Bringing school food gardens into a provincial network has long been a goal of ours at GTGK. Thanks in part to a grant from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, our Imagine a Garden in Every School campaign is being co-ordinated by our own Cassie Scott. On June 19, Roberta Bondar came to Rose Ave. PS as our guest, and as a friend to the school as well. On this occasion, she helped “launch” the Imagine a Garden in Every School campaign, and joked that “launching” is something she has been known to do before! (showing picture of the rocket that took her to space). She talked about gardens nurturing creativity and curiosity – it was quite awesome to meet her and feel how very down to earth she is! When I made the predictable joke – “why should we have a garden in every school? so we can have more peas on earth!” she quipped,
, “do they keep you on a celery here?”
It was a really lovely morning, with the amazing Orff drummers, Grade 6 student researchers reporting their findings, Ecoteam members pledging to grow and eat more local food, and the presence of so many of our friends and supporters. Meredith Hayes from FoodShare Toronto, Ravenna Nuaimy-Barker from Sustain Ontario, Sarah Vogelzang from Toronto Public Health, Richard Christie from the Sustainability Office at Toronto District School Board – all contributed wonderful comments and anecdotes about how we can collectively imagine a garden in every school, and why such a thing is a good idea whose time has come.
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