Course:LFS350/Projects/2021-Term2/EGP

Project Title

Small-scale crop planning for North Shore school gardens

Related Course Concepts

Food justice, Food security, Asset-based community development

Organization Information

Organization Name

Edible Garden Project

Mission and Vision of Organization

EGP mission: To work together to meet the grassroots needs of our neighbours, especially our most vulnerable residents, to build a safe, healthy, and strong community. EGP vision: Our vision is an inspired culture that celebrates and experiences growing and sharing fresh, healthy food for all in the North Shore community.

Guiding Principles + Values

- To cultivate a network of people growing and sharing local food on the North Shore - To increase access to fruits, vegetables, and garden space for those most in need on the North Shore - To increase land used for fruit and vegetable production on the North Shore - To increase knowledge and skills relating to food gardening, thereby increasing community capacity to grow and share locally grown fruits and vegetables - To advise on and support policy development around urban agriculture

Contact Information

• Primary Contact Person(s): Stephanie Korolyk
• Email: [[1]]
• Phone: 250-891-1098 (cell) or 604-987-8138 ext 231 (office)  
• Address:  225 2nd St E
• Website:   http://ediblegardenproject.com/
• Secondary Contact Person: Claire McGillivray (She/Her)
• Secondary Contact Person Email: admin@ediblegardenproject.com

Preferred Method of Contact

• Best method(s) to contact: Email
• Best day(s) to contact:Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
• Best time(s) to contact: Mornings, Afternoons

Preferred Platform(s) for Remote Collaboration

• EGP does not currently have a Zoom Premium account, but I'm fairly certain the LFS students have access to this option?

Context: What challenge or issue does the project aim to address?

The Edible Garden Project (EGP) is a program based within the North Shore Neighbourhood House focused on food security and sustainability. We connect people with fresh, healthy food by cultivating a network that grows and shares food while supporting sustainable regional agriculture. Urban green spaces (i.e. gardens and farms) provide multifunctional benefits, being a valuable source of nature in cities and providing healthy local food while helping mitigate effects of climate change. Additionally, they create a sense of belonging, cultural identity, knowledge sharing, and social cohesion for community members. One of the main components of our organization is education. We aim to teach community members about the importance of local food systems through getting involved and immersing them in each step of the growing process. This occurs in a number of ways: school-based programs, adult workshops, farm visits & tours, volunteer drop-ins, internships, and more. The Edible Garden Education Program (EGEP) aims to connect elementary students to the joys of growing food in school gardens across the North Shore. In the 2019/20 school year, we visited 6 different schools once a month, leading themed, curriculum-linked, experiential activities with kids in all kinds of weather. Since the program only runs during the 10-month school year, and the most productive time in a garden is generally during the summer, we have to carefully plan what we grow and when to plant it. Each school has unique infrastructure and growing conditions in place, but we try to adapt depending on these considerations alongside the age group we teach and their unique goals, if specified. Teachers that partner with us often have little to no experience with gardening. While this isn’t a requirement to participate in our programs, it is difficult for us to fully maintain each school garden by only visiting once per month. Moreover, not all teachers feel they have the tools needed to regularly engage their classes outside and use the growing space effectively between visits. Many have requested additional resources to ensure their garden beds are utilized to the fullest capacity. We would like to more fully integrate our programs into schools by adapting our resources and making them accessible to teachers - a long-term goal of working in collaboration with LFS 350 students.

Main Project Activities

From our 13 years of experience delivering school-based programs, we understand that teachers need to feel supported to take their classes outside when EGEP lessons are not in session. This extra time spent in the garden is essential for the long-term sustainability of a school garden, but is often the most challenging aspect. When we provide teachers with accessible, fun, and low-risk ways to engage students outdoors, they are more likely to try, no matter the age or subject. In this project specifically, we want to help teachers understand the ways we engage in the garden throughout the year, and make a resource that’s clear, flexible, and directive. Improving our teacher-focused resources for the EGEP is a long-term project, so we’re starting with our crop plan. It’s where we begin to plan our year in the garden, and is a multi-functional resource for classes to reference and build upon. It can also be connected to many other learning extensions in the future, such as a recipe book. Students will help assess the resources the EGEP already references in planning school gardens. We currently don’t have a unified plan that we reference for schools in general; while there are many iterations of garden-based lessons and plans that exist, we would like to create something that encompasses the EGEP’s goals, themes, and lessons while recognizing our unique approach. Students will review different resources, and work with the Education Coordinator to integrate them with EGEP’s current curriculum.

Expected Project Deliverable(s)

By the end of the term, LFS 350 students will have created a multi-year crop plan focused on the unique challenges and opportunities presented in school-based gardens. Generally based around a 10-month school year (Sept-June), LFS students will carefully consider and plan a relevant guide to successful planting and harvesting that is accessible and appealing to teachers and volunteers involved with the EGEP - even those with minimal gardening experience. The crop plan will be a guiding document that is additionally connected to both EGEP’s current monthly themed lessons, and BC’s Curriculum. Beyond these important markers, the crop plan will be flexible in order to accommodate changes unique to each garden site as EGEP grows and reaches different schools throughout the North Shore.

