The Landed Learning School Year Program unites collaborative teams of elders, younger adults, and children in learning with and caring for the Earth at the UBC Farm (Vancouver, BC) and the Okanagan Science Centre(Vernon, BC).
Landed Learning program participants sow, grow, tend, harvest cook, and share food at UBC Farm and explore the connections among human and non-human communities, places, and local environments.
Over the course of the school year (September through June), classes of elementary children (grades 3-7) and Farm Friend volunteers meet in the garden on 12 occasions. During these visits children gain hands-on experience with the growing cycle, food systems, soil science, traditional ecological knowledge, and farm and forest ecosystems using a cooperative, multi-generational, small-group learning approach. Food growing activities are accompanied by learning from living beings and elements of interest on the Farm. Children experience the full cycle of a local food system, preparing and sharing meals students prepare from foods they have grown and harvested in their gardens, and transforming waste into nutrient-rich compost. Teachers work with project staff to integrate and extend the experiential component of the program with classroom lessons across the curriculum.
Landed Learning participants discover new flavours to enjoy like sweet winter kale, explore newfound interests like caring for compost critters, and experience pride in new accomplishments, like slicing beets, pushing a wheelbarrow, or calmly watching a honeybee eat honey from their fingertips.
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