The Next Gen

My previous posts have been a little negative, I don't think I really meant to go that way but its amazing what comes to the surface. Its a bit weird when I read these blogs back its actually quite concerning just how much it sounds like an old man ranting, again it certainly wasn't my intention to turn into my old man but it appears that that's exactly what has happened.

KIDS DON'T HAVE A CLUE HOW TO GARDEN, or is that they haven't been shown how to! Who bears that responsibility? As Michael Jackson once put it "the children are the future" at least I think that's what he said.

My point is that we do need to encourage, motivate and grow a new generation of gardeners. We should also set out to cultivate and nurture and an interest in the natural world and in particular growing healthy nutritious food. We must start at the beginning. We need to educate the children and show them how to garden in the hope that they will become adults who do the same. There have been many well meaning programs aimed at our kids both by private companies and through a few motivated schools. The problem is there needs to be concerted effort bringing together all the relevant stakeholders not just the gardening industry. We will need to source funding from governments and combine and collude with anyone and everyone who can compliment the program in any way. There are already great programs in place, why are they going it alone? Why aren't we as an industry supporting the Kitchen garden Foundation for instance?

We have an abundance of motivated, knowledgeable people about to retire from the horticultural workforce, we need to recruit these people to assist and mentor school programs. The positions created should be a part time paid role designed to support these school programs. We cannot leave it to the already stretched teachers or the active parents to maintain the interest and do the work. If one out of every ten kids matures into a gardening adult we will be in a much better position for the future. Unless we actively do something to learn from the people who have the knowledge it will most likely die with them.