The answer to the old nursery rhyme question, "How does your garden grow?" is "with a little help from my friends!" in Ucluelet.
A work bee at the Ucluelet Elementary School greenhouse garden brought out kind-hearted green thumbs recently.
Faye Missar is the new program coordinator for the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust. The event was part of a Food Connections gathering Nov. 7, she said.
The free public event brought Island Health and various foodsecurity partners together in an annual event to support food security in rural and remote communities, Missar said.
"It was hosted in Ucluelet, which was great - we had people from various parts of the Island, talking and answering questions, doing workshops," she said.
The afternoon work party at UES was to help prepare greenhouse beds. The sturdy structure will allow student work to thrive despite the weather, she said.
"Kids will be working in the garden year-round," Missar said. "I enjoyed working with the kids - they were super enthused and pretty funny," she said. "They were very fun, and they were very eager."
Missar said gardening with the younger generation is a good thing.
"It's very important to involve kids in food from the beginning," she said, touting the benefits of kids getting a hands-on understanding of where real food comes from (and not just the grocery store.) "The more knowledge of how food gets to your plate, I think that's really important," she said.
"It might get kids involved in gardening, and bring the conversation back home - they could be starting gardens up at home," she said.
jcarmichael@westerlynews.ca