Food Education In A Community Garden

Food Education In A Community Garden

Mon 18 Feb 2013

Story by Marcela Senise, Foodsitter
 

Right behind our house we have a little corner with some green space, which was not in use. Last summer one of our neighbours, Mamma Mirella, decided to get together a group of mums and try to get the area all cleaned and plant some seasonal veggies to see if it was worth planting on that space.

After some consideration they went ahead! Even if the sun does not cover much of the area, the mums did a great job and some dads also had a go on the cleaning and planting! During the summer and late autumn we had some great veggies to enjoy.

The Benefits of Having Freshness on the Table


I asked mamma mirella why did they decided to have a go and she said it was purely for the benefit of having some freshness on the table, especially having two young girls whom she wants to be aware of the quality of food they eat. The other mums shared the same idea.

It’s certainly not an easy job, you need to have some time to dedicate and look after the garden. At first they would have a schedule as to when and how they would split jobs, and that was during the summer when they were all free.

As “back to work and school time” returned, things did go a bit of track - the warm season was ending and unfortunately there was not find much time to prepare it for the cold season. So everyone decided to put it to a rest until the spring.

Food Education in the Garden



The great news is that as the garden gets up and running again we will dedicate a good part of the work to teaching the children that attend my playpen (afternoon English classes for local children) as well as having the garden as a special corner for the Food Revolution Turin!

So we can say it’s a new - or even better - a renewed project becoming more specific, and shaped to focus on not only getting freshness on our local community tables but also getting the kids to participate in the planting, harvesting and of course eating!

Check out my blog for more posts on the garden and how it all started
http://mangiachetifabenebimbo.com/

About the author: Marcela Senise, Foodsitter - half Brazilian and half Italian - lives in Turin, Italy where she works with children, from teaching English language to toddlers to teaching food education and better eating habits and running many activities for children and parents. Marcela now has a her own blog & business mangia che ti fa bene bimbo and is a proud Food Revolution Ambassador.