Food Producing Garden Design and Build

Date: July 9th, 2024 | Location: Kitchener Waterloo C.I.

Facilitator: Mike Jones 

The highlights: This workshop brought educators, students and local community members together to help improve the garden space at KCI and learn how these projects can be accompolished in school gardens accross the region. Over the course of two and a half hours a trellised 8×4 raised garden bed was built and filled with soil. Students and educators learned through this experience that materials can often be refurbished from discarded materials (some of the wood and patio stones were refurbished), and that through a team effort local garden spaces can become more accessible.

Pollinator Walking Tour

Date: July 23rd, 2024 | Location: Cherry Park & the Iron Horse Trail

Facilitator: Ali Dolbec 

The highlights: This workshop brought together 22 youth and community members for an evening of learning and exploration. Ali Dolbec a student from the University of Waterloo studying Georgraphy and Environmental Management, guided participants through discussions, hands-on activities and a tour that examined how our local gardens and green spaces interact and are impacted by Pollinators. Students had the opportunity to take some of these activities and the knowledge they gained to benefit their own local gardens and green spaces.

How to Improve Soil Health

Date: August 6th, 2024 | Location: Cameron Heights C.I.

Facilitator: Amanda Hunter 

The highlights: This workshop brought 16 community members and students to learn from local youth and experts of soil health. Amanda Hunter guided an engaging discussion on the challenges and opportunities school gardens have to benefit the soil they are placed in and participants explored how soil health success and challenges were being experienced by students who cared for the garden at Cameron Heights C.I. In addition this garden is one of few garden projects in the region that have been entirely guided and designed by local youth and workshop participants learn from these youth about what it took to start this garden.

Food Preservation Skills

Date: August 20th, 2024 | Location: J. Steckle Heritage Farm

Facilitator: Abigail Rempel 

The highlights: This workshop brought folks together at the kitchen of Steckle Farm for a fun-filled gathering, where they learned about and practiced techniques to safely prepare and preserve fresh produce with teacher candidate Abigail Rempel. There was dried fruit to snack on, kombucha to taste test, and salsa fresca to eat, showcasing a variety of preservation methods. And, most excitingly, attendees worked to make a batch of red pepper jelly using “imperfect” (second grade) peppers and other locally sourced ingredients.

Seedy Series Pt. 1: Seed Harvesting & Cleaning

Date: October 1st, 2024 | Location: Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Institute

Facilitator: Nancy Hainsworth

The highlights: At this workshop, we had a blast learning about methods for harvesting and cleaning seeds with Nancy Hainsworth of Nancy’s Creations and Seeds. We also explored the gardens and grounds of KCI to put the lessons learned into practice! We collected seeds from at least a dozen different plants in the garden space; these seeds will be the first to be submitted to the new Inter-School Seed Library (see more about the project here)! 

Seedy Series Pt. 2: Seed Sharing & Stewardship

Date: October 15th, 2024 | Location: Seeds of Diversity office

Facilitator: Bob Wildfong 

The highlights: During this workshop, our very own Bob Wildfong led an exploration of Seeds of Diversity’s Seed Library. We learned all about how the project began and how the organization manages over 3500 seed varieties!! We then went through the process of cleaning and adding a new entry of Rojo de Seda (Red Silk Beans) to the library and packed many, many seed packets that will be sent out to gardeners across Canada! Finally, started imagining what the Inter-School Seed Library might look like.

Round of applause for our summer workshop facilitators (from left to right): Mike, Ali, Amanda, Abigail, Nancy, and Bob!

LOOKING BACK…..

Take a look at the fun from 2023 below! 

During summer 2023, we continued our garden-based programming for youth to learn about and engage with our food systems through hands-on workshops with local food leaders in Waterloo Region. Throughout July, August, and September, seven workshops were held at school garden sites, in collaboration with Smart Waterloo Region’s Nurture project. Over the course of this workshop series, we welcomed participants to discuss topics including soil health, permaculture, pollinators, seed saving, and more! In all, we had 74 youth & community attendees join us for learning and knowledge sharing.

Video music credits: Happy Summer by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com

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