Lumsden Primary School's food-forest (a first!)

Lumsden Primary School lost a sizable chunk of its playground this week, but in its place gained the country's first-ever school food-forest.

Where for years and years only grass grew, there now grows a mixed 'orchard' of apple, pears, plum and peach trees, all planted by the pupils of the rural Southland school. Red and black currants along with cranberries, raspberries, feijoa and hazels fill the spaces between the fruit trees, and they in turn are underplanted with herbs; rosemary, sage, feverfew and other 'bits and bobs' brought from home gardens by the children, as a contribution toward the establishment of the school's food-forest.

It's a wonderful sight, now that the planting is done, the winding path through the food-forest finished and the trees and bushes pruned and waiting for the flush of spring growth. It was a cheering sight too, when the planting activity was in full-swing; parents and board of trustee members spading and forking to make the digging easier for the littlest children, older students guiding the new-entrants as to how arrange the roots of an apple tree to give it the best chance of success, members of the school's 'Green Team', bringing in bucket's-full of manure to line the bottom of each planting hole, the school's principal, trying unsuccessfully to keep his clean clothes and hands free of dirt, and the initiators of the project to transform the playground into a fresh-food-space, Robyn and Robert Guyton, directing operations like friendly policemen on traffic duty.

It all went like clockwork, thanks to the combined efforts of all concerned. The enjoyment of the day was further helped by the perfect weather; warm and still, a typical Lumsden day we were assured.

The children talked a lot, mostly about the harvest they were looking forward to. One young boy made the observation that he'd not need to make his lunch at home any more, he could just come out to the food-forest and graze! They all agreed that the raspberries were going to be a popular item amongst the browsing school pupils, and that the gooseberries would only appeal to the select few who professed to liking them already.

The forest-planters all finished the day by sowing handfulls of blue lupin and pinches of crimson clover seeds over the whole 100 square-metre 'orchard-garden', then holding a school assembly where the especially helpful children, along with contributing parents and teachers and the Guyton's, were thanked for their work in establishing the special feature of the school. It's planned that more planting between the trees will be done as the children discover other plants at home that could be transferred to school without upseting their mums and dads, and that herbs started in the tunnelhouse beside the playground could find a place out in the food-forest as well.

Then it's just a matter of waiting for autumn...