Hydroponic garden towers are an interesting, creative and exciting way to engage students in learning about agriculture, biodiversity, environmental sciences, biology, chemistry and the world around them.

In order to begin our journey, we needed a catalyst to grow our interests in hydroponics. Our class began by watching “The Martian.” The movie explored an astronaut and his mission to terraform mars. After watching the movie we were presented with the idea of having our own hydroponic garden. Our class was thrilled! In a way, we were our own astronauts, with our own mission and our own goal. Our goal was simple: learn as much as possible about the environment and raise money to buy the gardens.

We started fundraising as soon as possible. In order to raise the money we wrote grants, collected bottles, presented our idea to the School Advisory Council as well as the Department of Agriculture. Our idea took off and within a few months we had enough to purchase the towers. We had reached our goal, but receiving the towers was only the beginning. The opportunities only grew. Literally! We planted a huge range of vegetables and learned how to take care of them. We had our first harvest and lunch together. We made our own pesto pasta and we even visited the local university agricultural campus to expand our understanding of environmental science and biodiversity.

Personally, I loved the experience! It was a lot of work to get the towers and we encountered many challenges along the way. One of the challenges we faced with our plants was with the chemicals. If we put too much of a certain chemical many of the plants grew white patches and withered away. It was frustrating sometimes, but we were learning. We tried a bunch of different strategies and not all of them worked, but the feeling after we built the towers “the I did that” feeling made it all worth it. We started something and it spread to other classes and because we had an idea hundreds of kids will get to do the same.

Annie Morine

Founding Project Team Leader

Class of 2022-2023

As we watched our seedlings grow and harvested the fruits of our labor, we took our learning further by preparing meals together, experimenting with recipes, and understanding the value of healthy, homegrown food. Through this process, some students took on leadership roles, managing the plant towers and teaching others what they had learned. The experience showed us that growing food isn’t just for large farms—it’s something that can be done in schools and communities with minimal resources. These towers make fresh, nutritious food accessible to everyone, reducing the reliance on expensive groceries.

This project not only equipped us with essential skills in planting and cooking, but it also fostered teamwork, creativity, and responsibility. We had fun from start to finish—learning how to care for the plants, cooking delicious dishes, and understanding how we can contribute to a more sustainable and food-secure future.

For many of us, this was the most engaging and enjoyable school experience we've ever had, and we hope other classes will have the opportunity to share in this unique learning adventure.

-Renisha Bhandari

Year 2 of Tower project student 7-4

2023-2024

Every week on Wednesdays, we meet up in Mme. Pelchat’s room and tend to the numerous towers we have around our school. We would cut roots, also fill water and nutrients. The nutrients are used to supply the plants with necessary minerals that are naturally available in the soil, but due to the absence of soil in the towers, we use liquid nutrients. The towers run on timers so that a pump can deliver water mixed with nutrients to reach the plants and that is how they receive the water. We plant smaller plants and herbs at the top of the tower and the more leafy and fuller ones at the bottom so that they do not disturb the growth of the more fragile plants, also to balance out the weight. Root vegetables and beans are some things that are not possible to grow using aeroponics due to the limit of space provided in the towers.

Aquaponics is where there is an aquatic animal (in our case, a fish) that is kept in a tank, and above the tank is where the plants are grown. The fish waste is used as a substitute to natural nutrients found in the soil and provides nourishment to the plant(s) on top of the tank. This is also an excellent way to keep the tank clean. Although aquaponics is quite an exciting way to grow plants, there are some limitations. Typically, only microgreens are grown using aquaponics, or plants with smaller roots.

During the fall of 2024 us students launched a survey in hopes to collect data from our community in Truro about their eating and grocery shopping habits. At the end of October 2024, when our survey was closed, we found that we had received over 700 responses! Here is some information we learned after studying our data:

The majority of the people who answered were female ages 36-40 and living in a 2 person household. To our surprise we found that a lot more people that we had predicted were greatly impacted by the price of groceries. About 92.8% of the responses filled out claimed that the prices of food at a grocery store have prevented them from purchasing a certain item. 93.7% also stated that they have had to modify their eating habits due to the high prices of groceries. 572 out of the 655 people who responded to the question “What obstacles have you faced in accessing affordable and nutritious food?” disclose that the main obstacle they have faced in buying sustaining grocery products was the cost.

We put in a lot of work to organize our community dinner. From putting up advertisements to actually speaking in front of the 100+ people, we did it all. There were quite a few things that Mme. My team and I were involved in planting and harvesting the kale we used for the pesto sauce and we assisted Mme. in making the sauce. We also set up the church hall to fit the assortment of people who were attending. The most difficult thing of all, in my opinion, was the presentation. Making the slideshow was a time consuming process, but after collecting information from our surveys and asking Mme. Pelchat many questions, and we had successfully completed that. After that, the few of us that were presenting, had to get ourselves together to present in front of all these people. It was definitely bigger than our class, and much more than I was used to. But I felt very proud and accomplished once I said my part and the rest of us were done.

All in all, I think this was a very successful year for the food security team. We have all learned very interesting ways we can grow food and the different types of systems. Along with that we have also learned many practical skills that will come in handy as we progress in school. This project is for sure an exciting and interactive way to teach kids about food insecurity and what we can do.    

We start by picking the seeds for plants we want to grow, and getting out a container. We then pour a bit of water in the container and place rockwool into it. Then we sprinkle the seeds into the holes of the rockwool, and make a blueprint of the rockwool so we know what plants are what. Once the plants start to grow, we cut the rockwool into its individual sections, and put them into the tower, and in the tower they thrive!  

In autumn of 2024, we made a survey which asked anonymous people who responded to several questions relating to food insecurity, and had around 700 responses. The questions were not mandatory and people had the option to skip the question they were on at any point. We made posters that we put around Truro and promoted them on Facebook groups, our targeted audience being the residents of the Truro area. We also went to the farmers market in Truro on October 12th, 2024 to talk with people in the community and promote our survey. 

On Wednesdays, we would go to the various classes where the aeroponic towers were held, and check their water levels, how long the roots were, and if there were dead leaves. Then depending on how the plants were doing, we would fill the towers with water, pour in a bit of nutrients, and maybe cut the roots back a bit if they needed it. We would also discuss upcoming events, like our community dinner.

Our community dinner took place on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025. We hosted around 100 people from the community; family, friends, and other people who wanted to learn about food security, at Immanuel Baptist Church. Because we wanted people to see one of the towers, we brought down an (empty) aeroponic tower to the church, turned it on, and answered people’s questions when they came up to us about the tower. We had a meal cooked by NSCC students in the Enactus Canada organization and us, which was kale pesto (the kale was from our towers that we grew from seed), salad, and cupcakes. While people were there, we made a presentation where we talked about what we do in our food security team, and the data that we have from our survey, and how the aeroponic towers work. 

After everything wrapped up, I am happy to look back on our accomplishments as a team, and everything that we did. We spent almost all of our Wednesday lunches working for a good cause, and learned so much doing it. Everyone on our team should be proud, and Mme. Pelchat did an amazing job organizing it all for us.