Growing Solutions Gardens
The CRD Climate Action Program and LifeCycles Project Society are proud partners in the Growing Solutions Project. Part of this initiative included supporting the Growing Schools educational program hosted by Lifecycles. During the spring of 2012, we constructed five new school vegetable gardens in the capital region!
After an application process in the
fall of 2011, the CRD and Lifecycles selected five schools to
participate in this program. Each of the s
uccessful schools developed a Garden Steering
Committee which participated in the planning, construction and
planting of their new gardens.
These gardens act as outdoor classrooms - they are educational tools used to engage students, teachers, parents and community members on how to grow food and provide "hands on" learning for students of all ages. This spring over 1,000 students were educated about food, health and climate change through this program!
The five new school gardens are located at:
- George Jay Elementary in the City of Victoria
- Willows Elementary in the District of Oak Bay
- Craigflower Elementary in the Town of View Royal
- Cloverdale Elementary in the District of Saanich
- Vancouver Island School of Art in the City of Victoria.
In addition, the Growing Solutions Project provided micro-grants to the support the expansion of four existing school garden programs at:
-
Fulford Community Elementary
- Lochside Elementary
- Salt Spring Elementary School
- St. Margaret's School
Check out photos of the new gardens and micro-grant recipients below!
The newly planted gardens, and excited students at George Jay Elementary:
Introducing the new veggie gardens at Willows Elementary:
Students getting the new gardens ready for planting at Craigflower Elementary:
Students, teachers and supporters at the Cloverdale Elementary planting day:
VISA students preparing their new community garden:
Micro-grant recipients Lochside Elementary used their funding towards new gardening tools, soil, seeds & plant starts for their courtyard project:
Salt Spring Island Elementary students installing fencing around their food forest:
Starters used in hanging baskets for micro-grant recipients, Fulford Elementary:
Micro-grant recipients mapping out a greenhouse at St. Margaret's:
The Growing Solutions project has been made possible through funding provided by The Keg Steakhouse and Bar. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Keg Restaurants Ltd.
