Solutions for the future

Why edible school gardens?  Currently we ingest about 4.5 litres of pesticides and herbicides, eat 66 kilograms of sugar each year and consume exotic €˜foods€™ grown without soil, which focuses on profit, not nutrition.

Obesity is now more widespread than hunger and popular soft drinks now rate as the number one items in our shopping trolleys.

In permaculture we say, €œfind solutions, not problems€. The media and the government often talk about obesity and its associated problems, but talk on its own isn€™t going to fix the issue.

Our solution was to bring the answer to the children and let them experience growing their own organic food. Let them see the whole cycle of seed, fruit, compost, worm castings and food-taste sensations.   We wanted to let them explore natural flavours of freshly picked food.

Palmwoods State School was the first permaculture edible school gardens I set up from scratch with the students.  Funding was hard to come by so Clare Cox (School Community Enhancement Officer) combed the local community for donations.  Fortunately, the local community saw the benefit in such a project.

In the meantime, the Year 6 students were busy learning about permaculture and design.

August 2004 came around and I was nervous we wouldn€™t have enough helpers on the day; how wrong I was.   Eighty-five people, including members of Permaculture Noosa, parents, grandparents, teachers and lots of kids turned out for our own €˜garden blitz€™ driven by the kids, for the kids.

Palmwoods Permaculture Patch was completed by nightfall.  From there we have planted, composted, established worm farms and fed the chooks with the tuckshop scraps. We now grow most of our own mulch, use a banana pit (compost hole) which last time we emptied it, had 20 wheelbarrows of beautiful soil for our garden.

A few times each year we harvest lunch from our gardens.   Salads are also shared with the tuckshop and sold to the local organic restaurant Sisters Cafe.

We are constantly hearing about the problems of children€™s health and not the solutions. I have a solution for you - Permaculture Edible Gardens for all schools.

Currently I am working at four other schools and have another six keen to join. All this with very limited funds. With the proper funding let us turn the problems into solutions and place our children and the planet, on the healthy pathway.

Article: Eco online