Today we were invited outside to help the kindergarten children plant in the garden boxes.  The following is a copy and paste of a news posting about the “NEAT food security program”:

NEAT teams up with schools to teach students food security

(POSTED BY: MONTANA CUMMING FEBRUARY 19, 2016)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Students at Robert Ogilvie, Duncan Cran, and Ecole Central will be taking on more responsibility in contributing directly to food security in Fort St. John.

It’s part of NEAT’s Food Security Program, which teaches children where their food comes from, and how to grow themselves. Ecole Central participated in the pilot project last year.

When the food is grown, non-profits in the city will also receive some.

“We’ve finally reached the point where we’re able to run it in an entire school,” Karen Mason-Bennett with NEAT told Energetic City. “That requires a little bit more planting capacity than we have at the community gardens, so we started to build gardens at schools, which is really exciting.”

The project will start right before spring break, and students in grade 5 and 6 will be choosing what plants are grown. One of the things they’re focusing on, she said, is growing plants that are native to the area.

Each class at the schools participating will get one bed, and there are six additional beds for sponsorship, and six in the community gardens.

“There’s going to be anywhere between 24 to 30 bed for each school, when all is said and done,” Mason-Bennett said.