Summer EarlyOns Program - Rose Ave. PS

by Omolegho Akhibi

Green Thumbs Growing Kids - Rose Avenue Public School EarlyOns program

A piece on the importance of green spaces in large communities, like St. James Town.

Centred in the middle of St James Town, lies one of Toronto’s inner city schools - Rose Avenue Junior Public School (JK -06). A vibrant hub of culture, diversity, and education, Rose Avenue is home to children from the most densely populated area in Toronto, St. James Town. St. James Town (located to the east of Sherbourne Street and south of Bloor Street East) is the largest high-rise community in Canada, occupied by low-income families and people from all over the world. 

Although the town began as a Victorian Suburban neighbourhood, it underwent rapid changes when the City of Toronto announced structural alterations in the 1950s. That suburban neighbourhood transformed into a colony of apartment complexes, designed to house newcomers. Over the next couple of decades, the City of Toronto initiated various projects to enhance the area, including the opening of library branches and community centres, which further fostered a larger sense of community. 

As a result of the numerous housing projects and high-rise apartments, St. James Town has created ways to mitigate its lack of Green Space. Grassroots organisations, schools, and Toronto city officials have come together to continuously develop environmental plans and food justice initiatives, ensuring that the citizens of St. James Town are exposed to food justice and sustainability. 

Partnering with Rose Avenue Junior Public School through the Toronto District School Board is Green Thumbs Growing Kids, an organization founded by Sunday Harrison in 1999. The organization began as an after-school gardening program for children aged 6 to 12 at Riverdale Farm (Green Thumbs Growing Kids, 2025). Throughout the past 25 years, Green Thumbs has grown into an organisation that provides natural settings, including plant nurseries, gardens, meadows, and ecosystems, as well as the production of small vegetables and fruits. Even when the weather gets cold, Green Thumbs finds a way to bring nature into classrooms through demonstrations about the environment. 

On July 18, 2025, I had the privilege of attending a summer program at Rose Avenue Junior Public School, hosted by Green Thumbs, called "EarlyOns." Green Thumbs teaches young kids and their parents how to harvest various kinds of produce, and today's focus was on garlic. As I arrived at the venue, I was met by two Green Thumbs staff members, who kindly explained the produce growing in the fields and its history to me. According to Sophie Mihevc, the garden at Rose Avenue Junior Public School was first planted in 2005 and has continued to flourish ever since. The garden is maintained by either Green Thumbs staff or volunteers from the St. James Town community.

Sophie Mihevc reads a story to the littles

As I pulled out my camera, I watched as the kids and their parents started to assemble. I watched in awe as the kids explored the garden with curiosity, wonder, and excitement. I stood still, almost like a fly on the wall, taking in the children’s wonder sparked by the school garden. 

I watched and photographed as kids asked their parents questions about the plants. “What is this?” and “What does it taste like?”. From produce like mint to flowers of all colours and sizes, parents passed down knowledge that they also learned through exploring plants in their youth. Both staff members passed out watering cans to the kids and demonstrated to them how to water each plant effectively. The kids took their watering cans to their parents and watered whatever their tiny hands could find.

Watching this community engage with one another amid nature sparked my curiosity. I took about 5 minutes to explore more of the garden, and I watched as the parents not only interacted with the children, but with each other. I began to ask questions of my own, and my curiosity grew as the answers to my questions were provided. For example, did you know that to know if your sweet potatoes are ready for harvesting, you have to wait for the first frost? Nature and all its forms are severely detrimental to having a well-balanced life and community, and I believe that children know this best.

After exploring my nature-led curiosity, I started to engage with the children. At first, some of the kids and I discussed the plants they saw and what they smelled like, but it soon evolved into a lesson on camera operating. Led by their curiosity, the kids wanted me to teach them how to operate my camera and its settings. I demonstrated the capturing process and gave each of the kids a turn to capture their photos independently (photos included below). Ultimately, I observed firsthand how a nature-filled environment that encourages kids to learn might also allow them to explore other interests. 

Both Green Thumbs staff taught all the parents and their children how to pull garlic from the ground. Handing out mini shovels and guiding them through the process, the children were amazed by the garlic that emerged from the soil beds. They soon took the initiative to pull some with their friends and by themselves, creating memories and harvesting real food that they got to take home. 

Green Thumbs Growing Kids creates these gardens and programs to help kids discover on their own all that nature has to offer. From the plants in their soil beds to the produce that they eat, it is essential to teach children that, as unexpected as it can be, there is beauty in that. Towards the end of the day, the kids gathered around their teacher in a circle, and everyone listened to a story about how plants grow. They engaged in the sing-along story by following the staff’s demonstrations and joyfully laughed at their imaginations, further creating more memories. 

Having intentional environmental spaces built into populated neighbourhoods ensures that people understand how humans rely on them for physical and mental survival. Starting from the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, to our sense of belonging and curiosity, prioritizing nature in our lives can make us well-rounded. This is the same reason that kids are encouraged to play, run, and be outside. The work that Green Thumbs Growing Kids does (and similar organizations) is essential to neighborhoods in the GTA. By teaching children what it takes to grow produce, they, in turn, can appreciate all forms of life around them.