Harvesting healthy habits in Thorold
Kids are more prone to eat veggies when they plant and pluck them from the soil themselves, parents find.
Which is why they bring their children to Thorold Public Library, where mini watering cans, gardening gloves and shovels await them at the Healthy Kids’ Community Garden.
Planted in early July, the garden is already sprouting two types of lettuce, tiny tomatoes, spinach, cucumbers and zucchini.
Junior gardeners can’t wait to pick them from the library lot, says public services librarian Rebecca Lazarenko.
Aided by Thorold Horticultural Society members, who maintain the library’s gardens, “Kids took part in all the planting,” she says. “They loved it.”
The seed for the community garden idea was sown when Lazarenko and chief librarian Joanne DeQuadros applied for and received a Healthy Kids Niagara grant.
“It’s a challenge to boost fruit and veggies in their diet,” Lazarenko says, “so we’re doing a whole series of programs” that promote wellness and healthy living in a fun educational format at the library.
The youth gardening program starts at 10:30 a.m. and runs Saturdays until Aug. 19.
“We go through the garden, we water, we harvest what comes up, we read,” and usually, kids create some type of horticultural-themed craft to take home, such as “grass heads” (similar to Chia pets), or wooden garden stakes, she says.
A pollinator garden was added to attract bees and butterflies, and teach youth the valuable role they play in nature. Logs were laid, drilled with holes so the insects can burrow inside for warmth during colder temperatures.
“It’s interesting watching the kids get so excited seeing the vegetables grow,” says summer reading club co-ordinator Bernadette James. “Last week we had a little girl come in and say, ‘I was going to have pizza for lunch but now I’m going to have a salad.’”
The You’re the Chef program, which partners with a professional chef and uses the kitchen at the neighbouring Thorold Seniors Centre on Fridays, is so popular that more classes had to be added. It’s geared to aspiring chefs from aged three to 13, who prepare a plantbased meal.
Thorold high school students earn community service hours by volunteering to be on the lookout for safety issues while the younger chefs learn proper knife handling and other culinary techniques.
Participation from local seniors, teens and children makes it a multigenerational community project.
“We’re going to do a Grandma and Grandpa and Me Class,” says Lazarenko, “to show kids how to cook with a professional chef at the seniors centre, and I’m going to teach a How to Make Your Own Baby Food class in October.”
Library staff recently hosted another inter-generational program to promote cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.
“We have a group of kids that come consistently for our summer programs and we partnered them with the kids to help them with the grass head projects,” she says. “They all loved it.”
All programs are free, and books with healthy themes and fun titles — such as Fruits and Suits — are being featured in the summer reading program as a part of healthy living.
“We also have four scavenger hunts going on in the library. We’re giving away four President’s Choice gift cards” so patrons can buy healthy groceries.
“Kids can complete the scavenger hunt any time we’re open,” Lazarenko says, adding the branch hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.