Last week the students learned all about the importance of growing our own food and trying to be sustainable. They also saw that with a little effort we can all produce food and it can be great fun trying!

On Monday we had a visit from Taragh who works with the Edible Landscape Project. This is a local initiative which is based in Westport. She spoke to the children about making smart food choices and how we can all have a positive impact on the environment we live in. The pupils then joined her in planting a Coxes Orange Pippin Apple Tree in the school grounds. This type of apple tree was carefully chosen for the Irish climate and we look forward to lots of lovely apples in the years to come.

On Wednesday the pupils were lucky enough to be invited to visit the polytunnel and garden belonging to Gráinne who is one of our neighbours here in Stokane and mum to Fionn and Odhrán, pupils in our school.

A short walk down the road, perusing nature and picking black berries on the way brought them to Gráinne’s Garden. She is growing a wide variety of vegetables in her polytunnel. The pupils got to see how different vegetables grow and learn about seasonal produce. They planted seeds for next years crop and got to taste apples straight from the tree and peas picked fresh from the plant.

We are all so used to seeing vegetables on the shelf in the supermarket it is lovely to see what they look like before being picked and packaged.

A big thank you to Taragh and Grainne for giving us their time and expertise.