Intended Project Outcome

Schools that currently partner with the EGP to bring garden-based education to their growing spaces will have a clear tool to better understand the rotation and best practices for success, no matter their individual infrastructure considerations. By having an accessible yet modifiable crop plan, teachers can be more involved with the school gardens that EGP visits monthly, and will feel more empowered in engaging their classes outdoors (especially outside of EGP lesson time). As the crop plan is implemented across schools, gardens will become more efficiently planted, with successful and timely harvests planned according to each school's unique calendar and goals. Teachers, volunteers, and students will be more involved in the plan, and will understand the garden more fully and holistically. This will help them know what to expect on when EGP visits to conduct lessons once per month.

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

• Preferred: Some garden knowledge, and/or interest in local, urban food systems and related biogeography of the North Shore; Some knowledge of the BC Curriculum, or willingness to navigate that education structure and apply to project
• Required: Research and critical thinking; Communication; Organization and time management

Student Assets and Skills (to be developed through the project)

• - An ability to take many resources/information sources into consideration and condense down into a concise, effective, and accessible learning tool in collaboration with a community organization and any other relevant stakeholders - Knowledge pertaining to local North Shore growing conditions, and the considerations needed for a functional garden in which rotation, succession, and inputs are incorporated at each steph - Curriculum knowledge and development while integrating BC’s Curriculum into year-round outdoor activities for student outdoor learning - Visually representing information, and using accessible language when designing learning material outside of a university-focused academic setting - Understanding the importance of food security, and community resilience through local food systems - even in urban environments - in the context of a nonprofit organization - A holistic and “systems thinking” approach to tackling globally relevant problems on a local scale (food security on the North Shore)

Are there any mandatory attendance dates (e.g. special event)?

• No, but ideally meeting on LFS 350 Flexible Learning Dates, and additionally as required

Is a criminal record search (CRS) required?

No

Required Reading

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Students should review these materials prior to the first partner meeting:

• P: http://ediblegardenproject.com/ Powell, L. J., & Wittman, H. (2018).
• Farm to school in British Columbia: mobilizing food literacy for food sovereignty. Agriculture and human values, 35(1), 193-206.
• The Power of Place, written by Conor McMullan (Director of Educational Programs at Cheakamus Centre in SD44). Published in the November 2020 issue of Principl(ed) Magazine via the BC Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association. Accessible here: https://www.sd44.ca/Pages/newsitem.aspx?ItemID=912&ListID=d00680b1-9ba1-4668-9328-d82dd27dacd4&TemplateID=Announcement_Item#/=

Additional Project/Partner Orientation Materials

The following will be provided at the first community partner meeting:

• Introduction to EGP’s current in-school program (“EGEP”), including the resources utilized to conduct the monthly themed lessons and connections to BC’s Curriculum Crop-planning tools (eg. https://www.westcoastseeds.com/pages/crop-planning-tool) School garden operation resources from similar organizations (eg. Rockridge Harvest Plan), via Google Drive folder

Expected Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

I hope students will learn about...

• How a non-profit organization runs experiential learning programs with diverse stakeholders and participants across the North Shore; How a successful garden-based program is organized, planned, and executed in a 10-month school year while utilizing space, harvest capabilities, and curriculum connections to an array of subjects; The importance of local food security (and food justice, and food sovereignty), and how teaching kids at a young age can spark a lifelong relationship to food systems, while better understanding their inherent and important role within those systems

I think students will come to appreciate...

• When running a place-based program, interest and input from participants, teachers, and volunteers can sincerely impact a program’s longevity and success through a system that is allowed to be flexible and accommodating to diverse needs within the program; The impact of outdoor learning, and the diversity of learning outcomes that may occur outside of the classroom; The impact of sharing knowledge about growing food, local diversity, and regional adaptations on a community’s resilience, thereby helping to mitigate local effects of climate change; The many varied ways in which local organizations operate, interact, and contribute to their communities. They are often found filling in gaps where programs otherwise would not exist, and are fantastic examples of people coming together, rallying around a common interest and passion

Through this project, students will develop...

• The ability to do research and learn more about local non-profit efforts to increase learning and understanding of food-related issues in our communities. In turn, LFS students help develop a long-term initiative, contributing valuable information to our organization and creating a more powerful and effective education program at the EGP; A solid understanding of the on-the-ground work being done to educate future leaders in a hands-on way, creating a capable future generation of kids who understand the intricacies of food systems, local ecologies, and community building; A “systems-based” approach to tackling projects and larger issues within the community

How does the student project contribute to your organization's mission and long-term vision?

• EGP is striving to create a food culture on the North Shore that celebrates and experiences growing and sharing fresh, healthy food for all – especially our youngest community members. One of the three pillars of our organization involves teaching others of all ages, with a major focus on elementaryaged students. The students of LFS 350 have a chance to contribute to the longevity and sustainability of EGP’s in-school education program by developing a new and much-needed resource for planning and executing garden plans throughout the region where we partner with a number of different schools - all with diverse infrastructure and learning goals. This is a powerful tool for us in furthering our mission: Building food security on the North Shore. It is at the heart of our organization, and this project informs one more facet of that.

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