Regular readers will know that one of the many charities we support is School Food Matters. They believe that every child should enjoy nutritious, delicious and sustainable food at school and leave with an informed and positive relationship with food. They use their extensive knowledge, gained from working with children, parents and teachers to advocate for better school meals and vital food education. All of which we heartily endorse.
For several years now Melcourt has donated SylvaGrow compost to schools both locally, in London and for the last two years in Liverpool. The children, together with the help of the School Food Matters gardener, grow their veggies and then eat or sell them at local markets.
Here are a few comments from the Liverpool school children:
When explaining why we protect some plants with netting or fleece, one child said: “I think if I was a slug, I’d go for the herbs ‘cos you can eat them on your butty and on your pizzas. And they smell nice.”
“I like the big shovel best cos it makes me feel like I’m on a pogo stick. I’m good at that you know – and digging.“
“I can’t believe that them tiny seeds you can’t really see are gonna make carrots and the onions that you have in the spring. Is that why we’re feeding this soil? Is it like the food the bodybuilders have? To make them big? That’s boss!”
A comment from one pupil during a group chat about beetroot: “They will grow more massive than everything, that’s why it’s call beetroot – because it beats all the others in the race.”
“I’d love to be a worm, coz then I could get down there and see what the beetroot looks like now.”
And feedback from Liverpool teachers
“One of our boys is recovering from cancer and has just started coming back to school. He was off school for a year, so we were worried that he wouldn’t settle again and would be absent a lot. But the gardening helped to reconnect him with the school, because he’s always been involved with it. He wasn’t strong enough to come to the market today, but he was in charge of all the harvesting yesterday.”
“Last year we brought a girl with selective mutism. She really wanted to speak but was so nervous and after 1.5 hours, she managed to say something to a customer.”
We are so pleased to be supporting this incredible charity!