planting, tending and harvesting we will see the students deal with and learn from the successes and failures inherent in gardening. But more importantly, we will see the benefits of the garden find their way into the lives of the children and their community. The climax of the video will be the meal prepared by the students for themselves and members of the community in the school kitchen with the help of Wolfville Chef, Michael Howell of Tempest restaurant.
This video will be told by and through the students. It will be a journey of hope, expectation, hard work, trials and tribulations and rewards. The tangible reward will be a meal and reaction to it. The deeper reward will be re-establishing an understanding of and connection between the food a community consumes and the possibilities of a healthier lifestyle.
Where will the video be seen?
This video will be made available to schools and School Boards, the Nova Scotia Department of Education, the Nova Scotia Department of Health, N.S. Health Promotion and Protection and all other interested groups who want to work with Slow Food Nova Scotia on the distribution of this video to meet their particular needs and objectives.
If your organization is interested in this project please contact Michael Howell or Dela Erith at mail@slowfoodns.ca
Somewhere along the way I learned that the Summerville school garden project vieo is being officially released early May. Is this a public event? I am a PH Nutrtionist in the Colchester East Hants area and would like to learn more about this project.