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#SOYLyouth 2021 – Cady

by Cady Tong, SOYL Suwa’lkh Mentor

Being in the SOYL program was very new to me. You spend of your time outside either working on the farm or forest and any workshops we had we could relate back to experiences we had just had.

We plant a variety of things on the farm, often consumable but also beneficial towards our environment such as flowers for our bees or plants for filtration. 

We do a lot of cooking, leaning more into the vegan/vegetarian side which teaches us the importance of the food we eat while introducing us to new diets, which tie nicely into our food systems workshops.

We often gather in the forest next to Suwa’lkh which has a creek where we’ve learned the importance of our salmon to us and the Coquitlam people and of how the water systems affect us. 

At SOYL we get to create a really nice community where everyone feels welcome and we discuss the importance of safe spaces. It is unlike what I’m used to in my day to day life where such a close community is rare to come across.

Learn more about the SOYL program HERE.

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#SOYLyouth 2021 – August

by August Sholcz, SOYL Suwa’lkh Mentor

I’m really glad I joined the SOYL program this year. Last year, the SOYL program was a lot of fun and so far, this year has been just as fun. This year is a little more challenging than last year but I love challenges.

I’ve learned to interact with everyone. I’m really enjoying being a mentor and helping out. I have my own little crew and I know each person individually. I get to help and answer questions if they ask. So far, I feel pretty confident in guiding my crew. There are a few who need some extra support, but it’s been pretty good. Since I’ve been in their situation before, I am able to better support them. I am able to ‘put my feet in their shoes’. We’ve learned quite a few different things. We’ve learned how to can vegetables, learned about Colony Farms, learned about the different kinds of soils, etc.

Like always, my highlight is the market. There is only one thing I dislike about markets, which is closing time. My favourite part is entering orders into the ordering machine and handling the money. Doing the market is extremely rewarding not just because of how much was sold, but also getting out of my comfort zone and talking with people. I love to organize the produce to make it look nice and appealing. For me, teaching customers about what we do and what the SOYL program stands for is a little difficult, but it’s great practice. I have definitely come a long way with interacting with others during the markets.

Learn more about the SOYL program HERE.

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#SOYLyouth 2021 – Fiona

by Fiona Sutherland, SOYL Vancouver Mentor

As a mentor, I have loved seeing the growth and change this wonderful program has brought to not only my crewmates, but me as well. Watching everyone come out of their shells, take interest in farming, help the community, and expand their social circles has been so inspirational! Getting to know our wonderful SOYL youth this summer has been quite exciting, especially from a mentor point of view. I feel as if I have a lot more appreciation for the change and growth, I have seen from day one to now! Seeing the growth in myself is also incredibly exciting. I feel as if I learn more and more every year and I am so grateful for the opportunities this program has provided me with. My confidence in my own leadership skills is continuously growing as I receive feedback from our wonderful facilitators and help build on my current abilities. 

SOYL provides such an inclusive and fun environment to learn in, and this summer has helped me develop and foster crucial life and leadership skills. For example, I now find it much easier to take charge and help lead bigger groups. I feel a lot less afraid to give others gentle reminders and to step fully into my leadership position! SOYL has given me the confidence to trust my own decisions, leadership related or otherwise. I truly appreciate how SOYL brings hundreds of youth opportunities that are few and far between in our education system – not only does the program help prepare us for the workforce, but it gives us valuable information about the outside world and how to stand out amongst our diverse and talented peers. SOYL teaches youth how to bring positive change to our society, no matter big or small.

Learn more about the SOYL program HERE.

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#SOYLyouth 2021 – Joaquin

by Joaquin Redo Rato, SOYL Vancouver Mentor

Several wonderful, fun hours of labor and toil have been spent on the farm here at SOYL! Today I will talk about what my crew, Crew C, and I have been up to these last few days. 

