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Times Advocate, 1999-09-15, Page 181C.ir•- 18 Kid's KitchenTable growing at Bountiful ,harvest. Mount Carmel School Gr. 8 stu- dent Lindsay Muller, left, and her cousin Nicole Muller, a Gr. 7 student, show off some of the peppers their class harvested from the school garden on Friday. By Craig Bradford TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF MOUNT CARMEL — Those kids at Mount Carmel School sure know how to grow. Not only are the Gr. 7/8 students in teacher Paul Gainer's class growing up to be fine young adults, the same students have kept the Kid's Kitchen Table project going for a second year. r. The students from last year's class planted the: tomatoes, peppers, squash, cantaloupe and watermelon along with cucumbers, carrots, leeks, broccoli, brussel sprouts, strawberries and rasp- berries. The children also grew spectacular 12 -foot high sunflowers along with a gigantic morning glory vine. The project, started through a partnership of Huron County Children's Aid and Rural Response for Healthy Children, was planted at Mount Carmel, garden at the end of the 4:Huron Park's McCurdy Iast school year and har- School and Colborne vested most of the fruits Township's Colborne. (and vegetables) of .their School in '98. :labour on Friday. r' fMount mel" received The children harvested a $500 grant from the several different kinds of Canadian Living Foundation, Community Partner's Program to cre- ate the garden beds and later received another $200 grant. The Community Partner's Program man- date is to assist communi- ties in their efforts to enhance the nutritional health and well being of children. Original project co-ordi- nator Lynda Rotteau of Goderich's Rotteau Resources said the goal of the project is to empower families to increase their economic independence and nutritional health through the creation, of self-sustaining community gardens in area school yards. The gardens were mod- eled on the International School Peace Gardens program (ISPG). The ISPG was developed to cele- brate the 50th anniver- sary of the United Nations to promote safety in schools and global peace through education. This year Mount Carmel continued the project without any seed money. The plants and seeds were donated by the chil- dren's families, most notably Brian and Marianne Moore. All tools used in the project were also donated by families and area businesses. Rotteau said another goal of the project is to teach children where the food on their table comes from through teaching them how to prepare the soil, plant the seeds, maintain the garden through the growing sea- son and harvest the pro -- duce. The children also receive training in food storage and preservation to increase the produce into the win- ter. Rotteau said it's impor- tant to teach the children how to grow in an e ronmentally friendly manner without pesti- cides or chemicals. She said the 'think green' message has spread to parents from their chil- dren like the Blue Box and other recycling pro- grams did a few years ago. Last year any extra pro- duce was to go to area food banks but the Mount Carmel students and their families ate everything they grew. Mount Carmel, McCurdy and Colborne schools were used as pilot pro- jects to ' eve op the pro- gram. This year Stephen Central, Zurich's St. Boniface, Zurich Public, Exeter Public, Usborne Central and Hensall Public schools were added to the list of partic- ipating schools. Rotteau said the goal this year is to add as many Perth County schools to the project and in two years the hope is to have all 67 public and separate elementary schools in Huron -Perth growing their own gar- dens. Rotteau said the other success story of the pro- ject so far goes beyond the schools. "The school communi- ties have embraced the whole thing," she sat Gainer said the Mount Carmel students will again take the produce they grew home with them. The class also plans on holding a Thanksgiving dinner at the school using the pro- duce they grew. The din- ner may become a fund- raiser towards building a shed on school property to store tools used in the garden. Mount Carmel Gr. 8 stu- dent Nicole VanHie said she's enjoyed learning about all facets of veg- etable gardening. "I've learned about preparing, sowing, planti- ng, looking after it, har- vesting it," she said. "And eating it." We grew what we're eating! Mount Carmel School Gr. 7/8 students Nicole VanHie, Ieft,Aimee McCann and Casey Cyr take a bite of watermelon, one of the many fruits and vegetables their class grew in the school garden. The garden was planted two years ago as part of the Kid's Kitchen Table project. Bend council sticks with previous decisions By Kate' Monk TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF GRAND BEND — The Grand Bend council upheld decisions from +► previous meetings at its Sept. 7 meeting. Council is satisfied with the. Aug. 23 resolution concerning the Area of. Excellence between Bayfield and Kettle Point and doesn't want to change it. David Cody requested council ''.44change the motion to identify a buffer zone five miles east of Hwy. 21. where factory farming concerns would be addressed. Council was concerned that in the southern area of Bosanquet, Hwy. 21 is already a considerable distance from Lake: Iluron and extending the area five miles east of Hwy. 21 would impact an area up to eight miles from the lake. Councillors Shirley Andraza and Phil Maguire said the resolution also addresses 071/10 urban pollution sources. The resolution, as printed in the Aug. 23 council meeting minutes is: "That Grand Bend Council sponsor the concept of an Area of Excellence from Bayfield to Kettle Point, five miles inland, and encourage other upper and lower tier municipal governments to join with the Village in addressing intensive livestock operations adjacent to tourism areas and environmental issues by forming a Iocal stewardship committee comprised of government representatives and ratepayers." Council supported a resolution from the Town of Saugeen Shores in the Port Elgin area asking provincial governments to establish regulations to ensure monitoring and enforcement of intensive livestock operations so municipalities can have controls to safeguard the community. Mann said the resolution was good because it asked provincial ministries to get involved in the issue. Council will not reconsider development Ivey reported a person asked council to reconsider the zoning bylaw amendment to allow the Manore Townhouse development. "Am I correct council is not willing to reconsider?" he asked council:" Mann said for council to change its decision, members of council who voted in favour of the amendment would have to move and second the motion. Since he voted against the amendment, he was unable to do so. No other councilor would make the motion to reconsider. Other business Council took a second look at a request from the Babe Siebert Memorial Arena Improvement Committee (Zurich arena) for funding for renovations. Council directed staff to find out how many area residents use the Zurich arena before they wo'ild make a decision. Earlier this year, council donated $1,000 to the Parkhill arena board replacement project. Council will donate $100 seed money to the South Huron District High School All -Years Reunion scheduled for June 30, July 1 and 2, 2000 in Exeter. Council' agrees with the concept of a 20 -year dock lease for the Grand Bend Yacht Club but wants a more detailed proposal. Rates have increased each year according to the inflation rate but village staff are unsure whether the current lease rates are at market North Transition need to agreement. Labatt has requested the use of the main beach July 1, 2000 weekend for a volleyball tournament. Turnbull told council he'd prefer the event was run on an off-peak weekend to draw more people to the 'Bend. This year, the event was on the July 1 weekend when there would have been big crowds without the volleyball tournament. Turnbull said Molson. has also requested a weekend for teach volleyball and Jim Cook has asked for three to four weekends. Ivey wants to invite Labatt to a meeting to discuss holding the national championships in Grand • Bend. This year, the event is in Wasaga Beach. Council will provide bridge funding to the Grand Bend Community value. The Lambton Board will • pass any Health Centre based on its request. The committee will have access to Ministry of Health funding once it's incorporated but will have expenses before then. The bulk of the expenses will be. recoverable from grants. Counties are in the process of deciding how to best deliver land ambulance services downloaded from the province. Ivey wants land ambulance service to remain seamless and not be affected by county boundaries. A series of public meetings took place last week and will continue this week. Maguire and Andraza attended Thursday's public meeting in Exeter where Craig Metzger of the County of Huron confirmed ambulance service will remain seamless.