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Niagara Falls
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Niagara Falls students to seed-bomb cemetery

Small Scale Farms, in partnership with Niagara Falls' Park in the City Committee, is hosting the first-ever Schools In Bloom seed-bomb event on Wednesday at the Fairview Cemetery in Niagara Falls.

The event, led by Renee Delaney, founder of Small Scale Farms, will be educating students from Westlane Secondary School and Saint Mary Catholic Elementary on pollinators and their effect on the environment.

“We’re really going to pump home that pollen is directly related to bees,” said Delaney.

“Fairview cemetery has an amazing pollinator garden, so we can talk about native species, talk about biodiversity, and the kids can take in what a mini-ecosystem is because that cemetery embodies that.”

Delaney said she will be educating the students on the role of pollinators as a bio-indicator and its relationship to why the bees are dying.

She explained that if bees are dying from pesticides and the pesticides are neuro-toxins, then it’s important to know what is happening to people as a result.

“It’s a segue into a casual conversation about the food system,” said Delaney.

“The pollinators are crucial to our food system, so if the pollinators die, then we’re in trouble.”

Students will get a hands-on learning experience by placing a sunflower seed in the middle of a handful of compost and clay and tossing it into a prepared area in the cemetery’s garden.

She said sunflowers are a “happy flower and mood-lifting,” which embodies Small Scale Farms’ wider seed-bombing campaign that is taking place across the region.

“Sunflowers are really hardy so that’s why we chose them,” said Delaney.

Sunflowers attract honey bees and have a long blooming season, produce plant matter from carbon dioxide and various environmental nutrients.

“A lot of people don’t know how to save the bees, and it is my job to take that one step further and connect it to the food system,” Delaney said.

“It’s a casual way to bring up a deep topic.”

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