Connecting Students to Agriculture
We invite classrooms to take part in our new Ag Adventures program! Spring and fall, tours are available for K-12 students. All grade levels can participate in free educational agriculture tours (facilitated by staff and local volunteers). Ag Adventures provide opportunities for students to get outside, enjoy the fresh air, and get their hands dirty in the soil – all while learning about BC’s agriculture and food story!
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Ag Adventures are 90-120 minute tours providing education on BC agriculture subjects including soil, pollinators, water preservation, growing zones, the Agriculture Land Reserve, invasive species, greenhouses, crop rotation, and more. Bring your classroom to our outdoor classrooms filled with nature’s surprises and delights! Ag Adventures take place at three locations:
- Helen's Acres, Kelowna
- Stable Harvest Farm, Langley
- The Pencil Patch, Abbotsford
Helen’s Acres Community Farm Kelowna (New Tour Location)
By Mission Creek Regional Park
BCAITC is thrilled to partner with Helen’s Acres Community Farm in Kelowna. Come for an Ag Adventure at the 24-acre farm and see how much food they are growing for the food bank and other community partners! Learn about what is being done to help alleviate food insecurity in the region, and discover other curriculum-linked agriculture topics!
Highlights:
- 12 Learning Stations: Learn about soil, bees, photosynthesis, forests and farming, irrigation, and different types of plants through informative stations and hands-on activities.
- Greenhouses: See where seeds are started, plants are nurtured, and the growing season is extended in the greenhouses.
- Produce Cooler: See the cooler and learn about how the community comes together to care for each other, as food is harvested, cleaned, and then distributed.
Stable Harvest Farm
By Langley Airport
We are excited to announce that Stable Harvest Farm has partnered with BCAITC to bring Ag Adventures to the farm! Stable Harvest Farm is an expansive 65-acre farm located in Langley. It was created in 2020 with a vision to grow food for the community and supports local food banks, community kitchens, and other charitable organizations to get produce to those in need. The educational part of the farm brings the community and schools together.
Highlights:
- 12 Learning Stations: Provide fun and interactive BC agriculture subjects such as soil, pollinators, water, greenhouses, invasive species, bats, owls, bugs, greenhouse birds, and more.
- Greenhouses: Showcase different ways to grow food all year-round.
- Beehives: Get the inside “buzz” on beekeeping!
The Pencil Patch
East Abbotsford
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What better way to provide students with the opportunity to visit a working garden than to create one ourselves? Supported by the City of Abbotsford, the community and schools come together at The Pencil Patch – a garden for discovery and learning. It also gives us the chance to get out of our offices and play in the soil!
Highlights:
- 14 Learning Stations: Provide fun and interactive BC agriculture subjects such as soil, pollinators, water, growing zones, the Agriculture Land Reserve, invasive species, dairy, and more.
- Large Garden Bed: Grows pumpkins, corn, beans, and rhubarb.
- Medicine Wheel: This traditional Indigenous concept provides learnings about the interconnectivity of the natural world to people.
- Pollinator Garden: Planted especially to attract and support pollinators.
- The Milk House: A former milk storage location for a 1920's dairy farm, the Milk House now holds the garden’s tools. This site also provides a talking-point for lessons on milk production.
- Raised Harvest Bin and Flower Beds: Showcase carrots, sunflowers, wheat, radishes, and greens as well as dahlias, marigolds, daffodils, lavender, nasturtiums, snapdragons, chamomile, lemon balm, agastaches, and scarlet runner beans (great for hummingbirds)! Plus herb containers display fragrant thyme, sage, chives, mint, and rosemary.
Watch this video below to learn more about The Pencil Patch.
Sign Us Up!
We’d love to welcome you and your grades K-12 students to our free Ag Adventures program at three locations this spring. Register now. Space is limited and is available on a first-come-first-served basis.
Helen's Acres - Kelowna
Tours are available on select days from April to June 2023 for K-12 classrooms. Complete this form to register your class.
Stable Harvest Farm - Langley
- Tours are available on select days from May to June 2023 for grade 1-12 classrooms. Complete this form to register your class.
The Pencil Patch - Abbotsford
- Tours are available on select days from May to June 2023 for grade K-12 classrooms. Complete this form to register your class.
- Three dedicated days are also available in May and June for K-12 homeschool tours; complete this form to register your homeschool students.
Questions?
For more information on Ag Adventures, contact help@aitc.ca.
A Crop of Resources!
Use these resources to expand on what you’ve learned from Ag Adventures. From planting guides to outdoor lesson plans, you’ll find everything you need to get your school garden started and to enhance your outdoor education plan. Here are some free resources that help you bring agriculture into your classroom!
- School Garden Resource (Inspired by Ag Adventures): Step-by-step instructions on how start-up and maintain a school garden year-round.
- It All Starts Here Poster: A fun poster for your classroom.
- Alfalfabet A to Z: A storybook of agriculture from A to Z.
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Partners Make It Possible — Thank You!
Helen's Acres
Thank you to Trinity Baptist Church Legacy Foundation in Kelowna for providing Helen's Acres farm space for Ag Adventures in Kelowna.
Stable Harvest Farms
Thank you to our partners at Stable Harvest Farms for providing farm space for Ag Adventures! We appreciate your enthusiasm for this hands-on learning opportunity for our community.
The Pencil Patch
Thank you to our partners and Abbotsford neighbours for their help in creating the Pencil Patch — A Garden for Learning and for offering this hands-on learning opportunity for our community.
Abbotsford Community Foundation through the Abbotsford Disaster Relief Fund
BC Youth in Agriculture Foundation
Fraser Valley Dairy Farmers
McDonald & Ross Construction Ltd.
Join Us!
To find out how you or your business can support this exciting program, contact us or check out our Partnership Opportunities.
Teachers and Parents Ask the Best Questions
Students will engage in a variety of planting, growing, harvesting, and other hands-on learning activities in a garden or farm environment.
Teachers need to bring clipboards and pens/pencils (enough for each student) and print-outs of the Ag Adventures handouts. Students should be dressed in weather-appropriate clothing, including jackets and, if possible, rubber boots. BCAITC provides everything else needed for your garden visit!
No. Unless it is dangerous to complete the activities, we continue with the garden visits as planned. In the unlikely event of a cancellation, we will contact you in advance.
Yes. Teachers are responsible for transportation to the garden. Free parking is located at each site.
Participation is completely free! Registration required.
Yes, we have washrooms at both sites.
The outdoor tour environments provide plenty of space to physically distance. We ask that visitors follow the local regions’ healthy and safety requirements.
For public and independent school classrooms, there is a minimum of 25 students required to book a visit; we suggest you bring your buddy class or another class that to share the transportation costs. For homeschool visits (offered on select dates only), there is no minimum.
