Conversation with Annie (Year 2) and Lizzy (Year 5)
How do the wicking beds work?
“There is water in the bottom of the food cubes so the plants can drink when they want to. Gardening captains at school watch the water levels and fill up the Food Cube when it gets low. We pick the produce when it grows.”
What are the benefits of urban farming
“Kids get to learn about plants and how food has grown. You get to grow your own food which tastes yummier. We love taking produce from the school garden stall for lunch the next day! “
How much produce has this farm grown?
“This farm has produced lots of pumpkins, eggplants, zucchinis, corn, tomatoes, bok choy, silverbeet, spring onion, rainbow chard, beans, strawberries.”
What are you doing with the produce
“We sell the produce at the school gardening stall every Thursday afternoon”
Are you engaging in composting
“We have compost bins at school for leftover food, garden cuttings, paper, leaves and cardboard. We put the compost on our garden to help make the soil rich for fruit trees and in the garden bed.”
Do you enjoy having the wicking beds?
“Yes! We love picking fruit and vegetables. We love eating them and selling them at the garden stall so we can buy more things.”
Are you noticing any urban biodiversity visiting the farm – insects, bird life, other?
“Yes! We have noticed more birds, insects and lots and lots of worms (worms are good). And cabbage moths (which is not good).
Any other comments you may like to make
Lizzy – “My favourite activity is picking the fruit and vegetables because I like organising them for the market stall.”
What does the rest of the community think of the wicking bed school farm?
“All the produce that we produce gets sold every Thursday at our Gardening Sale and we sell it to the OHR Community. I think that the children like having a farm because it’s a way for us to learn and grow plants. It can help us a lot if we want to grow a garden at home and you can teach your family things that they don’t know.” – Christina Year 6
“We grow and pick fresh produce and sell all of it after school on Thursday’s. The school community can buy it to take home and use in their home meals. The gardening team and I love watching all the lovely produce grow, picking it and sharing it with our community. – Eve Year 6
“Having the vegetable garden makes learning fun. I like eating produce that we’ve looked after and grown. Gardening club is my favourite day of the school week. I like seeing the plants grow and develop from seeds through to when produce is ready to pick.” – Otto Year 4
“Looking after the plants is caring for nature.” – Arlo Prep
“One of the biggest effects of the Biofilta Urban farms is the sense of community and the inspiration it has given many families to have a go at growing their own food at home. Watching the families come together to buy produce sold by the children is wonderful on so many levels. Teaching about biodiversity and beneficial insects has been showcased in real life. We have seen noticeable well-being moments in our edible garden” – Melissa – Teacher
