Kelowna Students Learning to Grow and Cook Their Own Food

(Photo Credit: Growing Chefs!)

Elementary school students in Kelowna are learning about food from seed to plate.

The Flower Power Garden Tour is back for its second season, raising funds for Growing Chefs!, a classroom gardening and cooking program in local elementary schools. The adventure begins in the classroom on Monday, April 27^th, as students learn about composting at Glenmore Elementary School.

(Photo Credit: Growing Chefs!)

The program began in 2013 in the Okanagan after nearly a decade of success in Vancouver. The pilot project was delivered to 30 children at Glenmore Elementary School, but last year Growing Chefs! Okanagan expanded to 100 children. This year, donations are allowing the program to reach more than 180 students in three different schools.

The chef volunteers, Aman Dosanj of Poppadoms and Giulio Piccioli of One Big Table, will be visiting the classrooms every two weeks over the course of three months, helping students to plant and care for indoor vegetable gardens. Using games, lessons, and activities, Dosanj and Piccioli will teach the children about plant growth, local and urban agriculture, sustainability, and nutrition. The students will then harvest their own vegetables and learn to cook delicious healthy meals with the chefs.

(Photo Credit: Growing Chefs!)

Anyone can get in on the action with the Flower Power Garden Tour on Saturday, June 13th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This self-guided tour of nine private gardens raises funds for Growing Chefs! The tour includes a chef’s garden that provides for a winery restaurant, a downtown garden with a martini gate to the neighbours’ yard, a secret garden, and a yard that’s been made into raised box vegetable planters.

There will also be gardening experts Ken Salvail, Gwen Steele, and Okanagan Master Gardeners on site to answer questions. Also included in the tour are artists, demonstrations, and tastings throughout the gardens scattered around Kelowna.

Sites from the 2014 Flower Power Tour. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow)

Tickets for the tour will be available starting May 1^st, and you can check out Flower Power’s website for more information. Check out more about the Growing Chefs program here.