Charros Community Garden, St Georges Ave, North Vancouver, BC, Canada
“A community garden not only provides harvest but is able to create a relational and learning space for children, youth, and parents”, is the epitaph that bookends Datta’s work. Providing children an educational opportunity to practice gardening and growing consistently can reap benefits that far exceed any single outdoor lesson. Community gardening can provide interconnected learning opportunities such as: food security with nutrient-rich fruit and vegetables, an open, informal learning space, build cross-cultural networks, inspire environmental activities, and break down artificial or imagined boundaries in gardening. Giving children an opportunity to care for their local environment instils respect for the land, appreciation for hard work and perseverance (often necessary to grow anything organic), and a hands-on practical skill that can be carried into adulthood. Watching something grow that they have been a part of can instil a sense of pride in their achievements and lead to a strengthened sense of self-efficacy.
In fact, caring for the environment via gardening can be tied to the BC curriculum at multiple grade levels and across curricular competencies. Most school districts now have the opportunity to engage with local farms or school gardening programs that provide the funding, skills and materials necessary to involve students (teachers and parents, if interested) in community garden projects. Many of these programs also liaise with local Indigenous peoples and nations on how to grow plants and herbs that are native to the land. Programs such as these add new meaning to ‘learning with the land’ – and have the potential to come full circle with the BC curriculum if implemented correctly.