Bio spice-garden is created in front of the home of the white stork in Belozem
In April a team from the school together with parents and 150 children started the setting up of the “delicious” little garden. Interactive educational installations and boards dedicated to the subject of eco-education were placed. During the next few months the activities for planting and caring for the plants continued. A multitude of educational pursuits for the children and the local community were conducted. In May the bio-garden became one of the attractions of the International Festival of the white stork. The school popularized its initiative with tasting of the cultivated pure spices and a tea party. In order to continue the work dedicated to the ecological education and life of the children from Belozem representatives of “Geo Milev” school will continue to search for possibilities for successive funding.
School “Geo Milev” pursues an active policy for environment conservation and the promotion of the eco-consistent technologies. Al of the school project activities are related wih the desire for ennoblement of the region, the decrease of the damaging CO2 emissions and rising the students’awareness for the sustainable development notion.
Belozem is the only settlement in the country, awarded with the prize of the prestigious German organization EURONATURE “European village of the white stork”. The reason – the largest nesting population of white storks, numbering 34 couples, is situated in the village. 22 of them are located on the roof of school “Geo Milev”. Every year between 80 and 100 storks live together in harmony with the children.
The school has a big yard on its disposal – an area of 19 decares , where the only model of mini-farm with red Californian worm for production of ecologically pure bio-fertilizer in the region of Belozem is situated. The school has also invested in an underground irrigation system, providing water to every point in the yard.
The goal of school “Geo Milev” is to set up a mini-botanical spice garden in the next two years. The school is also applying for project based funding for a ground for green mass composting to be created in the immediate vicinity of the Californian worm farm and the spice garden. Thus the children will have the opportunity to get acquainted with and to maintain alone a closed life cycle: composting of green mass, disinfection of the bio-mass from the Californian worms, its utilization for growing of spices and at the end – consumption of the pure spices in the school canteen.
The short-term goal of the project of the “delicious” little bio-garden is the enhancement of the quality of the school education through diversification of the educational activity, improvement of the material base and the grassing of the school and around the school space. The creators of the bio-garden believe that with their initiative they help the preservation of the local flora and fauna and significantly ameliorate the children’s state of health in the village.
The project has also long-term effects. The set up farm and bio-garden, as well as the planned ground for composting will be used for many years. The initiative will become an integral part of the educational process in the subjects “Man and nature”, “Homeland”, “Biology” and others. Representatives of the school believe that thanks to their project they add one more positive practice to the efforts for renovation of the educational system and most of all to the efforts for building of harmonious and active personalities, for whom the preservation and the care for the environment aren’t just a part of the modern “green” idea, but an integral way of life.
The contribution to the local community is incontestable. The little bio-garden is an easy, accessible and attractive educational instrument for learning through experience and building of lasting skills for life in conformity with nature.Pure and healthy food is grown, and children, teachers and parents learn, play and converse together. The little garden is attractive place for the kids from the local kindergarten as a “green study room”. The educative herb garden represents an unlimited resource of ideas and opportunities for research pursuits, creative communication and cultivation of values, care, responsible and positive attitude in the children.
The project is realized with the financial support of this year’s edition of the competition “Do it yourself”, after the initiative, ranked among the winners in March. The competition for small green ideas “Do it yourself” provides micro-grants to 24 green projects in the whole country. “Do it yourself” helps the citizen’s green initiatives and is organized by the ecological association “For the Earth”.