Start a School Garden

What is a school garden?

Simply put a school garden is a garden on the school property. It may be a flower garden or a vegetable garden or both. The choice is up to the people who plant and tend the garden; the students with guidance and advice from teachers and parents.

A school garden is an excellent way for the parents to become involved in the school that their child(ren) attends. The garden can be a container garden, raised bed or planted directly into the ground, once again the choice belongs to the gardeners taking into consideration the available resources, such as the amount of land available and the type of land as well as the amount of time that can be dedicated to gardening.

The school garden can complement the learning experience as there are many lessons that can be based upon the garden. For one thing, students can learn how to work together to plan, plant and care for the garden.

How to get started?

The impetus for the garden may come from a teacher, a parent or a student. For the garden to work all must be involved. Regardless of who initiates the project, the school principal must be involved and the principal’s permission is essential.

If a teacher starts the project and gets the principal on board then the next step is to rally other teachers and plan a public meeting.

The students’ parents are invited to that meeting in order to inform them about the project and get them interested. Have them bring their children as well so all the concerned parties are in the room.

You will need to give them information such as the size of the garden and were on the school grounds it will be located. Having a clear purpose for the garden may help; for example, will it be an edible plant garden, that can provide fresh food for the cafeteria; or will it be a native plant garden designed to introduce native plants into the area and encourage birds and butterflies.

The meeting begins with a quick overview of the project which includes the benefits that the students will receive from being involved. Then a question and answer period followed.

Be sure to have a sign-up sheet handy for any parents who want to help with the garden, their assistance will be invaluable over the summer months.

If a student or group of students are eager to start a garden on the school grounds, the first step is to talk with a teacher and get his or her support; once that is done then the process becomes the same as the above for the teacher-initiated garden.

If a parent or parents are interested in starting the garden, then the first step is to contact the school principal and any teachers you may know and arrange a meeting to discuss the project. A parent initiated garden may not need to hold a community meeting, as parents are already in the loop.

Once you have the principal’s permission and have students, teachers and parents o board, the final gardening decisions can be made. Decisions such as organic or not; what to plant can be worked out by the gardeners.

A school garden can provide an outdoor classroom, a source of healthy food or habitat for local wildlife or the best, all three. There are enough examples of successful school gardens around to know that it is a win-win situation for your child’s education.

Gardening can help build a child’s confidence, engage their imagination, make new friends and enhance the school property.

Native Plants: Resources

Canadian Wildlife Federation: http://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/encyclopedias/native-plant-encyclopedia/

The US- Audubon https://www.audubon.org/native-plants

NWF: https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/about/native-plants

Wildflowers (US) https://www.wildflower.org/

Canada: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/native-plants-of-canada.html

The Native Plant Garden, Benefits

a native plant garden will:

• increase biodiversity;
• provide habitat for a wide variety of creatures such as birds and butterflies;
• provide a home for many native plants that are becoming increasingly rare in the wild;
• conserve water;
• and eliminate the need for chemical inputs such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

The other important reasons for using native plants are the practical and aesthetic benefits of native plant gardening: less work and lots of beauty!

Permaculture: Ethics: Earthcare 2

A wise gardener grows soil. Growing and nurturing soil is part of Earthcare and one of the most important actions we can undertake.

"According to 2017 study by the University of Basel, the European Commission -- Joint Research Centre and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH, UK), almost 36 billion tons of soil is lost every year due to water, and deforestation and other changes in land use make the problem worse..."  source

A little reading.

No space to grow, then take an inventory of your food habits. How much food do you toss away? 

"Consumers also squander huge amounts. As much as 37% of animal products and potentially a fifth of fruit and vegetables may be wasted after being purchased, according to the FAO. Rich nations have higher levels of waste due to limited shelf life or poor consumer planning, while poorer countries typically grapple with climate and infrastructure issues."  source

Ecosystem restoration may well be the most effective method we have for combating climate change and for practising Earthcare. The next post will go into some detail on the why and how.

World Food Day

Today October 16, 2019, is World Food Day.  

No one should be hungry. We can end hunger through cooperative and regenerative actions.

Photo: Late Season Visitor

Stepped out on my deck today and spotted this guy visiting sunflower

Permaculture Ethics: Earth Care, Part One.

The phrase "Think globally, act locally". come to mind when you are planning to incorporate Earth Care into your life. You do not need to be a permaculture designer to work with the three permaculture ethics, People Care, Earth Care and Fair Share.

Reduce, better yet, eliminate your use of single-use plastics. This is simple enough to do. Do not by bottled water, for a start. If the tap water is unfit to drink where you live, then you will need to filter or boil it, but the next thing you need to do is engage in non-violent political action to support your right to drinkable water. Water is a human right and our politicians have an obligation to honour that right.

Eliminate the amount of garbage you toss away, after all, there really is no such place as away. We are all inhabitants of one planet. Everything is connected. Reduce, reuse, repurpose, compost. I

Composting turns what is called waste into valuable, organic material, any garden will love. This act of adding compost to t e soil is a great way to take care of the Earth.

