Cultivating Food Sovereignty in Surrey Schools

Our Farms to Families project launched a new initiative this spring by partnering with the Surrey School District to pilot a school community garden. L.A. Matheson Secondary School was a natural choice for the location of the garden, as a group of committed teachers, educational assistants, and administrators were already planning an experiential educational garden for their school. Meetings and plans were made throughout all of March, and ground was finally broken in April. Over 200 students from all grade levels and program areas helped to lift sod, carry wheelbarrows full of soil and bark mulch, plant, and transform an unused patch of grass into a beautiful schoolyard farm.

The garden was officially opened on May 15, 2014 with community members, Surrey School District staff and trustees, and students in attendance. Fraser MacDonald, the school’s Aboriginal Elder, opened the ceremony, and all in attendance were invited to plant the first crops of the new garden. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood now, you will see the boxes bursting with bright summer squash, cheerful sunflowers, herbs, kale, carrots, and many other veggies. Community members and A Rocha staff work together to maintain the garden throughout the summer. Produce is distributed to interested community members with children at the school.

When school resumes the garden will act as a living classroom of experiential education for a variety of curriculum areas including the Culinary Arts to Special Needs program and the Learning from Experience in Action Program (LEAP), making it a place of both educational and botanical bounty. We are grateful to the amazing partnership of the Surrey School District staff for their support and encouragement. We are also grateful to TD Friends of the Environment, World Vision Canada Projects, and the Vancouver Foundation who contributed financially to initiate and maintain the garden. And we are grateful to the Creator for the sun, rain and soil which makes our garden grow. Stay tuned for news on our future garden projects – we are excited to see which school yard we’ll be digging in next!