by Cassie Scott and Sunday Harrison
With the passing of the Local Food Act (Bill 36) and the Healthy Kids Panel in serious consultation, the explosion of interest in good food continues to resound. Here in Toronto, City Council has passed the Toronto Agricultural Program which should support urban agriculture including school gardens.
The Ontario government is investing $30M over the next three years into the Local Food Fund, and one of its four categories includes “Education”. Now is the perfect time for school gardens to show how we support food literacy and education about local food.
Please take the important first step of signing up with the Imagine A Garden In Every School Campaign at agardenineveryschool.ca to lend your voice to the campaign. If you have a school garden you can also register it on the online map, and share information about your school garden with others. Together we can be a powerful voice for school gardens in Ontario.
To gather more information about school gardens, please complete a short survey if you have a school garden. It will take about 10 minutes to complete and will help to document successes and share knowledge about our common challenges. To show our appreciation, your name will be entered in a draw to win a $100 gift certificate from Urban Harvest or 30 Mark Cullen children’s trowels if you take the time to complete the survey before February 15, 2014.
Dreaming of a garden in every school!