Here at the farm, we use organic practices meaning no pesticides are added to the farm. Unfortunately, we do have problems with pest which makes this an expensive endeavor. Invasive plant species also pose harm to us as they invade our fields and choke out our crops. That is why weeding them out of our soil is an important part of managing and growing crops.

My crew and I have been a leading front against the war on weeds. The youth here at SOYL work hard in the sun all morning to take out all the enemy plants up to their roots without complaint, only stopping for the occasional water break. Big or small, we get them – then we stuff them into a wheelbarrow which is dumped into the compost bin. We like to keep our farm nice and clean as it gives it a sense of organization, so we also try to pick off any stray leaves or grasses to make sure the ground is spotless. The rats have gotten to some of the ripe crops, so we are going to have to find a way to deal with them without the use of pesticides. Our main goal right now is to eradicate the problem of weeds by putting tarps and natural barriers to protect the farm crops from being choked, but we need to get rid of the existing weeds first to prevent spread.

That’s all for today’s report! Thanks for checking in.

Learn more about the SOYL program HERE.

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#SOYLyouth 2021 – Caty

by Caty Janze, SOYL Vancouver Mentor

Growth is a huge part of SOYL, both explicitly through workshops and more implicitly through activities like gardening, cooking, and art. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and the combination of the two creates an environment that allows youth chances to become comfortable in areas they wouldn’t otherwise. 

We do workshop most days at SOYL on food security and sustainability, mental and physical health, and leadership and social enterprise. Although I’ve learned from each workshop, the social enterprise ones are the most challenging. Food workshops invite us to reflect on our values and our world, health workshops on how our minds and bodies work, while leadership/social enterprise workshops focus on our skills and how to market ourselves. The latter is difficult because saying good things about yourself is infinitely harder than quietly believing them; lending yourself to others opens you up to being misunderstood, or worse, being understood and still seen as inadequate. Why it’s uncomfortable is also exactly why it’s necessary. Confidence and self-knowledge are often conflated with arrogance and self-involvement, and so being allowed to speak well of yourself without fear of criticism is important for building those skills. 

The other defining part of what makes SOYL what it is is the activities! We do work around the farm, and we cook for community eats. These activities get us to move our bodies, enjoy being outdoors, and build community. They also let us practice skills we talk about in workshops. After all, you can’t cook without being confident you won’t start a grease fire.

Overall, SOYL has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have grown more confident in my leadership skills over the course of this year’s program and watching the youth form friendships and develop skills has been fantastic. 

Learn more about the SOYL program HERE.

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#SOYLyouth 2021 – Austin

by Austin Webber, SOYL Vancouver Mentor

As a mentor in SOYL, I have witnessed so much growth in a short time of three weeks. Members and mentors of the program have grown so much in this packed three weeks of the program and will continue to learn and grow. In the beginning, members and mentors, including myself, were a bit shy and didn’t want to introduce themselves. But, by the end of the first day, everyone got more comfortable and talkative. As a team, we have gained knowledge about different plants, vegetables, nutrition, and cooking. Everyone in SOYL this year is working extremely hard and getting so much done, which is a huge contribution to making the farms successful.

After the first half of the program, I have gained so many new friendships by working with the crew members and mentors and getting to know them better. I have learned much more in my second year as a mentor. For example, there are tons of plants used for medicine like Nettle which can lower symptoms of allergies like hay fever. A field trip that really stood out was going to VanDusen Botanical Gardens to walk around and explore nature at its fullest. This field trip really stood out because I learned how plants live the same lives as humans – by growing, eating, reproducing, and moving just like humans. Not only is SOYL such an amazing opportunity, but it also flourishes to connect the community to learn, and grow.

Learn more about the SOYL program HERE.

