Saskatoon·NewA class at Silverspring School in Saskatoon is one of 26 across the province taking part in the One School One Farm Shelterbelt Project. A non-profit pairs teachers and students with ‘land partners’ to help bring back native plants and the bees and butterflies that depend on them.One School One Farm brings kids, teachers and landowners together to collect and plant native Sask. seedsAishwarya Dudha · CBC News · Posted: Dec 08, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Kastle Pher-teven Kershaw separates the seeds from a plant that’s native to the Saskatchewan grasslands. (Aishwarya Dudha/CBC News)In a classroom at Silverspring School in Saskatoon, little fingers gently clean seeds collected from native prairie plants.The sixth graders are learning about the land, its plants and the role they play in the ecosystem. Kastlepher-Teven Kershaw, 11, leans over a desk, gently rubbing a brittle seed head between his fingers. “Right now I’m sorting seeds and for this one all you have to do is crumble it with your fingers and the ones that turn into dust aren’t seeds, but the harder ones are seeds,” Kershaw said.Students are cleaning and sorting native flower seeds — Black-eyed Susans, goldenrod and more — some of which they helped collect earlier this fall at a nearby acreage.The class is one of 26 across the province taking part in the One School One Farm Shelterbelt Project, a non-profit that pairs teachers with ‘land partners’ so students can help bring back native plants and the bees and butterflies that depend on them.Kids surround Elizabeth Bekolay, executive director of the One School One Farm Shelterbelt Project, to learn about native plants, seeds and flowers and their benefits. (Aishwarya Dudha/CBC News)‘We’re part of nature’ Melanie Wilkinson, their teacher, first heard about the project through a land-based learning program known as Brightwater. “I was interested in it because I just feel that the more the students have these authentic, lived, hands-on experiences that are relevant to here, it becomes just more part of who they are,” Wilkinson said.The experience of collecting the seeds straight from the land, cleaning them and then going back to plant them next year gives the kids more than just textbook knowledge, she said. “I think they’re going to walk away and have a different perspective and realize that it’s not just connecting with nature, it’s like working with nature and bringing back what we need in nature.”Native flower seeds, some of which students helped collect earlier this fall at an acreage. (Trevor Bothorel/CBC News)Students sit on their desks, separating the seeds from the dirt, leaves and dried stems. “They’re really fuzzy, and they’re kind of sticky, too,” Ivy Victoria Smith Windsor says.At another table, Dua Fatima focuses on the task, remarking that “It feels like a cloud or it feels like a dog, as if you’re petting a dog.”Fatima was part of a group that went seed-collecting at the acreage of a land partner just outside Saskatoon.“We also found some like ladybugs and stuff and they were really pretty. We got to hold them and stuff and then it was just fun collecting the seeds,” she said. Marget Ruth Vanthuyne, working on a handful of Black-eyed Susan seed heads, said she learned a lot on the field trip.“We learned about the ladybugs and we also learned about bees. There were a lot of bees when we went to the farm because the guy there had a beehive. So he taught us all about bees,” she said. Dua Fatima said she really enjoyed going out and collecting the seeds and getting to touch ladybugs. (Aishwarya Dudha/CBC News)The project Elizabeth Bekolay, executive director of the One School One Farm Shelterbelt Project, said the organization pairs landowners and teachers for long-term relationships built around community planting projects.Since the idea first sparked in 2018, the project has grown from three pilot sites to 26 partnerships across the province, Bekolay said.Partners have planted more than 10,000 individual plants, including trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses, representing dozens of native species.“We have partners that have acreages. We have partners that are First Nations farmers and conservation organizations. And the classrooms are spread from Indian Head up to Spruce Home,” Bekolay said. Biodiversity loss and climate change are causing a dire situation for the ecosystem, she said.“I think we need to get into an era where ecological literacy is a very important part of our education system.”Elizabeth Bekolay is the executive director of the One School One Farm Shelterbelt Project. She said the organization needs funding to be able to hire more staff and continue the project across Saskatchewan. (Aishwarya Dudha/CBC News)Bekolay is the only staff member at the project, working half-time.“I’m coordinating all the seed collections, all the seed sorting, all the seed starting, all the planting days across the whole province,” she said. “I need to be multiplied.” She said the organization is looking for funds to hire more staff in places like Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. No flowers, no bees The seeds the students are working with are all from native plants — species that evolved on the Prairies over thousands of years alongside wild bees.“In this province, there are about 325 wild bee species or native bee species that we’ve recorded here,” said Cory Sheffield, curator of invertebrate zoology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.“Those bees and the plants that they visit were here long before we had agriculture in the province,” he said. “So many bees will visit many types of plants. But we do have many bees in the province that are … they require the pollen from, say, one species of plant or one genus of plant.”Sheffield said native seed mixes like the ones handled by these students are a “good strategy” to support wild pollinators.“I think the absence of wildflowers is one of the main drivers of bee declines within given areas,” he said.“Basically the theory is if you provide more of these plants or flowers to bees, especially the flowers that they will use, you do benefit them.”North America’s natural grasslands are at risk of being lost to agriculture and urban development, so projects like One School One Farm Shelterbelt are important for the survival of those habitats, Sheffield said. ABOUT THE AUTHORAishwarya Dudha is a reporter for CBC Saskatchewan based in Saskatoon. She specializes in immigration, justice and cultural issues and elevating voices of vulnerable people. She has previously worked for CBC News Network and Global News. You can email her at aishwarya.dudha@cbc.ca
School program sowing knowledge of native prairie plants in Sask. classrooms
