In Canada, we are lucky to have access to purchase fresh greens year-round, but this luxury comes at a cost - not only for us financially but also for the environment.
Greens grown in southern climates need to be packaged, refrigerated and shipped to stores where they are again refrigerated until we bring them home. These processes all produce carbon emissions which contributes to global warming and climate change. But what if there is a way to grow our local fresh foods even in the wintertime?
Enter the Fork Farms hydroponic growing system. This is an indoor, hydroponic (water rather than soil), artificially lit, system. At Island Pacific School, we have the opportunity to explore this option with our system.
We partnered with THRIVE Bowen, and received grants from the Knick Knack Nook and the Bowen Community Foundation to buy the tower and materials. Throughout the year, we will be experimenting with growing salad greens and analyzing factors such as cost, energy consumption, use of fertilizers and water, and comparing these factors to imported greens to determine the viability of hydroponic growing.
So far, it has been exciting to build the tower and to learn how to grow the greens. In early October, students planted the seeds. We allowed them to sprout and then transplanted them into the tower. The plants grew quickly and in just over one month, they were ready. With one growing cycle, we grew over 160 plants.
We made salad for the entire school many times and some students and teachers also took some greens home to their families. The students love planting the seeds, watching them grow, harvesting the plants, and finally eating the greens! After tasting a salad one day, a student said “This is the best salad I have ever eaten!”
We are so pleased to be able to expose these students to the wonders of growing and eating healthy food and we are looking forward to extending the experience by conducting experiments and analysis over the year. As a science teacher, I am excited to bring hands-on learning into my classroom to investigate how much yield we can produce, what plants we can grow, and how much energy is used to grow the food.
We can analyze the amount of energy required to produce the food locally compared to buying food that is shipped from far away. IPS is grateful to the folks at THRIVE, the Bowen Community Foundation and the Knick Knack Nook for making this possible.
