Hosted by SALL , contributed by Ivana Šeparovic on 27 June 2023
The students of Dr. Antun Barac High school, joined the SALL project this year as the Semep ecogroup together with an mentor Dolores Matetić and director Ana Tomić Njegovan. We started the implementation of the project by applying to contest of NGO Žmergo "Ne okolišaj 2023", and won first place in the organic school garden category. For that project, we received the prize of 530 euros and with the prize money bought equipment, tools, seeds, seedlings and land so that they could realize it as successfully as possible award-winning school garden project.
In order to acquire the necessary knowledge, the students visited the "One Hundred and Ten Golden Squares" on the island of Krk. They had spend a day with Mrs. Zlata Nanić - Croatian pioneer of ecological agriculture and has been cultivating her garden for eight years in Malinska. Mrs. Nanić presented her garden to the students and held a party after the tour tasting food from products from your garden. Students saw how homemade milk is made from
almonds and tried it, and later together with Mrs. Nanić they made a spread from that product. Students asked Ms. Nanić which plants attract insects and which would be best to plant in their garden. They received various suggestions such as sage, calendula, oregano, basil and various others. To our school garden students will plant strawberries, several herbs and various other plants that attract insects, which are recommended by Mrs. Nanić. The students try to plant plants that will also be used by school's culinary department. As a result, students of the school's cookery course will not buy food on a weekly basis, but will use the plants from the garden, this will save money and reduce the share of CO2 emissions. The students also visited nursery of Croatian Forests Podbadanj in Crikvenica. Agronomist Snjezana Skorub held lecture and'hands on' on proper planting of nursery plants.
At the end, the students realized their garden and planted wild strawberries, mint, sage, lavender, immortelle and rosemary, and they sowed carrots, spinach, oregano, dill and coriander. In the realization of the garden, the students of the plumber department helped, and made it possible to irrigate and fence the garden itself.
School janitor Ivan Bićanić made raised beds for the garden and provided students with additional tools. To encourage biological diversity, first-grade high school students Nina Oštarić and Zara Švrljuga made hotel for insects, while second grader Anica Saftić made another. Student of the third
class of the Leo Manestar high school made a birdhouse, which rounded off the story of sustainable development and the already mentioned biological diversity.
http://ss-abarca-crikvenica.skole.hr/projekt_sall_schools_as_living_labs_
Background
With funds we won after applying to a competition that was published by the local NGO we started to making a raised garden that is located in the school yard. We obtained the necessary seeds and seedlings of strawberries, mint,
rosemary, parsley, lavender and aloe vera from the nursery garden in Crikvenica. The students from the
1 st and 2 nd gymnasium planted them and when the plants develop, they were used in the school kitchen for
cooking education and will be made into various cosmetic products. We will also incorporate leftover
milk, coffee and joghurt into our products. By using the strawberries and other herbs for cooking, we
will also reduce the cost of groceries and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by transportation. The
plan is also to make bins for organic waste such as banana peels, apples, eggshells, etc., that will become
compost for our garden.
Co-creation with societal actors
To deepen their knowledge, the students visited the “Sto i deset zlatnih kvadrata” - garden made by Zlatka Nanić living on the island of Krk - a Croatian pioneer of ecological agriculture and has been cultivating her garden in town of Malinska for eight years. The lady presented her garden to the students and after the tour did a small food tasting of products from her garden. The students saw how homemade almond milk is made and tried it, and later together with
Mrs. Zlata, made a spread from it. Mrs. Zlata was also asked by the students which plants attract insects and which would be the best to plant in their garden. They received various suggestions such as sage, calendula, oregano, basil and various others. In our school garden, the students will plant strawberries, several herbs and various other plants that attract insects, which Mrs. Zlata recommended to them. We also visited the Rasadnik hrvatskih šuma where they taught us how to plant and care for the garden.
Futurel Plans
The entire project was presented at a one-day conference on sustainable school projects
with an emphasis on school gardens, which was held in Opatija on May 18 th . The project will also be
presented at the Semep summer school in July on Vis by 2 nd grade students Nadalina Jelovac and Matilda
Salma.
