Post by MikeH on Jun 26, 2013 18:34:29 GMT -5
This is a local school. I think that its crucial to get kids interested and knowledgeable in this direction before they grow up to be idiots. The only thing that leaves me scratching my head a bit is the dollars provided - $8,700!!!! I guess those are bureaucratic dollars. Nonetheless, I think it's a brilliant idea. We're going to open our "inventory" list - docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aoz8GE1bbsDjdEdCTjRJNUhCNEI2dzNINk5NRGlud3c#gid=0 to them. Maybe we can even get them interested in propagating what they are planting so that they don't have to buy in or be dependent on funding.
Ceremonial planting officially starts food forest project
EMC News -Campbellford -Kent Public School's novel "Food Forest' was officially launched with a ceremonial planting June 14.
Mark Carlen, the Grade 8 teacher whose idea it was to convert the side of the hill in back of the school into a forest, said it will provide food for people, animals and insects, as well as feed students' appetites for learning.
"We're going to tie it into all kinds of things," such as science classes and multimedia presentations, he told students and school guests at the ceremony.
The plan is to remove the topsoil from an area 100 feet by 100 feet and create a series of level ditches called swales to collect runoff from the top of the hill and force the water into the ground where it can support small and tall trees, shrubs, ground cover and vines.
The forest will also serve as a windbreak and a hedge of manchu cherry will prevent soccer balls from the playing field bouncing down the hill, Carlen said.
Rusty Hick, director of education and secretary of Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, said he was "very impressed" by the level of co-operation shown between the school, community and local organizations in getting the project off the ground.
"It's amazing what can happen when that synergy happens," he told The Independent.
"It's perfect, this is what we want"- tying curriculum, student interest and the environment together, "and having people understand that school isn't just four walls and a book."
A $5,000 grant from the Campbellford-Seymour Community Foundation provided the biggest boost for the food forest project.
It received additional funding of more than $1,700 by way of a tree plant- ing proposal three Kent students, Taylor Polich, Christine Venator and Brooke Seymour, entered in the annual Caring for Our Watersheds competition organized by Lower Trent Conservation, with funding provided by Agrium.
Marilyn Bucholtz, marketing and communications officer with Lower Trent Conservation, said it marked the first time in the competition that as many as four finalists will receive money to implement their ideas, beginning in the fall.
Kent principal Dee Gannon said "it was an easy commitment" on her part to allocate $2,000 from the school's $39,000 budget to the project, which will be tied to the school curriculum from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8. A portion of the money will be used for time lapse photography to track the growth of the forest and show it online, she said.
"It's going to be amazing to watch it grow."
Carlen said fruit trees (apple, plum and cherry) as well as nut trees (pecans, walnuts) will be planted, along with northern kiwi.
"It's going to be a wild place, it's not going to look like a traditional garden," Carlen said.
And "we're not going to see anything for at least five years," he added.
The plan is to have strategically placed QR codes link visitors with smartphones to student podcasts explaining various aspects of the forest, he said.
The "experimental garden" will be open to the public, Carlen said. "I really want the public to come and take a look."
He will be asking for people's help in providing mulch in the fall and he would welcome contributions of perennials "they feel would be beneficial for this type of gardening."
To learn more or to arrange a pickup of clean leaf and yard waste, call Carlen at 705-653-8106 or email 2markcarlen@gmail.com.
Source: www.emcnorthwest.ca/20130620/news/Ceremonial+planting+officially+starts+food+forest+project
