School Garden Mentorship Workshops 2023

From January to October 2023, Farm to School BC is offering a free mentorship program for K-12 educators in BC who are in the initial stages of creating a school garden or are revitalizing an existing school garden.

This mentorship program will provide valuable skills for school-based coordination that supports both the development of a robust school garden community and tips for garden maintenance.

This program includes monthly after-school online workshops on Tuesdays facilitated by Farm to School BC staff who have a wealth of experience supporting school gardens. The workshops are targeted to discuss seasonal garden tasks and prepare participants for the month ahead in the garden (although the specific timing of garden tasks will vary depending on your growing climate). Each workshop is designed to build off previous workshops, however, participants are encouraged to read the workshop descriptions and sign up for as many sessions as they like. See the list of workshops below.

Each workshop will include the following components:

• An educational presentation by Farm to School BC staff
• Project planning resources to support your school garden team
• Profile of an inspiring school garden or a guest speaker
• For those that attended last year, you might find some content is repeated, though the content is updated and may happen earlier than in 2022.

2023 Workshop Topics and Dates

Tuesdays, 3:30-4:30

• January 24: Establishing a School Garden Culture
• February 14: Designing your School Garden and Crop Planning
• March 7: Classroom Growing and Building the Garden
• April 4: Outdoor Planting
• May 9: Summer Maintenance and Volunteer Management
• June 6: Spring Harvest and Harvest Celebration
• September 12: Harvesting and Seed Saving
• October 3: Winterizing Your Garden and Long-term Sustainability