As I talked about yesterday, the idea that gardening can bring people together isn't particularly new. However, I mentioned that I believed there is a kind of stigma that gardening is for certain types of people. Sure, not everyone actually likes getting their hands dirty, but we all have to eat. And what could be more primal and community oriented than working together to produce food to eat.

We are lucky that we don't rely entirely on our own efforts for the crops we take advantage of. In our modern world, it is delegated to far away idyllic landscapes of rolling hills and pastures where cows and sheep roam "free" where corn stalks sway in the balmy summer afternoon breeze and clouds of cotton are propped up on marionette wires bopping about independently. Of course, those animals are "free" until their needless and untimely deaths, which is just one of the reasons I support our children to eat plant foods full of fresh vitamins and phytonutrients, free from animal-based proteins linked to bodily disease and inflammation.

While we don't have to produce all the food we need ourselves, the act of doing this work together develops a sense of community.

And if there is anything I have seen now more than ever is that the intangible thing we call self-esteem and our own sense of self-worth, can be nourished by working together in various capacities to achieve something purposeful.

Children can water the garden. Children can hold the seeds and wonder about life. Children will look to you for advice, support and guidance about how to best nourish these little tiny specks of life waiting to spring forth. Knowing that they have control and purpose to care for the plants, drives smiles across faces and determination in the mind. This is what I want to see in my community - happy, healthy children who want to make our community better.

Mint leaves can be torn or crushed and added to water bottles to impart a fresh menthol-cool sensation to your plain water consumption.

The existing garden forms the framework for our future garden; The Pollination Patch.

As you can see from the photos below, our garden isn't starting from scratch. It's been set up for a while by previous teachers. They had planted a range of native trees such as lilly pilly trees as well as kumquats and mandarins. However, I wanted to continue the work and it doesn't happen by itself.

Curly parsley grows all year round in our climate just South of Sydney, but grows most vigorously during the longer days of Spring and Summer.

The project proposal.

For those living in Australia, you're probably aware of Life Education. Remember Happy Healthy Harold? He is the lovable (or creepy) puppet giraffe who teaches the children about healthy living, positive friendships and staying safe and active. I was forwarded an email from my school principal after she was made aware that Life Education were offering fifteen $1000 grants to schools who had school gardening projects that they wished to get funding for.

Part 1. A description of the Pollination Patch.

The Pollination Patch aims to involve students from all age groups and capabilities ensuring access to an education in plant food production and to personal growth initiatives. We further aim to foster an interest and enthusiasm for the care and protection of the natural environment surrounding our school and community.

We are looking at transforming our garden space (currently consisting primarily of raised garden beds and worm farms) into a space that facilitates even greater access and interest in growing plants that are edible and pleasurable in other ways (smells and visual aspects). The children have expressed an interest in building a scarecrow for the garden. They would like to use otherwise discarded materials (such as old car tyres) to grow non-edibles such as seasonal bulbs and flowers, and have steps and stools for smaller students to access higher beds. Students have expressed a desire to scientifically monitor aspects of the soil such as structure, microorganisms and moisture to think and work scientifically in the garden.

I believe the space also requires colourful signage to visually indicate rules and other important information about our garden such as what’s growing, what’s to come and jobs that need completing.

Ultimately, we want to transform the current garden into a more interactive space so as foster a passion for healthy, local food while maintaining positive school relationships.

Part 2. How will the garden encourage growing food and it’s benefits?

• The Pollination Patch encourages students to become more aware of the connection that they have with their food. Through the use of “Buzzing Beds” which will comprise of old tyres repurposed for growing flowers to attract pollinators such as bulbs (Daffodils, Freesias, Lillies, Dahlias) and flowering annuals (Linaria, Marigolds etc.), the children will make a connection between insect life and fruit production.

• Students will make use of magnifying tools to get a closer look at flower parts, root structures, soil composition and soil life in order to appreciate the complexity of life and how plants live symbiotically within micro-ecosystems.

• The Pollination Patch will continue to grow a range of herbs, fruits and vegetables of various species in order to provide a range of options for children who may be reluctant to try healthy options. We currently have an entire bed of strawberries to enable tasting of sweet fruits as they ripen. Herbs such as peppermint can be added to children’s drink bottles to give a menthol-fresh taste while chewing the leaves is a healthy option to replace highly processed snack foods marketed at children.

• As a part of the daily inspection, children are encouraged to pick mandarins and kumquats if they have not bought in their own fruit from home for crunch and sip. Children are encouraged to discuss how they feel when trying new types of fresh, unprocessed plant foods compared to when the eat fatty or sugary foods that have not come from a whole plant food.

