Italy: Bio Gardens in Schools

Numerous small farmers - students from primary and secondary schools, but also from kindergartens - in Milan have joined the project Bio Orti nelle Scuole – Bio Gardens in Schools. The objective is to create a vegetable garden at their school or kindergarten, in which everything is organic, from soil to fruit picking. The initiative is led by NaturaSì, Italy’s largest organic supermarket chain that provided the experts and covered the costs for the material and teaching in cooperation with Marcopolo Environmental Group that provided the organic humus for the gardens. About 700 children are involved at this point. After meetings in the classroom to discover what it means to grow organically and biodynamic - that it is so important for the fertility of the land to grow and produce food on to use these sustainable methods, as well as for the protection of the environment and biodiversity and therefore for the future of the planet, the students, together with their teachers, had the opportunity to leave the classroom and to get their hands into the ground to create the bio garden. Accompanied by an adult farmer, the small farmers learned everything they needed from organising a plot to making compost and to sowing and planting vegetables, herbs and medical plants. One of the kids, tired but happy, explained at the end of the day: “At the garden, you almost do all the classes from history to geography, from maths to geometry, from science to biology and a lot of physical activity.” The students will be joined by their parents and grandparents to further take care of their Bio Garden. The project will also bring students and their families to visit one of the most important biodynamic farms near Milan, Cascine Orsine in Bereguardo (Padova). More information (in Italian) is available here.