Global health projects in general, need to be context aware and adapted to local circumstances. Since our team is developing a tool to help schools with the implementation of school gardens in different settings throughout different phases of the process, it is important to validate the tool in (completely different settings).
Therefore, on December 6th our team went to Penghu to visit Fenggui Elementary School and learn more about their school garden plans. The climate at Penghu is very different from Taipei; it is windy most times of the year, especially during the winter season as our team experienced first-hand. The gardens here have to be attuned to this local climate and the school has been experimenting with different types of local plants to find which are most resistant to the hard wind. A success story is the Fongru plant, a local herb that is used for making tea. However, they rely on the spring and summer season, as the winter is too windy for many crops to grow. Nevertheless, at a more sheltered place the school keeps some potted plants (tomatoes and strawberries), where the kids are all responsible for their own plants.
In the future the school likes to expand their garden project as they have a close collaboration with the local community, and local farmers around the school might have land available for more opportunities. They also hope to learn more from the Shantu project about possible resources and explore options like a greenhouse, to grow fruits and vegetables year-round. We are very happy to have visited Fenggui Elementary school and hope we can have a meaningful contribution for their garden project in the future.
