A Project by Awel Aman Tawe, Ffynnon Resilience and Child of the Earth working with Ysgol Cilgerran and Ysgol Eglwyswrw thanks to funding by WWF Cymru. 

Project Overview 

This summer Energy Warriors went to two schools in northern Pembrokeshire, Ysgol Cilgerran and Ysgol Eglwyswrw on a crusade to find out about the connections between food, energy and climate change and have lots of fun learning about growing food in the community.  

What did we do? 

We worked with Ffynnon Community Resilience, a community growing scheme, and forest school, Child of the Earth. Pupils spent ten weeks on the Energy Food Warriors project working outdoors with COTE at the Field of Beans and at Fruit and Nut planting, growing, weeding and eating. They also worked with Energy Warriors and Energy Sparks finding out about food miles and food waste, setting up their school growing sites, learning how to use food and plants for natural dyeing with the artist Sian Lester and sharing their learning through making Community Gardens in a Box with their dyed material, recycled and natural materials and learning building skills from the artist and sculptor Ami Marsden. 

 And thanks to WWF Cymru’s Great Big Green Week funding we worked with Sian Lester, textile artist from Pembrokeshire, who led the pupils foraging in the school grounds and showed pupils how to dye material naturally

Energy Warriors strike again 

Pupils increased their connections with nature and community, had more awareness of where the food we eat comes from, learnt about its impact on the environment and thought about how to use plants in different ways by working in teams, solving problems, playing games and using loads of creativity! They became Energy Warriors!

Pupils had a great time building and creating their boxes and thinking about how to use the dyed fabrics, recycled and natural materials.  Here are some of our Community Gardens in a Box!

Treasure Hunt 

We had lots of fun challenging each other to find items essential to our community gardens! 

Take a look at the pictures. Can you find:  

• the bee hives 

• garden paths made from material dyed with madder root 

• a sun made with material tie dyed with onion skins 

• a cushion using Shibori tie dyeing technique 

• clouds using sheep’s wool 

• trees using donated fabric from the furniture company Orangebox 

• solar panels 

• polytunnels 

• wheelbarrows 

• compost bins 

• gutters and drains on sheds 

• bird’s nest 

• ponds and fish 

• a tractor 

• wormery 

So creative were the pupils that they even made bees for the bee hives and wreaths and hay bales for their sheds. 

Pupils created their own treasure hunt for the dyed fabric. Look at the colours carefully. How many can you find?

What was the impact?

Growing in school

Pupils were inspired by their activities at Field of Beans to help with growing food to eat in the school grounds and volunteers were recruited to help the pupils.

Making Banners

Pupils summed up their learning by making banners sharing what really mattered to them and found that they had lots of messages to share:

Exhibiting their Community Gardens Pupils showcased their learning in community events at the Field of Beans and Fruit and Nut inspiring others to build their own gardens in a box, stimulating conversation about the importance of becoming food growers and sharing their message to reduce food waste and grow your own!