PACT GROW-TO-LEARN SCHOOLYARD GARDENS ANNUAL REPORT FALL 2015 Despite our best efforts, the garden would not be the amazing space it is today without the support of PACT and its donors. - Teacher, Elmbank PS PACT has enriched my scope of teaching and learning tremendously and I thank them for the opportunities and memories we have created together. - Teacher, John Polanyi CI
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Overall Statistics for all Five Gardens 2. 2015 Improvements & New Initiatives 3. Garden Expansions 4. Garden Bucks 5. Sorauren Farmer s Market 6. Schoolyard Garden Markets 7. New Orchards & Fruit Tree Guilds 8. TDSB Focus on Youth Students 9. Testimonials & Support
Overall Statistics for all Five Gardens: Student visits to all five gardens: 7500 Court referred youth volunteers: 6 Regular community volunteers: 64 Paid youth working in the gardens: 32 Curriculum linked workshops: 60 Volunteer hours: 3655 Corporate groups/community group visits: 10 Outside organizations utilizing the space: 10+ How much produce was grown in total: 20,198 lbs 2015 Improvements & New Initiatives John Polanyi CI (JPCI) As the largest GTL schoolyard garden, JPCI boasts an amazing 1.5 acres of growing space! With an outdoor kitchen, dining table and composting toilet, thousands of students, teachers, community volunteers, neighbours and local groups are able to utilize the space each year, making it an active community resource and gathering place. Community Compost Program Our Kitchen Scraps to Fresh Food program has been widely successful in getting more people into the gardens, in finding a more ethical way to distribute fresh produce to those in need and in producing our own compost (40 yards in 2015). Five compost markets were held throughout the season where community members could trade kitchen waste for market dollars that could be used to purchase garden goods. Outdoor Kitchen, Toilet and Event Space The outdoor kitchen at JPCI was revamped and a rocket stove was added to our cob kitchen appliances. We can now fry, sauté, boil and bake in the garden. We also built a beautiful, glass lit outdoor composting toilet that allows us to hold outdoor events at our 24 person table! We also figured out a system to run lights and music for night time events.
Fibonacci Herb Spiral Garden Using abandoned stumps and tree waste, we built a herb spiral garden that follows the golden ratio. It has become a great teaching tool for math and art classes. Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA) The business class organized and ran a Spring & Fall Community Supported Agriculture program. For $25/week, members would get approximately $30 of fresh, local, organic produce. For every share that was sold, a share was donated to the community. Students helped plant, harvest and fill the weekly bags. Their business plan model even won the Sage Canada Youth Entrepreneurship competition. They went on to represent their school and community on a global level in Seoul, South Korea. Chef Series Various chefs use the outdoor kitchen space and garden as a platform to design and showcase farm to table dinners. The event was hugely successful with many more planned for next season! New and reinforced coop for our schoolyard chickens Planted and established new raised beds to almost double the growing space Planted over 50 fruit trees and shrubs throughout the garden which over the next decade will produce thousands of pounds of fresh fruit!
Hands On Learning in the John Polanyi CI Garden + Grade 1, Flemington ES - For four years this class has been using the garden to help children connect to nature and food. The children write about their experiences and learn new words like decomposition or organic. They come out weekly throughout the entire season learning to respect bees, how to make compost or care for chickens. The noticeable difference in the kids behavior, listening skills, writing abilities and decision making skills after just a few visits in the garden is phenomenal. + Grade 11/12 Technology Class designed scan-codes; which when scanned with a smart phone, they could directly link students and community members to online recipes; information, harvest times and pests for any plant in the garden. + Photography classes link much of their work into documenting seasonal change in the garden and allowing students an outdoor space to learn photo techniques and to take worm and bird eye view photos. + Art classes helped paint beautiful and informative signage for the garden, as well as helped build an outdoor cob oven. They learned about functional design in art, how to make cob and designed found mosaics on the outside of the oven. The project accumulated in a outdoor nacho lunch.
+ Career Class - Students learned about Urban Agriculture, outdoor education, and got to ask questions on different options and career paths for a variety of outdoor jobs and environmental education. + Travel and Tourism - Lessons included eco-tourism and land preservation. Talked about farm trusts, national parks, international preservation projects and the importance of supporting local communities. + Grade 4 Science Classes from local schools - Wild foraging and bio-diverse salads to highlight healthy eating and importance of biodiversity on small farms. + General Learning Skill (mixed grades) - Different garden projects promoting volunteering and building stronger friendship and relationships for everyday classroom activities. + ELS - Students helped build fruit guilds and plant over 40 new fruit trees and shrubs. It allowed a lot of students to share stories and experiences from home. + Biology - Students use the space to learn about plant identification, biodiversity, seed saving and to explore the Micro and Macro worlds that exist in the garden from the cellular level to the cycles of life s for bees. + Grade Nine Science students setup malaise insect traps to safety identify the diverse insect population of the garden. Each class also made worm compost bins for the classrooms during the winter months. + Math - This season we built a Fibonacci herb spiral. Classes would do math in nature workshops, learn about golden ratios and then try to find examples in the plants or insects throughout the garden. + English students wrote creation myths stories that they then recited in the garden. Also classes used the space for work and as an outdoor reading space. + Creative Writing classes would write creative pieces about what they observed by sitting and experience all the senses of the garden. + Food and Nutrition classes did edible tours and talks on soil that highlight nutritional content of wild edibles and how organic farming practices produce more nutrient dense foods. Classes also are working on canning, making pickles and sauerkraut along with baking in the cob oven. + Gym classes have been coming out and talking about how to eat as an athlete and explore ways to do out of the gym exercising (i.e. helping neighbors cut grass; working in the garden; getting physical labor jobs during the summer etc.)
