New crop of farmers soon sprouting up at the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in Ripley

A new idea is germinating at the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in Ripley, this season.

The Junior Agricultural Stewardship Program will take root April 22 and carry on weekly throughout the growing season.

Youth, aged six to 12, and high school students looking to earn volunteer hours, are invited to participate in the project that will help save two heirloom bean varieties - one that is very rare (the Blue Jay Bean), and one that is so rare it teeters on the brink of extinction (the Sultan's Green Crescent Bean).

The food gardens are the first, and so far sole, supplier of Sultan's Green Crescent Bean seed to Canada's seed bank, Seeds of Diversity Canada.
 

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Curtis Lotton (R) of Ripley is shown with the rare heirloom beans he helped plant and maintain at the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in Ripley
 

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Seeds saved from last year's showcase plants will be planted this season, but planting is not the only activity in which the new stewards will be involved. These new farmers will learn how to prepare the land for planting, construct the required support structures, plant the seeds, maintain the beds, learn organic approaches to fertilizing the plants, and harvest the beans.

And what good is harvesting unless you know what to do to eat them? A junior version of the Garden's Greenhorn Gourmet cooking program will teach the youth how to cook the beans into tasty dishes.

Seed-saving techniques will be learned, and stewards will develop a program to sell the seeds to help earn income to support the sustainability of the program. This will include developing graphics and packaging to market the seeds, and developing a way to market them to the public to help ensure that the bean's production is extended and extinction is offset.

“It's circular education”, says Lynne Taylor, executive director of the food gardens. “The program is designed to teach these young minds the cycle of food production from earth preparation to plant to seed and back to earth with an understanding of just how intricate and demanding our food system is.”

2016 is the United Nations International Year of Pulses, says Taylor. "According to Pulsecanada.com, pulses are part of the legume family, but the term 'pulse' refers only to the dried seed. Dried peas, edible beans, lentils and chickpeas are the most common varieties of pulses. Pulses are very high in protein and fibre, and are low in fat. Like their cousins in the legume family, pulses are nitrogen-fixing crops that improve the environmental sustainability of annual cropping systems.”

The food gardens belong to the Stewardship Network of Ontario (stewardshipnetwork.ca), validating the program and giving these young citizens hands-on experience and a real responsibility in the world of food diversity, says Taylor.

If you are interested in having your child participate in the program, or if you are looking for meaningful volunteer hours, contact Taylor by E-mail at ltaylor@bbfg.org or call 519-386-9957.

Application forms will be made available by download through the website at www.bbfg.org and will be available at the Township of Huron Kinloss offices at 21 Queen St., Ripley, and at the food gardens information kiosk at the site - 62 Park Street, Ripley.