First vegetables from Caledon public school gardens donated to The Exchange

July 27, 2023 · 0 Comments

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Caledon students are helping address food insecurity in the community.

On July 20, the Caledon Public Schools’ Vegetable Garden Project made its first donation of freshly-picked vegetables to The Exchange, Caledon Community Services’ (CCS) home of food support for the Caledon community.

The vegetables — which included Lettuce, Radishes, Kale, Callaloo, and Swiss Chard — came from Humberview Secondary School’s garden.

Peel District School Board (PDSB) trustee for Caledon, Stan Cameron, said all of Caledon’s public schools have gardens growing on their site and that donations of organic soil, seeds, seedlings and rain barrels made it possible.

“Fresh vegetables, literally right from the garden to The Exchange… their clients can see this fresh food that’s available to them,” said Cameron. “Teachers, their students, and parents have all given much to make their school’s garden a growing success.”

With the prices of fresh food increasing, Cameron said it’s more important than ever to help out in any small way one can. While the Humberview donation was the first, it certainly won’t be the last from Caledon’s public schools.

“We’re going to be doing this regularly now,” said Cameron, explaining each school will be choosing where to donate their vegetables. “Food insecurity and the high cost of fresh vegetables… that’s something that’s on the forefront of our minds, how we can help people.”

Cameron said for Humberview’s garden, the efforts of Humberview students, teacher Andrew Hagen, Principal John Colton, parent volunteers, and PDSB field centre staff member Sabrina Zito-Insalaco have been key.

Donations of necessary supplies from Glen Echo Nursery, Davis Feed and Farm Supply, and the Albion Hills Community Farm helped out at the Humberview garden. Grants from the Town of Caledon and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority also helped in the purchase of rain barrels and tools.

The vegetables donated from Humberview’s garden on July 20 were all early-harvest vegetables. Come fall, there will be a lot more harvesting going on at public schools around Caledon. Cameron said he expects a large yield of both tomatoes and potatoes, adding he knows students will have fun picking them.

As this is the first year of the vegetable garden project, Cameron said he and the others leading the project are learning and taking notes for next year. Cameron is also setting up meetings with educators from other school boards interested in starting a similar project.