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Kimberley Independent School students go seriously green

Huge garden and tree project undertaken by students, teachers
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Inspired by the climate action strike held back in September, the students of Kimberley Independent School felt compelled to take some action of their own, and were keen to learn how best to go about it.

READ MORE: #FridaysForFuture walkout in Kimberley

“A couple of the students were really curious about what they could do to resolve some of these problems and for us the idea was to plant trees and then help the kids learn how to be self-sustainable in nature and learn about growing plants and taking care of trees,” explained Sarah Thomsen.

Together with the students, they came up with the idea of planting vegetables and trees on the school grounds and then the kids set about raising some funds for the project, and managed to raise $700 within the community to purchase greenery and other things needed to improve their school yard.

“We spent half the money in June in kind of a rush because of this pandemic, everything sort of got put on hold, so we completed the garden today and then in the fall we’re going to do the rest of the trees,” Thomsen said.

Thus far, they’ve planted some cedar and a burning bush, plus a vegetable garden including some garlic, potatoes, rhubarb, perennial herbs and Engleman Ivy.

Students from all grades participated in planting seeds and helping to dig holes and get the garden growing.

The money raised — over $700 in total — came from a few different sources. Both the Rotary Club of Kimberley and Kootenay Savings contributed in a big way, and Top Crop from Cranbrook and Kimberley were “exceptional,” Thomsen said. They gave the school huge discounts on landscape equipment and greenery to get them going.

The rest of the money came from the kids themselves. Thomsen set them up with bunch of different cuttings from houseplants in the wintertime, which the kids then grew and then place into little cups and sold for #2 each at the grocery store. They raised about $250 doing this.

“They learned a lot for this project, it’s been great,” Thomsen said.



paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin

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