Drogheda Tidy Towns drew up a 5year plan last year which included consulting the town businesses, communities, the public, associations and our town councilors.
One project under sustainability in that plan was Veggie Boxes. Three students on TY from The Sacred Hearts School sought to work on this project and oversee it for experience.
Schools selected were Scoil Aonghusa, St Mary’s Bryanstown and their own school.
Each school got a Drogheda and District Mens Shed manufactured veggie box 2.0l x 0.5w x0.5h, a 0.5ton bag of top soil, a 60l bag of peat free compost and a package of plants in lettuce, cabbage, parsley, chives and packets of seeds in carrots, spring onions, parsley, coriander and a variety of lettuce.
The whole idea behind this project was to get pupils involved in planting and caring for veg that would later give them respect for food and its production. The planting was to get the pupils immediately interested in seeing the plants grow while the sowing of seeds would educate them from start to finish in watering, caring and in the end the harvesting the fruits of their labour. Its hoped this process will continue into their own later lives, even now, maybe take home their experience to their parents and get them growing. Its also hoped the experience will give them a deeper understanding of where healthy and sustainable foods come from.
Studies show that when people grow their own food its shifts their knowledge, attitude and behaviour around food. It was also noticed that children will act more and waste less food having grown it. Also in growing food stuffs has a therapeutic affect on pupils and people. Its also nice to say that these veggie boxes have a zero carbon footprint for the schools involved.
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