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A SOYL Summer – Part 3

A SOYL Summer- Part 3

As the 2020 SOYL (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership) program heads into the fifth week of learning and growing together in Delta, Vancouver and Coquitlam we are sharing the third installment in the three-part series written by four SOYL alumni from the summer of 2019. Introducing the third installment of this three-part series:

Written by Stephanie, Maria, Railene, and Sarina, 2019 SOYL Participants

Chapter 4 – Straight Talk

Straight Talk is something a lot of us found extremely important to our SOYL experiences. Straight Talk occurs once a week and it’s where our facilitators give us constructive feedback on how our performance in the program was that week. During Straight Talk, we get two positive things our facilitators saw us doing that week, and we get one thing that we may want to focus a little harder on.  Straight Talk is so important because it gives us another person’s point of view on our growth and participation so it helps us recognize our strengths and help us grow in areas we need to or struggle with. 

 

Chapter 5 –  Farmer’s Market

As we continue learning more about the farm, we also learned how to harvest and process the vegetables. First, we ask one of the farm team staff how to pull out the vegetables properly because you want to make sure if you’re doing it right. Second, we want to make sure that all the vegetables were properly washed because you don’t want any dirt on them. How do we wash our vegetables? Well, the farm team set up a harvest station to wash the vegetables and totes. After all the vegetables are nice and clean we put them in a tote for the farmer’s market. During the market, we learned how to sell our produce that we have locally grown in our schoolyard farms. We also gain customer service skills and share with the customers what is Fresh Roots about or even about the SOYL program. One of the things we sold in the market was our salsa! We spent a whole day in  SOYL making the salsa. In the kitchen one of our facilitators showed us how to cut the vegetables into smaller pieces, after that she showed us how to measure the salsa and how to can them properly.

 

Chapter 6: Leadership

Leadership is written in SOYL’s title. SOYL stands for Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership. During this six-week summer program we crawl out of our shells, have new experiences, and become more confident. Every week a pair of SOYL crew members plan and lead a warm-up game for the morning. The warm-up games taught us how to speak in front of people. It helped us practice speaking clearly in front of lots of people. The fun warm-up games always wake all of us up. Giving and receiving feedback was important and that’s what FLIF is for. FLIF stands for “How do you Feel? What did you Like? What could you Improve? And would you like to receive Feedback?”We love sitting in a circle and appreciating our peers for their amazing work with positive and constructive feedback. Another part of leadership was learning the importance of active listening. In that workshop, we sat in front of our partners listening to them with active expressions. We practiced engaging with people’s conversations with patience, avoiding interrupting topics. SOYL has taught all of us how to be leaders!

Proceeds from the Fresh Roots Fourth Annual Schoolyard Dinner *At Home Edition* fundraiser On Sale Now provide critical funding for Fresh Roots programs, like SOYL, that engage and empower youth more important now than ever!

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A SOYL Summer-Part 2

A SOYL Summer- Part 2

As the 2020 SOYL (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership) wraps up another action-packed week or learning and growing together we are sharing the second installment in the three-part series written by four SOYL alumni from the summer of 2019. Introducing the second installment of this three-part series:

Written by Stephanie, Maria, Railene, and Sarina, 2019 SOYL Participants

Chapter one: The beginning of SOYL

The anticipation of SOYL was finally over as the first day finally arrived. We gathered together in a circle, seeing new faces. We were sorted in crews with people we had not yet connected with. While we started doing icebreakers and name games the awkwardness slowly faded away. Despite only meeting hours before, our interest bonded us together with beautiful conversations. Laughter and joy spread as we progressed through our first day. Closing off, we participated in an activity that ensured our friendship with one another. A ball of neon pink string was passed between all of us and we wrapped the string around our wrist three times. When it was our turn we would say what our goals for SOYL are. We discussed our goals to contribute to each other and promised to uphold the community agreements. In our community agreements, we agreed to be on time and be respectful to everyone in the community. Our schedules were formed the following week and we had lots to do. On the first day, we also learned how to use the gardening tools safely. We learned the importance of watching our surroundings so we don’t get into an accident. One of the two most important things we took from SOYL on our first week was safety but mostly fun!

