By Christopher “Farmer” Brown (he/him), teacher, traditional territory of the Snaw-naw-as people
When relationship-building, as all teachers and farmers do, there is power in finding commonalities. Where are we the same? Where can we meet? I ask my learners, “Who eats?” when I teach about relationships with the land. It’s a simple question that becomes provocative and deep. This question isn’t just about food as fuel but about food as our connection to the Earth and the stories that accompany that sustenance.
Everyone eats, so everyone should have basic knowledge of food systems. Many people have lost connections with their growers or wild spaces to harvest sustenance. School gardens and nearby wild spaces are valuable for learning basic agricultural and traditional ecological knowledge, which many students will retain for life. This article discusses some ideas for using food as a starting point to weave agricultural literacy and ecological knowledge into all subjects.
Food stories
I love bringing unique, locally grown foods into my classroom. From my garden, we have sampled medlar, hardy kiwi, sea buckthorn, purple radish, ground cherry, autumn olive, persimmon, cucamelon, rainbow carrots, black cherry tomatoes, painted mountain corn, and more. Each food has a story that can be turned into a teachable moment. Where in the world was it originally grown? Who grew it? How do we have it here? Why don’t we see it in the grocery store? Are there other names for it? How do you prepare it? What health benefits are there? Are there stories or songs about it?
Food at the grocery store also has a story to tell. Let’s examine the humble carrot. Originally domesticated from wild plants in modern-day Afghanistan and Iran, ancient farmers saved seeds from the best specimens and bred different cultivars to make a rainbow of crunchy colours. Each carrot you buy from the store has been on a journey. The following is a powerful sequence of connections to discuss with your class.
First, the farmer uses a tractor to plough a field—they had to buy the tractor, and the land had to be cleared. And whose land was it? Next, they plant carrot seeds at the right time of the season using a special tool. Carrot seeds have been saved for over 1,100 years to get to this point, and the tool was made in a special workshop from steel. Then they water and weed the plants; water is piped in from a well or lake, so they have to be careful not to use too much. This too requires special equipment. They must continue to weed and water and protect the carrots from pests for 60 to 90 days before they harvest. Finally, farmers, migrant workers, or special equipment harvest the carrots, which are then sent to a processing factory where they are washed, sorted, packaged in plastic, stacked in boxes in refrigerated rooms, loaded onto trucks, and shipped to grocery stores across the continent.
For the most part, fossil fuels power each machine involved in this process. Each crop in the commercial food system shares a similar story. The story of this carrot leads to a dialogue for contrast and comparison with a more local food system, where some steps in the supply chain are eliminated. Food is a direct conduit to teaching about the climate crisis and meaningful ways to engage with it. Localizing our food system is a great strategy for adapting to climate change. Further, folks living on Vancouver Island or remote communities that depend on imported foods understand the vulnerability of the supply chain. Learners of all ages will benefit from the story of imported versus locally grown carrots, and they will be even more excited if you grow them in your school garden.
Plant life-cycles
One of my favourite vegetables to plant in my school garden is broad beans. People have cultivated them for over 8,000 years! This wonderful plant offers a diversity of lessons as we observe and participate in the complete life cycle. I celebrate growing these humble and nutritious legumes with my students by connecting the broad bean to several cross-curricular lessons throughout the entire school year. In October, we use the seeds as math manipulatives and for patterning and sequencing in art and storytelling (math/art/English language arts). As a class, we then prepare a space in our garden to plant seeds in November (applied design, skills, and technologies [ADST]). The seeds plump up, germinate, survive the wet, cold winter, and sprout in January (science). As they grow, we measure them (math). We watch them flower and benefit pollinators and other nectarivorous insects (science). The flowers make bean pods that gradually plump (reproduction/health), attract pests, then attract ladybugs to eat the pests (science unit on the food chain). By June, the plants are ready to harvest and eat (career ed.).
The plants can be left over summer to desiccate. Upon arrival at school in September, the dry pods are ready to be harvested and shucked. We collect data on the harvest (weight and other quantities for math), and the cycle repeats. This leads to the big idea that “seasons don’t end, they change, are circular, predictable and are worth celebrating” (Indigenous knowledge connection). Further, legumes are great for the soil and make great companion plants. The young leaves are edible, the fresh beans are delicious, and the dried beans can be rehydrated for future consumption. I have made a series of elementary-level lesson plans (available at bctf.ca/classroom-resources) inspired by broad beans. Each food or flower plant we grow can offer similar learning opportunities.
Wild harvesting
Another success from our school to share has been tapping and harvesting bigleaf maple water to reduce it into syrup. As far as wild harvesting goes, this is gold. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. My class and the eco-team club have taken on the task of identifying the trees (social studies), learning about Indigenous protocols around harvesting from the land, attaching taps and buckets (ADST), monitoring the weather (science), collecting the water (physical and health education), and boiling the water (science) to reduce it 60:1 into sugar (math). We celebrate with a waffle party (career ed.). We have been doing this for two years and now have data to compare from our annual harvest each year (math). It has been interesting and so much fun.
In closing, I gratefully remember Mrs. Parker, my Grade 4 teacher, a farmer. Her grounded and inspired teaching style may have influenced me to become a farmer and now a farmer-educator. I want to help learners understand that everyone eats for a living. Farming, especially by means of regenerative agricultural practices, and other Earth-care-based professions are important in adapting to the climate and biodiversity crisis. Abundance comes from caring for and respecting the land. Many students will have their first experience of this hopeful practice in school gardens and wild spaces.