Kindergarden takes on a new meaning
A dozen students from Royal Vale Elementary School got their hands dirty on June 4 when they planted a vegetable and herb garden as part of an urban agriculture project started by three Concordia students.
Aged five to 12, the students were under the supervision of Antonio Starnino, Shauna Pigeon and Leah Chandler as they planted 16 different types of seeds in a series of pots installed in the asphalt court behind their NDG school.
“The model we are going for is that schools don’t have to give up growing a garden, even if they don’t have green space,” says Starnino, a third year design student. “They can plant in an area with asphalt and turn it green.”
Starnino’s contribution to the garden, called Tomati, was a project from his DART446 class. This design class encourages students to develop projects involving the urban space around them. Pigeon and Chandler run Back to the Roots, a workshop series operated as part of Concordia’s Loyola Farm Project.
“Tomati is a model that can be applied at any school,” says Starnino. The program was developed with several components to help individual teachers get started and support each other. “It is a manual, these smart containers and an online network linking all the schools participating in the project.” The containers are constructed to make water retention and soil enrichment easier for beginner gardeners.
Starnino was regularly interrupted by questions from the kids as he supervised them planting seedlings. The heart of Tomati is a beautifully illustrated manual, which describes the process of planting and growing while providing information for teachers.
“We hope that Royal Vale will become a pilot school and that the program will expand and flourish with greenhouses, composting, food fairs and contests,” said Sandra Salesan, the co-chair of Royal Vale’s beautification committee.
Robert Lato, 8, spent much of the morning planting zucchinis.
“I might like school more, now that I can be in the garden during the day,” says Lato, who will be supplementing his lunch with the school’s fresh produce. “I like a lot of different vegetables, I want to plant tomatoes next.”
In the fall, when Lato starts the third grade, the project will move inside and might include tomatoes in classrooms.
“We decided to start with this as an initial activity and move on to the classroom to educate kids about gardening,” says Salesan. “They will learn about soil, composting, planting, a study the other week that said students at schools with large yards and gardens do better academically,” said Paul Hammett, who has a child in the fifth grade. “It has something to do with them running around and developing the pathways in their brains.”
With the current project being managed by Concordia students, who have backgrounds in programs ranging from urban planning, design, sociology and the human environment, Starnino hopes Concordia will reinforce its role in the community.
“We want to use Concordia as a base where students are dispatched to schools across the island and are tasked with starting gardens,” said Starnino. “Hopefully next year we can get some money to get that started.”
List of seeds planted:
- Basil (3 species)
- Tomatoes (7 species)
- Cucumbers
- Dill
- Marigolds
- Green Onions
- Chard
- Zucchini
- Red lettuce
- Melon
- Bell peppers
- Carrots
- Peas
- Corn
- Radish
- Broccoli
Related link:
• Design and Computation Arts