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Author: Carolyn Webb

Posted: March 28, 2017

Categories: Edible Education Network / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario / Webinars

As the 4th in our free Local Food Literacy in Ontario Schools webinar series, this webinar – Growing Local Food Literacy – will focus on how to teach local food literacy while engaging students in developing gardening skills in various educational settings.

When: Wednesday April 19, 2017, 3:30 – 4:30 pm EST

Packed with hands-on tips and resources, our speakers from Ecosource (Region of Peel), Growing Up Organic (Ottawa), and the Kids Can Grow Program (Manitoulin Island) will share:

Curriculum connections for various grade levels and subject areas.
Resources to help you bring gardening activities into all types of school settings.
How and where schools can access gardening opportunities.
Ideas for how to get students excited about gardening and growing food.
Answers to common questions.
Case study examples.

More about our speakers:

Linda Willson, to speak about Growing Local Food Literacy in Elementary Schools: Chuc and Linda Willson have been passionate organic gardeners for most of their adult lives. They are equally committed to supporting the growing of healthy local food. Both have been actively involved with the Manitoulin Farmers Markets Association and Farmers Markets Ontario along with community initiatives such as Heart Health, Healthy Kids Community Challenge, the Good Food Box, Manitoulin Community Food Network, Manitoulin Branding Association, A Taste of Manitoulin and more. The couple have operated a successful market gardening and value added natural foods business for more than ten years.

Seeing that the skills of vegetable gardening, along with the storage, processing and preparation of home grown food was rapidly being lost, Chuc envisioned a program that would renew these skills by teaching kids in the classroom. Linda’s years of experience as an elementary school teacher was a natural fit for the development of Kids Can Grow. Once established in the classroom the program would reach into homes and communities. From its inception, Kids Can Grow has always been about hands-on experience with the kids starting plants from seed and then caring for and growing them in the classroom before finding their way into local gardens. Practical skills are coupled with teachings about the cycle of life, the four elements and healthy living.

Kids Can Grow is now in eight schools on Manitoulin Island and has evolved to include school, community and home gardens, workshops around food preparation and community feasts featuring home grown food. The Kids Can Grow team is now engaged in mentoring communities and families on vegetable gardening skills.

Jen Coorsh, to speak about Growing Local Food Literacy in High Schools: “I am an experienced and passionate vegetable gardener, with a newfound excitement for growing perennial flowers. I am interested in the transformational experience of soil, sprouting seeds and growing your own food, especially for youth. I have been working with children and youth throughout my life, most recently at a forest school in the Gatineau Hills. I am excited to be working with COG as the Growing Up Organic Project Coordinator, to share my passion and sprout some seeds with the Ottawa community.”

Rav Singh, to speak about Growing Local Food Literacy with Students Off of School Grounds: Rav works at Ecosource as the Urban Agriculture Coordinator. She is passionate about working with communities to empower them to engage in their local food systems. Rav is interested in exploring the relationship between food and aspects of urban society including urban food security, food justice, and sustainable urban planning. At Ecosource, Rav engages with community members and schools at the Iceland Teaching Garden to enhance food security and organic gardening skills. She is also working on Ecosource’s urban agriculture social enterprise to help consumers and classrooms in Peel access and buy local food. Rav holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph. She has completed a CRAFT internship at a certified organic CSA farm in Guelph, and an international agriculture internship in Costa Rica with CATIE. In her free time, Rav acts as the Communications Lead for the Food Secure Canada Youth Caucus.

Did you miss the other webinars in this series? Check out our recordings and slides:

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