Luther Thorne Primary starts school garden

Students of Luther Thorne Memorial Primary School are starting their first garden with the help of Slow Foods Barbados.
Senior teacher at the school, Caroline Jean-Paul told The Barbados Advocate that for awhile the institution had intended to start a garden but they found it challenging. Making reference to the Ministry of Agriculture’s recent “ School Kitchen Garden” competition, she indicated that they were eager to participate but found it difficult to obtain the required materials to launch the project.
However, with the support of one of the parents, Fayola Agaja, she contacted Nikola Simpson of Slow Foods Barbados who is helping with the garden installation at the school. Agaja is the Lead Programme Ambassador of the “Youth Entrepreneurship Incubator” programme and she met the representative of Slow Foods Barbados at Agrofest. She explained that with the garden initiative, the students will learn about growing food from a young age and this will help
maintain the programme on a long term basis.

“Not only are they going to go out there and plant but they will be the ones who will protect it; go and observe, and it will become educational. Basically, we will change the perception of agriculture,” said Agaja.

In addition to starting the garden, the teachers will be taking the vegetable and fruit scraps from the canteen and using them as compost. Science teacher at the school, Pauline Fenty said, that in the future, they will expand the garden by growing the plants vertically and using a hydroponic system to teach students about the science and technology of agriculture.

Jean-Paul mentioned that parental involvement is essential as it helps the school overall to be more successful in their projects. At around 10 am, students with their teachers started to place woodchips around the areas where the seedlings would be planted. They also removed any garbage which may have been embedded in the soil. Students, Kayla Prescod and Jessie Taylor were excited about starting the project and they look forward to planting vegetables like lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and kale.

On Wednesday, the team of Slow Foods, Nicola Simpson, Sophie Teixeira, and Julie Hooper-McNeel were at the school to supervise the work being conducted by the students. The global movement of Slow Foods is present in 170 countries and three principles of Slow Foods is “good, clean and fair”, which means it is good for people, clean for the environment and fair for the farmers and the producers.

The Slow Food Barbados (SFB) “Educational Gardens” programme aims to reconnect youth with their food by teaching them how to grow, cook and enjoy fresh, locally grown food. Through increased confidence, knowledge-gain and skill-building, they want to empower children to become active participants in their food choices. By becoming informed eaters, today’s children will help make a positive impact on the larger world of food and farming well into the future.

To date SFB has installed gardens in 15 schools and institutions throughout the island. The goal of the programme is to support garden committees and their volunteers to become more effective in creating and sustaining school garden programmes in their community. SFB offers support in resources, education, access to professionals, fundraising, design, layout and implementation of the garden as well as assistance with integrating the garden in to the existing curriculum.

Additionally, once the garden is established they will provide guidance on how to set up a farmers’ market and work with the school canteen to provide food options for the students made with the food grown by them on site.

Jean-Paul said that the garden will be incorporated into the present culture of the school which encourages the children to embrace a healthier and more active lifestyle as a tool to success at school and beyond. After the first yield, the school will be celebrating their achievement and Jean-Paul hopes that the children will share their new knowledge with their families.

“Grow well, eat well and live well... we embrace that 100 per cent and we see that school gardens encourage academic achievements and physical health as well,” said Jean-Paul.