A local school is helping provide locally grown food to its community.
Scotsburn Elementary recently received a $5,000 UpLift action grant which the school is using in partnership with the Scotsburn Community Forrest. Raina McDonald, community lead with the Scotsburn Community Food Forest, said the grant strengthened the partnership between the food forest and the students at the school.
Scotsburn Elementary School’s Garden Club has been collaborating with the Scotsburn Community Food Forest to teach students the skills needed to grow and harvest their own vegetables, fruits and herbs. Thanks to funding from the Aberdeen Health Foundation and the former Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation, now Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine, the school has received an UpLift student action grant to further their work and help strengthen their partnership. Pictured from left to right at their newly built Harvest Share Stand is Raina McDonald of the Food Forest, Garden Club members Ena Anguilianuk, Ethan Babineau, Cassie Sutherland, Chase Hicks, Wyatt Thompson, and SchoolsPlus Community Outreach Worker Megan Moore. (Nova Scotia Health photo)
McDonald said she works with the garden club at the school, and a big focus this year was building a harvest-share stand.
McDonald said the value of the kids connecting with the soil and the food they are growing is huge, adding they are also learning the lifecycles of plants and what kinds of foods grow locally. Also being able to share the food they grow with the community is super meaningful.
If anyone wants to get involved in the food forest project, they can email scotsburnfoodforest@gmail.com
UpLift is a School-University-Community Partnership, hosted within Dalhousie University’s Healthy Populations Institute. The program operates in partnership with government, Nova Scotia Health, school communities, non-profits and the private sector to support the health and learning of school-aged children using a Health Promoting Schools approach.