School garden Skalice welcomed first visitors!

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Before going on Christmas holidays, Skalice Elementary School students had the opportunity to enjoy the opening of the School Botanical Garden of Mediterranean Plants, which they’ve designed and worked on over the past year in collaboration with the Association Sunce and the Permakultura Dalmacija Association.

The opening of the school garden gathered the local population, but also moms, dads and grandparents who came to visit and learn more about outdoor teaching, fairgrounds, practical work, and picking yield from the garden, as well as to see and buy products from Student cooperative Oblica ES Skalice such as olive oil and various handicrafts made of wool. Also, all visitors enjoyed the opening music program where the youngest sang in a choir, played horn, violin, and keyboards.

All those interested could adopt and take home for the winter holidays rosemary or lavender seedlings, which were donated to the school garden by Parkovi i nasadi d.o.o.. After returning to school next year the adopted seedlings will be planted in the garden.

The story of the school botanical garden began 12 months ago when then sixth-graders were selected to participate in this project, and they were joined by Ana Kaštelan, a teacher of fine arts, and Magda Armanda, a teacher of biology, to support the project.

Based on the draft design of the garden surface, which was designed by students under the guidance of teachers and the Association Permakultura Dalmacija, the garden takes on today’s form, layout, and content. Students were also provided with educational workshops on permaculture design and climate change to introduce them to the goal of landscaping and the permaculture principle on which it will rest.

In addition, students were able to learn more about planting and maintaining planted seedlings and methods of building and repairing dry stone walls through 5 garden landscaping actions that included fencing, planting Mediterranean plants, building a path, and making dry stone walls.

Upon returning to school desks, students will have a workshop on biowaste and composting with the construction of an outdoor compost heap in the garden, upgrading the access path and setting up benches for sitting and socializing.

We hope that other schools and institutions will have the desire and ability to create their garden with space that can be used for outdoor classes, socializing in nature, and holding public events open to citizens, just like Skalice Elementary School.

The Solidarity Project School Botanical Garden of Mediterranean Plants is funded by the Agency for Mobility and EU Programs within the EU program of the European Solidarity Corps.

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