Meet our latest Fair Food Champion, Michito Henderson. At just 11 years old, Michito has already developed a passion for sustainability and growing food through Tarrawanna Public School’s Illawarra Living Classroom Program.
Facilitated by Elemental Permaculture’s Aaron Sorenson and Daniel Deighton, this program runs outdoor classroom sessions each fortnight to assist with children’s learning about growing plants for food in the garden beds and food forest. Children are also educated around the importance of biodiversity, composting and soil health, all while getting outdoors and being active. The garden consists of over 30 fruit trees and an endless variety of vegetables where produce from the garden in used in cooking classes.
Read on to hear about the program in Michito’s words.
What do you do, and how does this contribute towards healthy and sustainable food available and affordable to everyone (in the Illawarra)?
I am involved in a program called the Living Classroom with Aaron Sorensen from Elemental Permaculture. This has been running for 4 years creating the amazing garden that we have at Tarrawanna. In the program we are learning how to grow, harvest and eat food in a way that is sustainable. This is achieved through watching and learning natures patterns as well as replicating first nations people’s knowledge about caring for country so we can implement it into our own garden. By doing this we teach the kids at our school how to sustainably grow food and the knowledge extends to other schools, families and eventually everybody.
What is the one action that the folks here can help you with or support your work?
You can start by growing your own food and if you want to go further learn more about permaculture and talk to First Nations people.
As the Living Classroom program continues to grow and connect with schools, young students are able to understand more about the importance of permaculture and sustainable education. For more information about the Living Classroom Project, follow them on Facebook.
