You may remember reading over the course of this year about the success of the amazing Caledon Vegetable Garden Project. All 16 of the Caledon schools within the Peel District School Board (PDSB) participated in the project which grew food that was donated to The Exchange.
Multiple successful harvests, the largest of which was well over 100 pounds of food, were donated and delivered to The Exchange by proud students across Caledon.
Following the delivery of the latest harvest Humberview teacher Andrew Hagen approached a fellow teacher Jaclyn Haber to see if her students might want to pick some of the remaining produce for a food lab.
“I decided to involve two grade 12 University and College Nutrition and Health classes” said Ms Haber, “because of this opportunity’s connections to sustainability, local produce, and so on. We harvested what we used in the food labs ourselves. That allowed for learning techniques on how to be sustainable with what we picked. For example, leaving kale leaves to allow for another harvest, or collecting dill seeds. We also applied harvesting techniques, including to dig wide and deep when you spot potato stems and using your hands to harvest.”
“Student food groups then reserved products, found recipes that interested them, and made shopping lists for remaining ingredients” she continued. “The outcome was that each of the four class food groups made enough samples for every student in the class. Then we shared recipes so that the enjoyed recipes can be made in the future.”
Those delicious dishes included kale chips, balsamic bruschetta, balsamic green bean salad, carrot pasta sauce, dill dip, baked potato chips, sweet corn curry, swiss chard tahini dip, loaded baked potato casserole, and more.
In late October students were still busy, saving seeds, and planting and marking garlic. Then they put their gardens to bed for the winter with a protective covering of leaves that will also provide a winter habitat for small creatures.
Stan Cameron, Caledon’s PDSB trustee, says he is incredibly proud of the Caledon-wide effort, and is certain the students, teachers and parents are rightly so as well.
“This was an awesome team effort” he beams. “We are extremely grateful to everyone who participated and, as well, to Davis Feed and Farm Supply, Glen Echo Nursery, TRCA and the Town, who all made contributions to help make this possible.”
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