Chapter Two: Community Eats

Most of the SOYL members can agree Community Eats is one of the best things in SOYL! What isn’t there to love about eating healthy, delicious, sustainable foods together as a community. In the morning a crew goes up to the kitchen inside the school and starts planning for the yummy meal. The veggies that sadly could not make it to the farmers’ market due to imperfections are used in the meal. For example, sometimes the vegetable isn’t pretty but it’s still perfect to eat. Community Eats is a hands-on learning experience for students. We learn to cook the food and on the other hand, we learn the importance of reducing waste. A couple of topics we covered in Community Eats are how we can use the unwanted pieces of veggies to make a broth instead of composting right away and we also learned about urban agriculture but will get more into that later. When all the cooked food was brought outside, we gathered together to listen to one of our SOYL crew members to introduce the meal of the day. While we were eating the delicious food we started having conversations with our SOYL staff, mentors, and crew members.

Chapter three: Farm Work

From buckets to shovels, every tool had a purpose on the farm that would make specific tasks easier. The first time on the farm we learned about tools such as forks and shears to ease into using them in the future. We even learned about the benefits of a glove. The glove will protect you from small thorns pricking your fingers or spiky weeds difficult to pull out. The facilitators made sure we knew how to handle such large tools with safety and care. Nicole, Hanah, and Sunny were the facilitators that ensured we understood how to clean the tools and safely put the barrels back. By the end of the day, we all knew how to properly use them. Tools such as shovels were used by the majority of us to remove the weeds in the beds with deeper roots. We all took part in the satisfaction of pulling a weed in one swift pull. Sometimes on the farm, we have been hungry for a snack while weeding and a simple trick is to eat one of the popular edible weeds on the farm. Most of us can say purslane is one of the best snacks on the farm. It’s succulent which contains water, making the pure green leaf fun and crunchy. The lemony leafy taste makes it even more desirable when spotting a bunch on the veggie beds. After the unwanted plants are pulled out of the beds we harvest the veggies. Harvesting is a rewarding job to do. The eye-catching multi-colored plants are removed from the beautiful deep rich soil we have on the farm. The mouth-watering task makes our days a whole step more enjoyable. During the program, we go to two different high schoolyard farms, one at David Thompson and the second one at Van Tech.

Proceeds from the Fresh Roots Fourth Annual Schoolyard Dinner *At Home Edition* fundraiser On Sale Now provide critical funding for Fresh Roots programs, like SOYL, that engage and empower youth more important now than ever!

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A SOYL Summer- An Introduction

A SOYL Summer

As the 2020 SOYL Program kicks off this week with a whole new crop of youth, we thought it would be a good time to share an insightful piece written from the youth participants’ perspective and experiences in the 2019 Fresh Roots SOYL program. Introducing the first installment of this three-part series:

Written by Stephanie, Maria, Railene, and Sarina, 2019 SOYL Participants

Introduction by Nicole, former SOYL Youth, and Current SOYL Lead

For the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure and honour of facilitating the SOYL Program with Fresh Roots. I’ve become a lot better at this work overtime and am learning new skills every year. However, one of the toughest parts of my job is still trying to explain to others what the program is. People ask me all the time what I do for work and the answer is usually “I run youth programs on urban farms”, but that barely scratches the surface of what SOYL is about. When we go to the market to sell the produce we helped grow, we teach the youth to share their experience in SOYL with the customers. They talk about what SOYL stands for (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership) and how they are learning about the food system.

The story and importance of SOYL are much better shared by the youth, they can do a much better job sharing the story than the SOYL leaders! So, at the end of last summer when some of the SOYL Youth said they wanted to write a story about their experience in SOYL, I was so excited! It meant a few different things. First, that the youth enjoyed spending time together and wanted to find a new way to do that now that SOYL was over, and second, that they wanted other youth to have the same experience as them. It’s really heartwarming to know that the work we do as facilitators is appreciated and valued. In fact, this story mentions a few times how cool the facilitators are which is always nice. Something I would like to remind the youth and the public of is the impact of the program is felt by facilitators as well. I try to remind the youth as much as possible that just as they are learning from me, I am learning from them; just as they look to me for strength, I look to them. This is all to say the SOYL Program is much more than a youth program, it’s a community that means a lot to the people in it. It’s a space where we all grow and learn together. It’s a space where we feel safe and appreciated.