Lakeshore CI (LCI) Sauerkraut Workshops, Pickle Making & Fermented Beans The FOYT students and garden volunteers from all five PACT gardens came together at Lakeshore for a sauerkraut workshop where over 200 pounds of cabbage was processed into sauerkraut. It was an educational experience in fermentation and the finished product was sold at our farmer's market table to raise funds for the garden program. The Culinary class at LCI, as well as other gardening groups participated in sauerkraut workshops. The final product was used as a key ingredient of one of the lunch specials in the cafeteria. We also made some pickles, fermented beans and learned to braid garlic. New Bicycle Trailer for Lakeshore Lakeshore garden received a new bicycle trailer that allowed the manager to pull up to 300lbs of produce. This allowed us to sell more produce at Sorauren Farmer's Market and make weekly deliveries to the food bank. Straw Bale Compost Bins One new straw bale compost bin had been added to the garden, able to hold a yard of finished compost. Sustainable Practices Employing sustainable practices and permaculture design with methods such as cover cropping, green manures, crop rotation, seed saving, composting and mulching. Installation of Culinary Herb and Pollinator Gardens A culinary herb garden was installed featuring eight perennial herbs, including oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, bergamot, rosemary, sorrel and angelica. Five perennial pollinator gardens were installed featuring native pollinator plants.
Elmbank Junior Middle School Communal Seating With the help of students, two picnic tables were made from scratch to add communal seating to the garden. Plans to add an overhead shade structure are being made for 2016. Seed Saving Elmbank students enthusiastically helped save over 15 different types of seeds for next year, from calendula flowers to radish seeds to sugar snap peas. Kids of all ages and abilities really loved discovering how plants preserve their own seeds and how we harvest seeds for winter and for the coming year. Our students also learned about how to prepare the garden for winter, helping to add compost and mulch to help the garden go to "sleep" for wintertime in order to make sure we have great soil for the spring. Thistletown CI Pollinator Gardens Established and improved a hedgerow of native flower species to support native beneficial insects and improve the curb appeal along the perimeter of the garden. Permanent Herb Garden Installed Expanded Compost System We acquired 50 straw bales and constructed new compost bins to to improve local waste diversion and reduce compost purchases/ and operating costs.
Circular Garden Pathway A new permanent circular pathway through the garden serves as a foundation of guided garden tours and increases interpretive signage to further improve educational functioning of the garden space. Hosted Various Creative & Culinary Arts Events West Humber CI Partnered with North York Harvest for Jour Vert Activities Partnered with Griffin Centre to provide work opportunities for at risk youth, as well as employed two TDSB Focus on Youth Summer students Partnered with Bese Saka Camp Ran after school garden program with parents that use the services of First Stage Child Care Centre Collaborated with technology class to build new artistic trellises and with nutrition teacher to facilitate a recipe book written by students using vegetables from the garden
GARDEN EXPANSIONS The growing and outdoor classroom space at two school gardens John Polanyi CI & Thistletown CI were expanded in 2015 bringing the combined growing space to over two acres! GARDEN BUCKS In consultation with all PACT garden managers a "Garden Bucks" system was implemented where students and community members who volunteer throughout the week receive "Garden Bucks" that can be traded for fresh produce at the garden markets. This system has worked great and gives students a real sense of pride and responsibility, and associates the fruits and vegetables in the garden as something to earn and get excited about receiving.
SORAUREN FARMERS MARKET This is the third year for PACT at the Sorauren Farmer's Market. Our FOYT students and volunteers gained valuable entrepreneurial experience from running the market stands and gained employable skills to add to their resumes. Again this year, we delivered our produce by bicycle, reducing our carbon footprint and exemplifying a lower impact method of transportation to students and the community. SCHOOLYARD GARDEN MARKETS All PACT gardens hosted student-run Schoolyard Garden Markets throughout the season. At LCI, caretaker staff assisted with access to the cafeteria walk in fridges after school hours to allow students participating in the after school garden club program to harvest the produce for the after school market, as well as food bank donations. JPCI staff and students integrated weekly garden markets with a compost trade program and Community Supported Agriculture pick up.
NEW SCHOOL ORCHARDS & FRUIT TREE GUILDS Well over 100 organic fruit trees and berry bushes including currants, elderberries, gooseberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, pears and more were planted at all five school gardens. Using the permaculture concept of companion planting or fruit tree guilds, the new trees and shrubs were planted strategically to maximize productivity of the spaces.
TDSB FOCUS ON YOUTH (FOYT) SUMMER STUDENTS In conjunction with the Toronto District School Board, twenty youth were paid to work in all five gardens throughout the summer, helping to maintain all aspects of the gardens while learning farming techniques. As well as working five days a week sowing, planting, picking and weeding, students also participated in the Sorauren Farmer's Market, community markets in the gardens, food bank deliveries and several sauerkraut making workshops.
Our school garden creates an opportunity for our JK/SK students to have experiences with nature that would not be available otherwise. They witness natural processes but also develop an empathy toward our environment and a developing love of the outdoors and nature. The kindergarten students look forward to "garden days" to assist and learn through hands on activities. - Christy Vuksinic. Teacher at Elmbank J.M.A. Our garden has become an important aspect of our school community. All of our students have been involved in the garden in some way. This is an opportunity children growing up in Rexdale don t normally have. It has brought joy and curiosity to them and the neighbourhood. Despite our best efforts, the garden would not be the amazing space it is today without the support of PACT and its donors. Because our time as teachers is so trained, we need the support of a dedicated team. Natalie is not only here regularly, but is also very knowledgable and engaging with the students. - Carla Wilkins, Teacher at Elmbank J.M.A Thanks to the generous support from THE CHAWKERS FOUNDATION Rotary Club of Etobicoke Rotary Club of Toronto