Juliana's Spring Valley Middle School Reflection

I'm very happy with the way today's presentation at Spring Valley Middle School went, both the kids and us learned some great things. The kids got to learn about the 100 mile diet, local food, how far our food travels and how lucky we are to live in an area so rich in food production. We got to learn about how much middle school aged kids know about food and where it comes from. We also got to see their "greenhouse" closet and bistro.
Walking into the classroom, we knew right away this wasn't an ordinary room and there wasn't ordinary learning going on. One boy was standing on a table posting art t the wall, two kids sat upstairs in a loft area doing homework, one girl was working on a model for an outdoor classroom and another boy was mixing beats on a mixer. We were warmly welcomed and introduced to all the kids. Instead of having them all come to us we visited them in their stations and started talking about where we were from and why we were there. Eventually, once the kids were comfortable with us, they gathered around and we began a small group discussion about food. The kids seemed genuinely interested and gave us their full attention. We explained that the average meal travels around 2000 miles from the farm to our plates. Then we talked about what it means to eat locally from farmers in our area. Te kids shared about field trips they had been on to farms in Kelowna. We talked about their favorite foods and what foods they grow in their classroom greenhouse. The grew peppermint, kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, peppers, and parsley. The foods are grazed on by the kids in class and also used in their bistro. We got to try their quinoa salad with their peppermint and parsley.
During or discussion we gave the kids a map of BC with the foods that are grown in BC on the map in pictures. The kids loved the map and this sparked some more great discussion. One boy loved seeing that the Okanagan has Llamas and kiwis. The kids could see how lucky we are to live in such a rich area where local food is plentiful. We also showed them areas on the map such as Bella Coola that are food deserts.
Next we tried some local apples from Vernon which were a huge hit with the kids. We also showed them and let them try watermelon radishes, sunchokes, white radishes, and celeriac. None of the kids had tried any of these vegetables before and were pleasantly surprised once we finally convinced them to try them. We spent an extra half an hour after our discussion watching the kids run their bistro, they were so excited to show us what they work on everyday.
Overall, this experience was extremely positive and I feel that the kids took home a good message about how eating locally is good for the community, the environment and your own health!