Watch how these youngsters started a gardening club during the pandemic. While you are watching, try to list the plant names you see or hear and also try to remember the people involved in this club.
Gardening Club
A high school gardening club plants seeds of community during the pandemic.
Gardening Club
A high school gardening club plants seeds of community during the pandemic.
Video Transcript
Narrator: For avid gardeners, spring brings with it excitement for the growing season. But COVID threatened to take it all away for Maryam Ahmed and Kay Sali, part of a high school gardening club in Markham, just outside Toronto.
Maryam Ahmed: We kind of formed like a family and we made like lots of different friends. Um, with COVID, of course, it was like very difficult to, uh, sort of transfer that online.
Narrator: Forced to abandon their school's greenhouse, they had to get creative on how to keep their club going.
Maryam Ahmed: Uh, we also had sort of like pots, which were donated to us. So this comes with the, with the kit.
Narrator: They've given out hundreds of them, all starter kits for native Ontario plant species, and recruited some unlikely school club members to help get them planted.
Kay Sali: During COVID, personally, I really missed my grandma. Um, and I felt that everyone's missing their grandparents and, um, I don't know how it must feel to be so isolated from your family. And I thought, why not bring some plants into other people's lives?
Teacher: So welcome to all the Christie Gardens residents who are here today.
Narrator: The high schoolers teamed up with retirement home residents, talking along the way about much more than plants.
Student: Never have I ever gotten stuck on the top of a roller coaster.
Resident: No! Something I've never done and don't want to is that walk around the CN Tower.
Student: I want to! Yeah.
Resident: One of my sons had two chickens and he called them lunch and supper.
Narrator: Sharing stories and their love for gardening, a love that seems to span all ages.
Bruna Nota: The woodland sunflower and the ironweed. So I would put this as well.
Debbie New: It's called ironweed because the stem is so tough.
Narrator: And the residents eagerly get to work on the donated seed kits. Debbie New had such a hard time getting seeds during the pandemic, she had to get inventive.
Debbie New: I've been using gardening in my room as a way to, to deal with the, the isolation and so on.
Narrator: So a lot of the things you've got growing there are from the grocery store?
Debbie New: So I've got a, a dragon fruit and I've got a passion fruit and celery and kiwis, all these things. Just I'm quite interested in what the plant is like.
Narrator: Bruna Nota was eager just to chat with someone new. What was it like to meet with them?
Bruna Nota: It was, it was very nice because they were very knowledgeable and very engaged.
Debbie New: Both the teachers and the, and the students were, were showing an interest. And they were also very, very thoughtful of us. They, they did engage us in the discussion and include us.
Narrator: Both now fully vaccinated against COVID and their home no longer in full lockdown, making this spring something entirely new. How are you feeling?
Bruna Nota: Well, it's, it's very...
Debbie New: It's very liberating to be, to be able to get outside sometimes and, and, uh, and feel a little, a little freer.
Narrator: Free to get out and garden again, but also share their knowledge with the next generation of green thumbs.
Bruna Nota: We've both got some of the purple aster, so let you know how they work.
Teacher: That's exciting.
Bruna Nota: Yes, very exciting, yes.
Kay Sali: When I started to fall in love with plants, I realized, like, this club would be great. Um, and ever since that, it was such a great environment, um, and I got to work with people who loved plants. I love plants. I don't know if you can tell, but yeah.
Narrator: Divided by restrictions, united by a pandemic, these green thumbs across generations have already reaped an incredible harvest: friendship.
David Common, CBC News, Toronto.
Driving Questions
Look at the three Driving Questions below and in your groups, decide which question you would like to answer. Each group can answer the same question or each group can answer different questions. The choice is yours!
- How can we design a restaurant that people will enjoy visiting?
- How can we create a guide that teaches others about different diets and dietary restrictions?
- How can we grow our own fruits and vegetables to be used in the school cafeteria?
Thinking Routine: Pass The Parcel
What will your group do or make to answer your Driving Question? Follow the prompts below to draw or write out some ideas with your group. Remember to download or save your work for future use!
Think about your group’s question and what you might already know about this topic. The aim of this exercise is to get you thinking and working together to create ideas. Everything is possible here!
As you REFLECT on what has been learned about food, think about connections with your Driving Question. With these connections, you have unwrapped the first layer of the parcel.
IDENTIFY significant connections that you would like to explore further and think about why they are significant to you. With each significant connection you identify, you unwrap another layer.
EXPLORE all ways you can to understand what it is about these connections that can help you unwrap the parcel and reach the prize. Each exploration removes another layer.
What will you do to ACT on all you have learned, so the last wrapping paper will come loose and your treasure is in reach?
Need To Knows
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