Vision
Good Food For All, which is realized when youth have the skills, capacity, and will to act as food citizens and land stewards, to grow and share healthy food for themselves, their families, and the planet!
Mission
We cultivate educational farms and programs where students dig into meaningful connections with the land, food, and each other, inspiring communities to build just food systems.
What We Do
We enact our mission through Educational Schoolyard Farms, which we use as pathways to supporting youth self-determination and meaningful employment. We facilitate outdoor experiential learning with teachers and students; mentor youth leaders through garden clubs and summer programming; foster self-confidence, leadership, and employment skills; and provide space for folks in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver to grow food through our volunteer programs. All our food is sold and donated into the community— food-access programs, markets, and to our neighbours. We also work with other schools and organizations to develop their own market gardens and schoolyard farms and associated programming. We are inspired to share our experience working toward evolving the institutional food systems and with outdoor experiential learning.
Our Core Values
Our core values are at the heart of everything we do here at Fresh Roots. They are joy, community, inclusivity, empowerment, and lifelong learning.
Our beliefs drive us towards our vision and direct our activities.
- We believe that good, healthy food is a right for all people.
- We believe that food is an inspiring and mobilizing force for good.
- We believe that education is the first step toward positive personal and systems change.
- We believe that healthy food systems are dependent upon a healthy environment and empowered communities.
- We believe that how we work together is as important as the work we do.
- We believe that collective action is imperative for food systems change.
Our Learning Goals
The core of our work is fostering healthy relationships with food, with land and waters, and with community, in our participants and ourselves. Our learning goals all support those essential relationships. As in everything, these relationships are interconnected and reflect one another!
To have a healthy relationship with food
We Make Informed Food Choices, Make Healthy Delicious, and Become Active Food Citizens.
That might look like:
- Understanding that there is no one “right” way to eat and that different people have different needs.
- Planning and preparing a delicious meal that meets the needs of my community.
- Seeing the barriers that exist in my community and beyond to accessing nutritious and culturally appropriate foods, and working with others to overcome those barriers.
To have a healthy relationship with land and waters,
We acknowledge that Land and Waters Support Us, We Support Land and Waters, and honor Indigenous Relationships to Land and Water.
That might look like:
- Keeping the water, air, and soil clean and healthy so that the plants and animals on the farm have a healthy home.
- Caring for the farm by planting, tending to, or harvesting foods, or doing other farm chores.
- Developing and expressing gratitude to the Indigenous people here, and around the world, who have built strong, healthy relationships with land and waters since time immemorial.
- Learning from local Elders and Knowledge Keepers about how we can build good relationships with the land and waters.
To have a healthy relationship with Community,
We feel the Power of Community, know that People Make our Food, and Celebrate Food and Culture.
That might look like:
- Care for my community, which includes people and other living things, and the spaces we learn and play in.
- Know that while my individual actions are important, that large-scale change requires large-scale solutions.
- Understanding that the food system is powered by people and that many of these people face low wages and poor working conditions.
- Exploring delicious foods that people eat in my own and other cultures, and showing respect when trying new things.