A veg garden for every school in Bristol

With the increase in provision of free school meals, and with practical cooking being brought into the national curriculum, it's a great time for children to be learning more about where that food comes from. When kids grow their own fruit & veg, they're usually more prepared to try eating it. Not all schools have the space for a veg garden, so this is also an opportunity for strengthening community growing projects which are set-up to provide access to school and groups, or for schools to link-up with community buildings in their areas, where there may be some potential to reclaim growing space. As school growing projects are difficult to manage as a whole-year activity (due to the long summer holiday), it makes sense to set-up new spaces as integrated school and community projects. This can bring added benefits to communities e.g. with older residents passing on skills to the youngest.

Why the contribution is important

There are already some great school gardens in Bristol, but in most instances, their creation and maintenance is usually down to 1 or 2 keen pioneers who just "made it happen". By setting up a schools veg garden network, everyone can learn from the experience of existing projects, but also help protect those pioneer gardens by making school veg gardening the norm rather than the exception. This idea also has the potential to strengthen existing community growing projects, to bring together diverse groups of people, and to reclaim some unloved, unused spaces in the city.

by user721621 on December 13, 2013 at 07:30PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.4
Based on: 16 votes

Comments

  • Posted by user412750 December 20, 2013 at 14:18

    Great idea!

  • Posted by user690930 December 23, 2013 at 12:44

    Brilliant idea to get the children inoculated against Junk Food so at least when they get to 18 yo they know there is an alternative to Artery Blocking Early death Food

  • Posted by user192905 December 28, 2013 at 14:45

    Very good idea,

    Children learning how are food is produced is v important. Children are more likely to eat veg they have grown so great for their health

  • Posted by user628247 January 09, 2014 at 17:56

    Good idea - but what about fruit trees in all Bristol's parks too?!

  • Posted by user411811 January 14, 2014 at 11:32

    a very similar idea to the successful scheme pioneered in Todmorden

    I think the kids will love it, and will cultivate a love for the environment and a confidence that things can be done

    http://www.ted.com/[…]/pam_warhurst_how_we_can_eat_our_landscapes.html

  • Posted by user848220 December 24, 2014 at 10:10

    Thank you for submitting and sharing your idea. As you have stated, this is already happening in some neighbourhoods, led by local volunteers. We can do more to encourage champions from schools who are doing well to share their successes stories. Public Health colleagues are leading on health and nutrition, and would be keen to join with Partners to get schools planting and growing more.

    We received a number of good ideas in relation to 'food' and this was one of three ideas that formed part of our ‘Learn, Grow and Eat Revolution’ application to the Bloomberg Mayor’s Challenge. Whilst we did not win the funding on this occasion to progress these projects, this is one of a number of the ideas which will be considered in our food policy development work taking place in 2015.

    There are also some great 'food' projects being led by the Green Capital Food Action Group, for more information and contact details go to http://bristolgreencapital.org/food-action-group/
Log in or register to add comments and rate ideas