From the gate to the plate
VCH staff on the Sunshine Coast are teaching younger generations about where their food comes from – and they’re starting from the ground up. And it’s a program that’s as much about a community working together as it is about the food produced.
In the coastal communities of Powell River and Sechelt, farm to school programs are beginning to take root, teaching elementary school kids the value of their food by allowing them to plant their own vegetables in nearby gardens.
Vanessa Sparrow (right) and parent coordinator Francine Ulmer (left) stand next a map of where the Powell River kids have visited to learn about local food.
“The kids really get a first-hand view, a first-hand experience with where their food comes from in the area,” says Vanessa Sparrow, who is working with the kids and is healthy community coordinator at Powell River Community Health. “It’s a pretty cool opportunity for them.”
Since 2011, the kids at James Thomson Elementary in Powell River have visited local food farmers learning about the healthy food in the area. Eventually they will grow their own fruits and vegetables, starting with herbs, kale and potatoes and expanding into tomatoes, peas, beans and fruit trees. A more recent twist involves the kids learning how to cook the food that they take from the ground, with the school recently receiving funding for a kitchen where the food is prepared for them by volunteers.
“It’s about the experience of eating something and knowing where it came from and it’s something the kids really can get into,” Vanessa says. “And it also teaches them about what we grow in the area.”
About two hours down the coast, West Sechelt Elementary School was given a piece of land (100 ft x 100 ft) by a local farmer to start a school farm program. Students will be planting 25 apple trees this summer and plan on planting a pumpkin patch to harvest in the fall for sale at the schools annual Halloween fair to fundraise for the program.
“This will be an opportunity for the kids to eat good food and understand what good food tastes like,” says Meghan Molnar, program lead in Sechelt and a community health nutritionist. “I hope the students will take what they have learned at the farm back to their parents and encourage their families to eat healthier.”
Meghan says that as a nutritionist, she’s surprised by how little some kids know about their food.
“It’s shocking that some kids don’t know a potato grows under the ground,” she says. “Kids should know these things.”
Community growth
Vanessa has taken the James Thomson kids to a number of local vegetable farmers and meat producers, allowing them to meet the faces who grow the food they eat.
“It’s a real partnership-building exercise,” she says, “This is great because it involves kids, young adults, volunteers, farmers and local First Nations.”
Meghan says the community of Sechelt has come together for this program.
“We had the land donated to us, the District of Sechelt installed a culvert on the land for drainage and at the moment, volunteers are installing a fence,” she says. “It’s almost as much about the community as it is the food.”