Kindergarten = Children’s Garden 

Tumbling out a van, ten 3 and 4 year old children donned their coats and gumboots and spent the next two hours exploring the garden and farm animals of Oxford St Community Garden in Masterton.  Gary and Anna, members of the garden, welcomed students, teachers and parents from Makoura Community Early Learning Centre. Tasting borage, holding worms, potting up popcorn kernels to take home, planting lettuce, hunting for eggs and feeding chickens and a kunekune pig kept everyone (children and parents) enthralled. Time flew by. For host Anna Baird, who a few years ago spent 6 months as an education and conservation intern at the A Rocha Canada field centre near Vancouver, it was exciting to be able to welcome this first preschool group to the garden. “The children were so enthusiastic and eager to get stuck in and proud of the work they accomplished. We hope we can continue to use the garden to foster a sense of wonder in children as they interact with other animals and discover where their food comes from. In a time when so much of what we hear about the environment is focused on what is going wrong, it’s really important for the next generation to experience positive and hopeful interactions with creation.”