Kingston Whig-Standard / Tori Stafford / 20 April 2011
They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but for local students involved in a partnership with Living Cities, it’s what will replace the grass that truly embodies the term “green”.
Living Cities, a Kingston-based business focused on offering urban gardening services, takes underused space and develops closed-loop agriculture systems that work with composting and waste diversion, rainwater collection and growing produce.
Begun in 2008, Living Cities is now partnering with local high schools to bring its mandate into the classroom.
The focus is to get more seeds grown locally, said Nathan Putnam, president and CEO of Living Cities.
“By involving students in these projects, we are fostering this initiative with younger people who will hopefully employ what they learn throughout their lives.”
Two Kingston high schools — Bayridge and Loyalist — are currently teamed with the company to create their own on-site gardens. These gardens will be planted with more than 15 different vegetables and different varieties of each.
The produce will be sold in shares to the local community.
“With the money generated from the sales of shares of vegetables, we’ll hire one or two high school students for the summer,” Putnam said.
“Those students will essentially work full time growing and harvesting the produce.”