• Over time, as the children grow and sample their own produce, milestones and achievements are reached. On occasion, to celebrate a bountiful harvest or the willingness of new members to join in and become ‘Patch Pollinators’, special smoothies are made for the children using only whole plant foods that a free from refined sugar or dairy products. Smoothies are made from frozen overripe bananas, ice, soy mylk, raw cacao powder and flax meal. From my experience, when the children watch the process and see the ingredients used, they appreciate whole plant foods can be both healthy and delicious.

Part 3. How will we maintain the garden?

As the aims of the garden are to nurture strong bonds, friendships and to act as a place to work together toward a common goal, students will learn to be self-motivated to manage the upkeep of the garden.

Students will:

• Perform routine maintenance checks around the garden to identify potential hazards as well as monitor garden needs (weeding, new mulching, soil moisture testing, sowing, planting etc).

• Work together to check the health of the worm farms, ensuring water is added to the boxes to retain optimal moisture, and to collect worm wee for garden distribution.

• Report disputes and disagreements during gardening duties after students have made an attempt to resolve problems themselves; and

• Develop leadership skills in order to teach younger students how to act appropriately in the garden (use of tools, behaviour/conduct, garden care etc).

What are the expected educational outcomes and how does it link with curriculum? What will the kids learn and how does this relate to existing programs?

[Redacted] school has an anti-bullying program in alignment with the NSW Department of Education and the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) PDHPE curriculum and [redacted] school values. Our activities in the garden are focused on driving effort as a team to achieve a common goal – growing healthy food to fuel young bodies within a nurturing space.

I believe that developing teamwork skills and giving children the opportunity to achieve tasks and duties both individually and as a group helps to build a strong sense of self-worth and appreciation for others that will, in effect reduce antisocial behaviours at school that stem from self-exclusion and isolation.

With respect to the NSW PDHPE Syllabus outcomes, the Pollination Patch gardening program is geared towards achieving the following outcomes:

V1. Students refer to a sense of students own worth and dignity;

V3. Students enjoy a sense of belonging;

V4. Students increasingly accept responsibility for personal and community health.

The children will learn to:

1. Use gardening tools safely and appropriately in the garden;
2. Interact with other ‘Pollinators’ in a kind manner expected of a team;
3. Appreciate the importance of others in order to achieve goals together;
4. Value the need to eat healthy, plant-based foods to stay healthy;
5. Develop an understanding of seasonal differences with respect to plant growing seasons;
6. Track the position of the sun to plan garden beds and plant species positioning;
7. Value the health benefits of raw, unprocessed foods eaten directly in the garden;
8. Recognise the importance of working and cooperating with others as a way to foster friendships.
9. Recognise students’ own contribution as meaningful, worthwhile and valuable to others; and
10. Derive their own set of values that enhances their experiences within the group.

An entire bed of strawberries was raging along with weedy cherry tomatoes infesting the space. Just yesterday we talked about how weeds are just plants in the wrong place. If you're growing a field of watermelons and a mango tree is blocking the sun, it too would be a weed!

What did we want to buy to further the objectives of the Pollination Patch?

Materials to build a scarecrow (Steel poles and caps, cement, clothing, straw bale)

Class magnifier set

6 x Soil test kits

1 x 50m Hose and Connectors

20 x Hand trowels and forks

5 x Mulch bags

10 x Watering cans

Signage

5 x Step stools

2 x Worm farms

2 x Worm farm bedding

2 x Worm starter boxes

3 x Modular raised plastic garden beds

Mesh and stakes to go around the flower tyres ("Buzzing Beds")

Expect the worst. Hope for the best.

While it would be terrific to get the funds to move this forward in the school, I am nothing if not a pragmatist. If we don't get the funding, nothing will change from now. We will still be working within our garden and thinking of other ways of making best use of materials and supplies we may be able to procure.

Our relationship with our local Bunnings hardware store has already afforded us another smaller worm farm that the kids are now familiar with. Hayley's dad has also offered to make up some signage for free for us, using water and sand cutters to etch out words into either plastic or metal that we can drill into the walls of buildings or have mounted in the garden on stakes. I'm sure we'd also be able to get some old tyres donated to us from scrap yards to form our buzzing beds. These things aren't out of the realm of possibilities.

In the end, seeds don't require much to germinate and grow. Soil. Sun. Water. We have those things.

Capsicum grows in the Spring and Summer and is best eaten raw to obtain maximum nutrient value. Not all vegetables allow for greatest net nutrient absorption when eaten raw, however - this includes kale.

Thank you for your ongoing support. An UPVOTE, COMMENT, FOLLOW and/or RESTEEM all go towards growing this space and funding future projects.

All the best,

Nick.

(I'm aware the cover photo wasn't particularly relevant, but how beautiful is it? I took it in my neighbourhood at Christmas last year.)

All content is original and belongs to @nickmorphew. [16 June 2018]

Disclosure: This article was not a paid promotion. I have self-upvoted this individual post. There any no affiliate links.

I’m looking for an artist to cover my work on my fantasy saga, Adventures in Elowyn Glade.