Teacher in Tataskweyak (Split Lake), Vivian Lin, reflects on the garden program’s success throughout the 2024-25 school year.

By Vivian Lin

Regarding our gardening program, I believe we are doing much better than last year. We are running a very good breakfast program this semester, and we are providing lettuce and greens for salads to go with hot breakfast twice a week. We will keep supporting the breakfast program with the veggies we are growing.

Student next to the grow tower. Vivian Lin

Now, I feel we need to plant more in order to catch up with the speed the veggies are growing at. 

The kids are interested in the garden as well. I see more kids snacking on lettuce, kale and of course, tomatoes. 

I moved an aero garden with two tomato plants in the hallway and some strawberry plants outside. The kids are disappointed that there are still no strawberries but they are looking for cherry tomatoes. It’s a learning curve for them because they are learning to pick red, ripe tomatoes as opposed to the green, sour ones. 

We also have peppers –  some were used for the breakfast program. They are small, just half the size of the store bought ones. The kids were surprised to see a real red pepper in front of them. Now, they are waiting for jalapenos. Some kids have asked when they can try some. 

We also established three trays of green onions. The home economics teacher used them with some greens, basil, and cilantro to make soup and stew. She told me the kids liked it. Staff members and community members also ask for green onions when they are ready.

Green onions in the school. Vivian Lin

This month we are going to set up a grow tower for strawberries only, I have successfully started them from seeds. Some mature strawberry plants have runners. I’m hoping the kids will at least be able to see some flowers. 

The industrial arts teacher will work with her students to start an outdoor garden when spring comes. We ordered some gardening tools and from there, the plan was to build a fence, set up some chairs or benches, and plant some flowers. There will also be a spot for the veggies we have to remove once the school is closed for the summer. Strawberries will be in the garden and we will move them back inside when school resumes in the fall. 

We do have some setbacks, we are facing thrips on our second grow tower now. It’s not as bad as last year but we are monitoring the situation. We set up fans to increase air flow and I washed the plants I could wash once a week, so fingers crossed. 

Students are still learning how to pick veggies – not grabbing or breaking the whole plant. Again, it’s a learning curve. They will do better once they learn how to handle plants properly. 

The plan for next school year is to maintain what we are doing now, working with the breakfast program and maintaining the grow towers we have. The land base cabin already has power hooked up and I was told the temperature is fine at night. A teacher working in the land base cabin is talking about what can be grown there. I’m hoping I can get them either an aero garden or something like a grow tower.

I want to plant more flowers in the school to make the school pretty. I’m hoping more classroom teachers would like to set up a green corner in their rooms. 

In the future I want to group some students and start trying to use the Kratky method. I saw some Facebook videos of growing greens in mason jars and I feel it could be more accessible for most people in the community.