Shanghai Charities: Roots & Shoots’ Organic Farm

Shanghai Roots and Shoots’ Organic Farm Program started in 2007. This semester Liuying and I, who are from Fudan University and the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, took over the task of teaching kids about worm compost farms and methods for growing food organically.

Currently, an overwhelming number of kids from both urban and rural areas know less and less about where their food comes from: some students do not even know whether some types of vegetables and fruits grow from trees or not. What’s worse, many students rate fast food as their favourite meal. It is our duty to rebuild their nutritional framework, to fill the gaps in their knowledge, and to foster their gardening skills through this extracurricular activity.

On my first day of class I felt very nervous so to create a relaxed atmosphere I decided to start with an icebreaker that involved naming different kinds of plants. All the students were having fun acting out the names of plants. With such an easy-going and effective game, almost all the plant names were memorized by these kids. As the proverb goes, “a good beginning is the foundation stone of success.” After the interactive activity, the kids were interested in the content of the class.

Once, I taught the kids how to make a basic worm farm. Two Grade One students took an active part in the class and even finished the worm farm by themselves. That really shocked me. When I asked them why they put waste paper and fruit peels in the soil, they simultaneously responded “to make the soil more fertilized.” By the end of the program, the students could tell different plants apart and, in fact, they learned so much from the program that they became ‘little doctors’ who diagnosed whether a plant was growing well or not.

The course contains not only classroom lessons but also opportunities to attend and participate in environmental exhibitions.

One Saturday afternoon, students and parents attended an environmental fair. The students were showing others how to start a worm farm. From preparing the plastic bin with organic compost to moving the worms to a new composting box, this process was learned through the students’ own personal experience. When those kids held their worm farms proudly, we felt rewarded by our time as volunteers. At the end of the curriculum, we were able to motivate our students to care about and protect the environment.

The Organic Farm Program has encouraged us to share our experience with each other and work together as a team. We’ve found that doing good is best born out of knowledge and friendship. At the same time, volunteering as a mentor for the Organic Garden Program inspired a passion in me too: an enthusiasm for teaching young children about the world and about the importance of protecting the Earth.

For more information please visit http://www.jgi-shanghai.org/Content.aspx?ItemID=161 or contact Minying Zheng at minying.zheng@jgi-shanghai.org or (021) 53060001- 569.