FoodShare’s School Grown, a schoolyard farming project, grows vegetables and fruits on school rooftops and lawns to create student employment. With urban farming, School Grown is closing the loop on food literacy from how young people eat, grow and learn.
Getting students involved in seeding, weeding, harvesting and running their own markets is vital for nurturing deep bonds between youth and food. Reading a textbook is great, but little compares to getting soil on your hands and the first harvest of the season.
School Grown Farms:
- Burnhamthorpe CI: The 2 acre farm features a market garden, orchard, reforestation project, naturalized prairie gardens and a midscale community compost site
- Eastdale CI: The 1/2 acre rooftop garden used to be a set of tennis courts. Now it’s an education centre, market garden and event space. We’ve maximized growing potential with available space using densely planted market crops, modular garden beds and fruiting perennials.
- Heydon Park SS: In 2016 we turned the unused vacant tennis court in the back of Heydon Park SS into a lush garden. The cafeteria window look directly onto the garden space so students get to look out the window at the crops growing while enjoying the fruits of their harvest in the school’s salad bar program.
Our staff works with the TDSB, school staff and students in garden planting, care, harvesting, cooking and markets.
Resources
Lessons learned in School Grown - a webinar series
Let us build your next garden! We know a thing or two about raised beds and can help you grow.
