Education | Green walls to teach

(Drummondville) Hundreds of Drummondville students will be able to grow berries, vegetables, herbs and other plants in their school next year, thanks to the 60 green walls that will be installed by the service center School (CSS) des Chênes. The Press met a class of third secondary from the Jean-Raimbault school, who experienced it.

Text: Ariane Krol
The Press

Photos: Martin Chamberland
The Press

“I like to do that: it’s manual, it seems that you work more outside than inside”, testifies Justin Sinclair.

“It’s a little natural corner,” adds Emmanuel Parisien Bourgeois.

Ever since a plant miniwall appeared in their classroom, Justin and Emmanuel diligently maintain the plants that grow vertically in the metal structure hung next to the window. However, they are not the only ones involved. The whole group got into it. The teachers Marie-Michèle Joyal (French) and Stéphanie Roux (sciences) have made it a common educational project.

“In the program, we do the explanatory text: we make the students write things, but it does not necessarily reach them”, illustrates M^me Jewel.

Not so here, where everyone had to do some research to choose an edible plant to insert into the wall structure.

The students became familiar with various notions, such as companionship. “Some plants grow better next to other plants,” explains Olivier Fréchette spontaneously.

During our visit, at the end of May, the herbs and most of the plants, including potatoes and strawberries, were resplendent. The sprinkler system, operated by a large button, was a little too popular at first, however.

“The wall waters a lot, so the plants must already be mature before installing them. And at the top, they get so much water that we replaced the lettuces. We learn, too,” says M.^me Red.

The question of the famous explanatory text was obvious: how does making a garden make it more eco-responsible?

“It doesn’t use chemicals”, slips Charlie Biron in reference to the culture practiced in class.

“It avoids transport,” adds Olivier Fréchette.

“It’s good for biodiversity because it attracts beneficial insects. For example, it helps the bees to survive,” says Gabriel Buisson.

At the time of writing, “no one had the white page syndrome”, assures M^me Jewel. “They are able to write from their own experience, it speaks to them. »

With fish

In another class, Patrick Lampron, who teaches science in secondary two, connected an aquarium to the green wall. Here, there is no need to water: every quarter of an hour, an automatic pump sends a little water from the aquarium into the wall. Plants grow in clay pebbles, to prevent water returned to the aquarium from adding too much suspended matter. The project was still at the experimental stage in the spring: the trout fry, which died in 48 hours, notably had to be replaced by more resistant goldfish.

Eventually, this aquaponics system could be used in elementary school, where several classes already have an aquarium, says Mr. Lampron.

popular project

In all, 60 green walls will be installed in primary and secondary schools of the CSS next year, in classes, but also corridors, where they could be used for extracurricular activities.

The metal parts are manufactured by a company in Drummondville, but the assembly of the structures, including the pipes and the electricity, will be carried out by students from the Center de formation en entreprise et récuperation (CFER) of the CSS.

The entire project is piloted by the Wildlife Research and Development Assistance Group (GARAF), an entity of the CSS which is both a particular school program (such as music or sport) and a environmental service provider. GARAF receives mandates from municipalities, ministries and companies that young people carry out as part of their courses. “They have a problem, but we have our educational objectives, that’s the challenge”, summarizes the coordinator of GARAF, Pablo Desfossés. During our visit, he had just spent the morning planting maple trees with two groups of first secondary, in an old sandpit that GARAF had the mandate to restore.

Young people registered with GARAF spend an average of half a day a week in nature to carry out various projects (develop riparian strips, inventory fish, stock waterways, etc.). Plant walls are part of this logic since the plants can be transferred outside.

The mandates carried out, as well as other contributions, such as that of the Fonds du grand mouvement Desjardins, contribute to the financing of GARAF, which has existed for more than 20 years.