Kids, parents, teachers plant community garden at Regina's Connaught School

Some young green thumbs in Regina are getting their hands dirty for their community. 

Students from Connaught School, along with parents teachers and volunteers, have set up a community garden near the school's playground.

They're planting strawberries, herbs, lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots and potatoes, among other things.

It's a project that has been years in the making, according to Sarah Truszkowski, a parent volunteer with the school community council who helped organize the project.

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"It has been something the community's been talking about, and it just has taken a little while to come together, but I think that having a garden at a school in a community like Cathedral can be a really lovely thing," she said.

"It also is nice for the community to take part in something, so that they can feel like we can all come together and do something special together like grow a garden."

Not only will the garden provide some food for the community, if all goes as planned, but it can also be a learning experience for kids.

"Having a garden outside gets the kids — with their hands dirty — gets them closer to nature, gets them thinking about plants, where our food comes from," said Truszkowski.

For example, eight-year-old Emma Simpson learned some tips for planting pumpkins.

"You have to make sure the seeds are not too close to each other because they are super big," she said.

"Normally you have to water them and just made sure they're OK."

Connection with nature

Wybo Ottenbreit-Born, a French immersion teacher at Connaught School, said planting a garden can have other benefits for kids as well.

"It's a way to get the kids connected to growing things, and some of them have an idea about growing already, but other ones have never had that experience before," he said.

"It's really amazing sometimes seeing the kids get connected with the environment around them."

He said knowing how to grow food can also give kids a sense of independence.

"I'm hoping that the kids will learn that they can grow some of the foods that they see in the supermarket themselves and they have more of a connection to the food that they see in the supermarkets," he said.

Ottenbreit-Born said gardening can have a calming effect on kids as well, while giving them a chance to socially connect with other people.