Environment grant helps grow young hearts and minds

When the Chiselhurst Preschool applied for a Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) Environment Grant earlier this year, staff were hoping for nothing more than some financial assistance.

Their plan was simply to create an area that was engaging and educational for their students and one where the principles of sustainable gardening could be taught in a fun, hands-on way.

However, their humble garden has produced a lot more than just veggies, having won both the first prize for The Chronicle City Gardens Competition Class 11 - Best Sustainable Garden as well as Best School Garden last Wednesday night.

Teacher Karen Reid said the awards paid tribute to everyone's cooperative efforts and the hard work put in to create a special feature at their school.

She said the council grant had been used to purchase a number of essential gardening items.

"We bought seedlings for the veggie gardens, special soil to protect any children who may be allergic, plants for the frog habitat and a native bee hive," she said.

Mrs Reid said the school had created four raised corrugated iron garden beds that were "perfect kid height" filled with a variety of plants and healthy veggies, including broccoli, carrots, purple carrots, sweet peas, lavender, spinach and rosemary.

She encouraged other preschools not to be overawed by thinking a project was too hard to begin and said the best plan was to simply "get involved".

"Don't be afraid to start. It feels huge (the scope of starting an organic garden) but once you tap into resources like the council grant and get out and tell people what you're doing -  that's when doors open."

Mrs Reid said the school had received a $1500 Environment Grant from TRC to implement its sustainability plan.

The Environment Grant seeks to achieve the community's vision for a 'highly valued, diverse, liveable and sustainable environment' by providing financial and in-kind support for projects that aim to achieve one or more of the following:

• protect and manage air, land and water quality
• advance water, waste and energy use efficiency
• encourage environmentally sustainable community facilities and spaces
• improve landscape amenity of community facilities and spaces
• encourage environmentally sustainable travel, and
• reduce community carbon footprints (greenhouse gas emissions).

Schools interested in accessing available funding should note that Environment Grant applications are open until October 31, 2011.