There is a shift in society today. Gone are the victory gardens of the war years which were so important in meeting the nutritional needs for the basic family unit. We are now living in a highly technical era. The result has been a promotion towards a dining regime of over-processed meals with surplus calories specifically designed to cater to the frantic pace at which we now run our lives.

Nowadays, we are largely disconnected from agriculture. As a result, many have a poor or limited understanding of how to grow food that meets proper nutritional standards. More alarmingly, we are distancing ourselves from the natural world. So intent are we in reaching further into the future of technology we are losing sight of its impact on our environment. We are forgetting actions have consequences beyond our immediate boundaries.

It is time to reach back and rekindle our connection to growing food, eating healthy and taking stewardship for our natural world. And where better to start than with our children in a school garden that is a reflection of the successful victory gardens of our ancestors.

Leading the children into the school garden is the first step towards finding solutions to the complex problems that are looming on our environmental horizon. In fact, putting them in the garden right now and opening their eyes to its life cycle will help the children to recognize problems which are already present in the natural world. By teaching them how to feed themselves and tend for a garden we are pointing them forward in a direction which has far-reaching potential…not to mention untold benefits.