Student gardeners convince council to grow vegetables

Gardening Ambassadors from JA Laird Elementary School impressed Invermere council with their presentation last week asking the district to convert its flower gardens into vegetable gardens.

By Steve Hubrecht
Columbia Valley Pioneer
Mar 22, 2024

Excerpt:

The Laird Gardening Ambassadors comprises students from a number of different classes and grades. For the past three years they have been growing vegetables in the community gardens at Mount Nelson Athletic Park (MNAP), donating 1,000 pounds of veggies to the Columbia Valley Food Bank and using the rest to help feed students at their own school. They learn not only gardening but also about food sustainability, and they came to the March 12 council meeting with a plan.

“We are here today to ask the Invermere town council to begin thinking differently about how we use the many (municipal) flower beds and planter pots located around town,” Ambassador Sofia told council.

Fellow Ambassador Amelia explained that the flower beds are beautiful, but could be used for better purposes, namely growing vegetables for local residents who cannot afford fresh, healthy food. She noted the amount of municipal water used to grow vegetables would be no different than the amount of water currently used to grow flowers.

Read the complete article here.