Reading this piece has helped me understand how I can talk about SOYL.

With gratitude,

Nicole, former SOYL Youth, and Current SOYL Lead

 

About the Authors

  • Hello, my name is Sarina and I am going into grade 11. I am in a special class called senior links program at Vancouver Technical Secondary school. My favourite SOYL moment was designing the salsa label because I really like to draw pictures. They are beautiful and pretty. My favourite field trip in SOYL was it when we went to Van Dusen Garden. We all sat in the green lawn after the amazing tour and we did a scavenger hunt. It was really funny when we got lost finding the maze, one of my group thought that the big board was a map of the park.  Then we lost each other in the maze. It was also the day of the Long Table Dinner. The table looks so fancy and we set up the table then we serve the food to the people. I have two jokes I like the most from SOYL. The first one was worm university and the other one was number 15. What an unforgettable summer!

 

  • Hello, my name is Stephanie and I am going into grade 9. I go to a mini school at Britannia Secondary school. I have two field trips I’ve enjoyed most and the first is when we went to Van Dusen Garden. We all sat at the great big lawn resting on the bright green patch. After the beautiful tour, we had a scavenger hunt. Running through the maze and swiftly walking past the shady fern garden. All of us laughed at how we lost each other during the hunt. On the same day, we had the Long Table Dinner, making dinner day extra eventful! At the Long Table, we set up the fancy tables and served the wonderful people. I’m so grateful for all the things I’ve learned from SOYL.  Another fantastic moment that occurred at SOYL had been during the last day. The morning of the last day was filled with sadness and joy. While we all waited for the bus all of us bonded laughing at different subjects. Our first stop had been the landfill. We learned about where all are waste headed and it opened our minds more. Continuing the journey that day we headed to a farm.  I loved how we got to eat lunch at a farm and meet the animals. We got to feed pigs and pick blackberries! Our last stop was at the park where the Fresh Roots office is. We played a typical mafia game, made pizzas, signed our names on our t-shirts, got certificates, obtained our stipend, ate cake, and pied the facilitator’s faces. It was an end to an unforgettable summer.

 

  • Hello, my name is Railene and I am a graduated high school student from Killarney Secondary School. My favorite moment at SOYL would be playing basketball with our SOYL facilitators because I wanted to see if they could beat me in 1 on 1. I taught them the most important skills; how to shoot the basketball and learn some basketball moves. Another great moment was the last day of SOYL because while we’re at the Fresh Roots office we did so many activities. Some of us were playing mafia while other people were playing basketball. Then one of our facilitators called us and showed us the slideshow that she made and it gave us enjoyment and laughter. In the end, we gathered together in a circle and two of the SOYL crew members were singing a song called somewhere over the rainbow and while one of the crew mentors was playing the ukulele. It was a beautiful summer.

 

  • Hello! My name is Maria and I’m going into grade 10. I attend Burnaby North Secondary School. Two of my countless favorite memories in SOYL were facilitating warm-ups with my fellow SOYL friends. Every day a new group of two SOYL members got the awesome opportunity to lead a warm-up for the team. I loved this experience as it gave me an opportunity to practice my public speaking, practice working with others and work on facilitation skills. My second favorite memory was all the times we went to the market. Selling at the market was such an amazing experience. I had been to a farmers market when I was younger and it was so cool to see the way everything was set up, how it all worked, and get to practice my customer service skills and learn about food.

Proceeds from the Fresh Roots Fourth Annual Schoolyard Dinner *At Home Edition* On Sale Now will go toward supporting Fresh Roots programs, like SOYL, that engage and empower youth more important now than ever!