“Eats, Shoots & Roots”, a social enterprise dedicated to empowering urban communities through edible gardening, is fostering a love for growing food among kids in kindergartens and primary schools.
“At first, we aimed at city-dwelling adults. But over time, parents wanting to feed their kids healthier, organic fare reached out to us.
“That’s one of the factors that pushed us into having more children’s programmes,” said Low Shao-Lyn, the social enterprise’s co-founder and design director.
Since 2018, they have been working with kids in six preschools, five primary schools, and five training institutions where edible gardens are being cultivated in the schools’ compounds under the “Sayur In The City: School Programme”.
Students, equipped with growing kits, plant vegetables under the watchful eyes of their teachers who are provided with teaching guides.
“Also, if we really want to make a change in the country’s environment, it’s important that kids learn from a young age to appreciate nature and learn where different vegetables come from. It’s the children who have to make good decisions in the future,” she added.
The social enterprise’s roots go back to the “Embun Pagi” permaculture project in Batu Arang, Gombak, initiated by Sabina Arokiam and Juergen Soecknick in 2010.
Besides Low, “Eats, Shoots & Roots” is helmed by Naqib Iskandar as head of greenscapes; Chia Zhi Yun as project manager and Beatrice Yong as strategy director.
To date, they have designed and built 102 gardens, planted 33,543 seedlings, conducted 427 workshops and taught 8,351 participants.
Before the pandemic, the school holiday programmes they offered ran for about six days. Each day was packed with diverse activities, from building gardens to learning about soil and planting.
Kids explored composting, discovered bugs in the soil, and got creative with art, drawing leaves and understanding the structure of plants. Cooking sessions rounded off the days, using ingredients straight from the garden.
According to Low, therapists have suggested that special needs students attend sessions hosted by them.
“As we are a small setup, we can only cater to special needs kids on a case-by-case basis. We are not a special needs school. We are not trained in that way.
“But when we did have neurodivergent kids joining us, it was nice to see them having fun in the outdoor classroom while being exposed to nature,” she said.
By getting their hands dirty in the garden, children witness the remarkable journey from seed to plate, fostering awe and gratitude for the natural world.
One such nurturing environment is “Rimbun Montessori” in Bukit Damansara. Yet, working with children in an outdoor setting presented unique challenges.
“Kids aren’t exactly seasoned farmers. Sometimes, they might accidentally discard seeds instead of planting them,” Low chuckled. “Also, this might be the first time they are touching soil and they might feel icky about it.”
She noted that “Eats, Shoots & Roots” doesn’t operate in isolation. They collaborate with teachers, integrating their programmes into existing co-curricular activities by training teachers, providing guidance on school garden designs, and even supplying starter kits with seeds and gardening tools.
In the latter half of the year, “Eats, Shoots and Roots” plan to establish an urban farm near the Merdeka 118 tower, hosting workshops and programmes for kids and adults.
“The knowledge of growing your own food is invaluable. If there’s an apocalypse, what are you going to do? It’s a survival skill.
“That’s why it’s essential for everyone to learn how to cultivate their own food and recognise different plants and vegetables,” she said.
To learn more about Eats, Shoots & Roots, visit their website or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.