‘Growing your own food – you could not be learning anything more important nowadays’

Did you know that horse poo is the best fertiliser for growing vegetables and that cardboard is a highly effective and environmentally friendly way to suppress weeds?

These are some of the nuggets of wisdom the fifth class students in St Colman’s National School and Gaelscoil An Mhuilinn have learned in recent months during their participation in the Irish leg of BioBeo, a pioneering education scheme funded by the EU.

In addition to hopefully creating a new generation of environmentally aware GIY (Grow it Yourself) enthusiasts, BioBeo, which in Ireland is being led by academics from UCD and the Froebel School of Education, Maynooth University, aims to give young people a holistic understanding of the bio-economy.

For anyone not sure what the bio-economy is (which up until last Tuesday, included this writer), BioBeo defines the bio-economy as “a way of using natural resources to produce food, energy, and products for living while taking care to protect the Earth at the same time”.

“Using renewable bio-based resources or gifts from the Earth, and reducing our waste in the bio-economy supports a sustainable, healthy future for the planet and all living things.

“Each and every one of us needs to choose and use resources wisely and gently for the sake of our shared home – The Earth.”

In addition to planting edible gardens and learning about what are the best pollinator friendly and plants – one of the most effective micro-climate actions we can all do – students have also, among other things, learned about the interconnectedness of all living things, engaged in outdoor learning, and built a pond to improve local biodiversity.

James Lowry from Mullingar, who is a PhD student at the Froebel School of Education, is a researcher on the project. He has led a series of outdoor learning sessions at five schools across the country, including St Colman’s and Gaelscoil an Mhuilinn, as well as the school where he teaches, St Mary’s Special School in Navan.

“BioBeo is developing innovative approaches to bio-economy education which aims to foster creativity and resilience in our young people.

“My field work in the study takes me to visit a set of five diverse schools from the east coast to the west, Ringsend to Clare Island, along with our two marvellous schools here in Mullingar. We are exploring how children and young people engage with the concept of a circular and sustainable, ecologically friendly bio-economy.”

James has been impressed by how engaged the students have been; something, he says, that augurs well for the future.

“ A key facet of a sustainable bio-economy is how nothing goes to waste: composting and food waste management is a key skill for us all in order to understand and put the idea that waste is valuable and important and can be really put to great use.

“The children [participating in the project] love it. As a kid, I never got into a garden like this. I think it is going to have to become a bigger part of the curriculum.

“Growing your own food – I don’t think you could learning anything more important nowadays.”

Teacher Garret McCormack told the Westmeath Examiner that his fifth class students have embraced the lessons: “It allows us to use the outdoor classroom and take a hands-on approach to learning. They are self-taught because they do the work themselves. It also allows us to contribute to research that will influence the curriculum in time.

“Some of the children haven’t maybe had the opportunity to grow things at home and they see how easy it is. From our perspective, it ticks every box.

“We are very pleased with getting someone like James in to do research. He has contributed well to us over a number of classes.

“It is also creating environmental awareness, which is really important. It is something that was ignored in schools for a long time, and even the use of terms like interconnectivity and the bio-economy makes sense to them now.

“James allows them to connect the dots, which means they are teaching themselves and it makes sense when they have to figure it out.

“They enjoy it thoroughly. It is good to be outside the room as well. You can only teach so much on a board or at a desk. While we would always have engaged in outdoor activity and worked on environmental awareness, this is more practical and certainly there is stuff that will stay with the children. Overall, we are pleased with it and would love to see it continue in some shape or form. I supposed it is what you’d call a symbiotic relationship, James gets his research done and our children learn a lot better than they would if we were trying to engage in this activity in the room.”

At Gaelscoil an Mhuilinn fifth and sixth class students participated in the project. Fifth class teacher Dara Feiritéar says that students are thoroughly enjoying taking part in the initiative.

“It is absolutely brilliant. They went through a host of things, including building a pond, planting trees and setting onions.

“Everyone was involved and it was all group work involving both fifth and six classes.

“James is brilliant. We would do it again, definitely.”