November 12, 2013

On Tuesday November 12, 2013 an Induction Workshop for the EcoHuertos Program was held at the Republic of Paraguay School in Santo Domingo.

There were 47 participants at the workshop, representing the educational community, including students, teachers, support staff, administrators, directors and parents.
Everyone cheerfully took part in the presentation, group discussion and brainstorming session. They analyzed and responded to such questions as:  What is a vegetable garden?  Why do we want one? What do we have and what do we need to create one? How should we organize ourselves to create a sustainable vegetable garden? Answers to each of these questions were important for developing the concept of a garden and to establish individual and group commitments.

Ideas were presented about the different types of vegetable gardens as well as types of plants could be cultivated as well as basic care techniques were reviewed. The group also received copies of the manual “How to Create a Vegetable Garden,” that will serve as a resource guide for the creation of school garden.

The workshop concluded with a site visit to location where garden will be built. Cristiana Cruz Minier, EcoHuertos program coordinator, took advantage of site visit to review the steps involved in garden creation and set clear expectations for the group.

Students from the Paraguay school showed great interest and desire to get involved in the creation of the vegetable garden and shared their past experiences with gardening and growing food.