Good afternoon everyone. My name is Erin Temple and I am a practicum student from Ryerson University. I am completing my Masters degree in Nutrition Communication. I have a strong passion for working with children and educating children on proper nutrition and felt as though Green Thumbs would be a great fit for me!
When I started working at green thumbs, I was hesitant if this was where I really wanted to be because I was unsure of how I could incorporate nutrition education into the school garden programs. I soon realized that I was only looking at nutrition from a consumption perspective and forgetting that nutrition starts from growing the crops and not just eating them. Growing crops involves a lot of love and hard labour.
It is important that children learn about how to garden themselves in order to be able to grow their own food. Within the food system we also have composting, which makes for an interesting cycle. It is interesting to decompose our fruits and vegetables in order to provide nutrients for our soil, which directly affects the plants we grow. What comes first the compost or the plants? This is something I am pondering myself.
I find it amazing seeing children eating food right out of the garden, something you may not see them eat off their plate at home. Before my practicum started, I completed a systematic literature review on school gardens and the positive effect it may have on children’s fruit and vegetable consumption. I enjoyed researching this topic but at the same time, I find it absolutely intriguing seeing the research in action.
I look forward to posting more about my experience at Green Thumbs Growing Kids
-Erin 🙂
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