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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • JULY 2017 Pencil Patch offers hands-on experience


Multi-station learning garden offers first exposure to agriculture


by RONDA PAYNE ABBOTSFORD – Kids’ minds


are like sponges, they say, so there’s no better time to teach them about agriculture than when they’re young. That’s exactly the purpose behind BC Agriculture in the Classroom’s (AITC) Pencil Patch program. In mid-June, students from three schools came out to the garden across from the organization’s Abbotsford offices for a harvest and learning day. AITC communications


co-ordinator Emma Sweeney, took one of the three stations (with help, of course – no one can manage several elementary-aged students on


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their own in a garden), showing kids the vegetables they’d planted on a previous visit. Kids then harvested butter lettuce, romaine, red leaf lettuce, carrots, radishes, spinach and herbs. “You’re going to have a nice bag full of salad greens to take home,” she says to the first group coming through the vegetable harvest station. The Pencil Patch is more than a garden within a community garden. This is an outdoor education experience that brings agriculture to life for kids. While students at the harvest days encountered three stations relating to agriculture (harvest, goats and baby chicks), 17 stations provide information about everything from the Agricultural Land Reserve to invasive species for those who prefer a self- guided tour. “It takes about five minutes at each station,” Sweeney says of larger tours. “It’s not just about growing food, it’s about different aspects of agriculture.” Teachers can arrange a self- guided tour or become part of the Pencil Patch on-site group involved in planting and harvesting while learning by contacting the AITC team at [info@aitc.ca]. “With some crops, we


harvest what grows in the ground and some crops we harvest the top,” she explains to the kids.


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The education experience goes beyond the harvest day with guides like AITC program co-ordinator Glenda


An elementary school student from Abbotsford releases a ladybug at the Pencil Patch. RONDA PAYNE PHOTO


Johnston giving out seeds to provide bee habitat. “It’s your first opportunity


in making that big change in saving the bees,” Johnston said after showing the flower seed packets.


While meeting the goats,


kids tried goat cheese and goat yogurt, then at the baby chick station, they learned about egg hatching and incubation. The highlight for most kids seemed to be the ladybug release where each child received a few ladybird beetles in their hands to watch then release into the environment. The Pencil Patch offers an outdoor learning experience that goes beyond planting and harvesting. It encompasses numerous


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aspects of agriculture when kids are at the right point to absorb information that can change their lives and – who knows? Maybe the world. AITC’s Pencil Patch


program and others that expose young people to agriculture are obviously important on many levels. In early June, the government of Canada announced a one- year investment of up to $567,786 for AITC Canada to develop and deliver educational resources about the agriculture and agri-food sector to primary and secondary students across the country while also promoting career opportunities in agriculture.


The funding is part of the Growing Forward 2


AgriCompetitiveness Program under the Fostering Business Development stream. The announcement was made by federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay.


“Educating students about the importance of agriculture will contribute to a stronger sustainable, Canadian agricultural industry,” he says. “This initiative will provide students with information about the importance of agriculture in Canada and will help create opportunities to empower young future leaders in the sector.” If kids’ brains really are


sponges, the work of AITC is bound to create both advocates and participants in the agriculture sector going forward.


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