Features
HTM Students Take Grade 4
Class From Garden to Table
Jean Little students learn about sustainability, where food comes from at Centre for Urban Organic Farming
BY REBECCA KENDALL
Some tiny hands are busy this fall at U of G’s Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming (GCUOF). With help from students in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM), a Grade 4 class from nearby Jean Little Public School is learning about sustainability, where food comes from and how to prepare it once it’s grown. It’s all part of a new program called Garden2Table.
The program is based on an international movement to bring the basics of agriculture and cooking into the elementary school curriculum, while giving back to the community, says Teressa Thorpe, a fourth-year HTM student and president of the HTM Student Association. The group initiated the program after hearing about it from HTM professor Bruce McAdams and has been working closely with the GCUOF to lead lessons in organic agriculture.
“I thought it was an opportunity for me to get HTM students involved with the community and a great way to connect with kids,” says Thorpe. “It’s also a great hands-on opportunity for us to learn more about sustainability.”
Programs like Garden2Table have been growing in popularity over the past few years, with similar initiatives sprouting all over the world. At the White House, Michelle Obama has invited children to learn about healthy eating and organic gardening by growing and harvesting vegetables there.
The Guelph Grade 4 students made their first visit to the GCUOF Sept. 25. There they learned how to plant a garden by removing rocks and levelling the soil to create beds. The day’s lesson was led by the centre’s site co-ordinator, Martha Gay Scroggins.
“The main objective of the centre is to provide a facility where a wide variety of people can learn about urban agriculture,” says Scroggins. “More and more people these days want to learn about growing food.”
With two kids to a row, the children planted three varieties of lettuce before winding their way from the greenhouse to explore the rest of the garden, to pick and sample some cherry tomatoes and to get up close to some pumpkins, peppers and potatoes.
For nine-year-old Annaliese Kropf, this was the first time she’d ever picked and eaten anything directly off a plant. “I liked it. Mine was kind of orangey and it tasted good.”
Their teacher, Amy Skinner, says the class has been enthusiastic about the project right from the start. She was also keen to participate because it aligns with lessons in the Grade 4 curriculum on healthy eating and the environment.
“Kids sometimes don’t have an appreciation for where food comes from,” says Skinner. “They often think it just comes from a grocery store. It’s important for them to learn how valuable farmers and farming are, and this is also a great way to introduce them to the University and careers in agriculture and hospitality.”
Later this month, the students will harvest their greens and some root vegetables and head to PJ’s Restaurant in the Atrium to prepare their food and enjoy a one-of-a-kind lunch created by HTM chef Simon Day.