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Seeds to Feeds
Being involved in the community is very important to BestStart Leeds St, and when we were approached by the Sustainability Trust to see if we would like to participate in the Seeds to Feeds Festival 2021 we knew tamariki would love this. This is a programme where businesses and inner city urban dwellers grow vegetables and then get together and share the kai with the rest of the community.
We already have a small vegetable garden but we were also gifted some plastic tubs from the sustainability and potatoes and seedlings to start off our preparation for the feast in September.
Planting potatoes for 80 people was the priority over the months the tamariki watered and observed the potato leaves sprouting. They also planted spinach at the beginning of February in preparation for the event in March. Beka for the Sustainability Trust arrived the day before the feast and helped the tamariki harvest the potatoes which were a little disappointing as they were very small, however the spinach was perfect. After harvesting a few of the tamariki took the veges to Shepherds Restaurant in the Hannah's Courtyard where the food was going to be prepared for the next day. The tamariki were very excited going into the kitchen of a restaurant with such big ovens and kitchen accessories.
This innovation led to many learning outcomes for the tamariki:
- Connecting links with the wider community
- Learning skills about growing vegetables
- Learning about the process of what happens from garden to table
- Working in collaboration together (listening, taking turns, communicating)
The tamariki have decided they want to do this again and have decided we need more gardens at BestStart Leeds Street. They have had conversations at home which has prompted some families to donate some vegetable plants and fruit trees to us as we continue empowering great gardeners.