Youth in Sudbury area learning an important life skill
From pruning plants to creating the perfect compost, a group of youths in Hanmer are getting first-hand experience at all things agricultural.
“So far I’ve learned many things,” said 16-year-old Noah Lachance. “I’ve learned how to compost, how to prune tomato plants for an example, how to identify different kinds of weeds and pests of bugs and things like that.”
It’s part of a new Youth Agricultural Mentors program (YAM) that is helping teach life skills to the next generation.
“High school aged youth are really waking up to the problems with pollution and climate change and it can make you feel really anxious and sometimes hopeful,” said youth program co-lead Kryslyn Mohan.
“But when we have the skills to grow our own food and food for our community, we can help to develop a more resilient community.”
YAM is the first of its kind this year after the program received $56,900 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2019. However, Sudbury Shared Harvest has been helping connect the community and nature for much longer.
“I started working here at Sudbury Shared Harvest when I was 16 years old and I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future,” said Kaelyn Charron. “I think being a part of something like this can help inspire other kids and students that don’t know necessarily what they want to go into in the future.”
Charron said she was surprised to learn that a job like this could be a career.
"I never thought that something like this could be possible and it taught me how to work with the community and really love the food that I’m eating and be more mindful about what I’m eating,” she said.
Officials said the program is about much more than just gardening.
“Day-to-day programming looks like an energizer or a team builder in the morning and then we might do a little bit of a stretch or a breath together, just to get grounded for our day,” said Mohan.
It also includes monthly webinars with the Sudbury Public Library and field trips to local gardens and farms so young people get to experience a variety of agriculture practices.
“It’s really fun and you learn a lot of things from all of it and it’s really worth it,” said Lachance.
Four weeks into the new program, officials said they're optimistic it will return next year with a new crop of students to grow their skills.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.