Harvest rainwater. Don't let it run away down that asphalt driveway, use it to water the ornamental garden, or lawn, if you must have one, create a rain garden. Do some research on rainwater harvesting before you set up a system.

Permaculture Ethics: People Care

Be kind. This is a good place to begin. Treat people with respect and dignity. Do not demean them even if they are demeaning you. By all means, protect yourself but think before you act. Are you under attack? Or, is the perceived attacker having a bad day and venting.

You do not have to like a person or sit down for coffee with them, in order to respect their rights. Be polite and stay civil.

Poverty is one of the greatest issues impacting our society. Racism and other discriminatory behaviours and beliefs are serious impediments to getting anything done. 

How can we work together if we are divided along the lines, of gender, race, creed and so on?
And if we are going to combat poverty, hunger and homelessness, not to mention, the climate catastrophe that is upon us then cooperation among all beings is a must.

If you are a grower, add a row or at least a plant or two and donate that produce to a local food program. If you don't grow then buy a few extra cans and give them away, better yet, give the organization a bit of cash. they are best suited to know what they need.

Smile.

Say please and thank you, when appropriate.

Vote for political parties that want to eradicate the evils of poverty and hunger. If no party has a platform that does this, then advocate. Write letters, make phone calls, tweet and so on.

Organize potluck suppers, share your yard with a gardener who has insufficient space.

Join or start a community garden.

Shop local.

How can you honour the People care ethic?

Beyond the War on Invasive Species

I just started to read Tao Orion's book, "Beyond the War on Native Species." This quote needs to be shared.

"Ecosystems should be restored by every action we take and decision we make, including the methods we use t procure our food, shelter, water and other necessities of daily life. Restoration should be designed into every facet of our lives." p.9 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25.

 

"(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."

Articles 26 and 27 should also be read.

source

I see the ethics of permaculture in alignment with this existing Declaration. Next post I will discuss People Care and how it is supported by the Universal Declaration.

Pollinators, a Very Short Story.

The hot wind gently shook the flowers. The weather had been dry and exceptionally warm for the past week.  We saw a lone bee buzzing around one sunflower. This was a surprise because we knew that bees and other pollinators were experiencing a major die off. A die-off that was so serious, people were beginning to worry about their food supply.

Native Plant Gardening

Your Garden is an Ecosystem

What you choose to plant in the garden matters. Your garden is an ecosystem and you are one, a major one, but one of the ecosystem's components. Each change you make to the garden matters. When you add or remove plants you impact all the other beings that rely on your garden for food and shelter.

Ecosystems are complex, possibly too complex for us to be able to understand all the connections and actions and interactions that take place within them.

If we do not know what will happen if something changes, it makes no sense to rush in and make those changes.

Bob Ewing photo.

Pollination:

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower. Pollination is a must if the flower is to be fertilized.

Fertilization is necessary if the plant’s flower is to produce seeds and seeds are needed to produce more plants.

The honey bee is not a native to North America and our growing dependence upon the honey bee to provide pollination services as lead to our forgetting the native bees that are able to perform this function and in some cases even better than the honey bee.

Now, one way that the gardener can attract native bees such as the bumblebee or mason bee is to create a garden that appeals to them.

This is a fundamental principle for attracting any type of wildlife whether it is, bee or butterfly the garden will design a garden that meets the needs of the beings and they will move in.

The Native Plant Garden

You do not have to include only native plants in the garden. If your garden is already established, no problem, add a few natives in the border or at the back, wherever they work best in the overall design.

If you include native plants that appeal to native bees and other pollinators in your garden you will be encouraging the native bees to visit and that is all you need them to do, drop by and do their thing and then move on.

If you grow vegetables on any scale adding some bee plants to the edges of your vegetable patch will bring the pollinators your way.

When you garden in this ecological manner, and by that I mean you think about creating an ecosystem rather than a garden, you move closer to being one with Nature and serving a vital role in the food chain that goes beyond personal consumption.

What the gardener is in fact doing is creating an ecosystem that meets the pollinators' needs. The pollinators reward the gardener by fertilizing the plants and thus making sure they grow and produce flowers or fruit.

The best way to attract native pollinators is first finding out what pollinators are native to where you live. Then find out what attracts them or what plants they like. A trip to the public library can help or horticultural society or perhaps even a garden centre.

The third step is to design a garden that incorporates a few of those plants that the bee is attracted to and plant them.

Creating a native plant garden is no different than creating any other garden. If you are new to gardening or looking for a refresher check this post out.

Fair Shares: Permaculture Ethics

The best explanation of the Fair Shares ethics begins: "By governing our own needs, living within limits and consciously co-creating, we can create surplus resources to further the other key permaculture ethics (Care for the Earth and Care for People). 

Living within limits is not about limiting people's free movement, tight border controls and one-child policy. It is about conscious efforts to achieve a stable human inhabitation of the Earth and respecting the genuine needs of other beings. " source

Accepting and designing human environments to incorporate the rights of human, and all other beings, to water, clean air, adequate and appropriate shelter, education for all, and healthcare, for example, is how we honour the Fair Share ethics.

Fair Shares is essential if we are to achieve the other two ethics, People Care and Earth Care. What can you do to actively embrace the Fair Share ethic?