Workshop «Rural Tourism through the School Garden»
On the weekend of December 7-8, 2019 in the center “Ecology and Health” the representatives of Belarusian and Ukrainian schools gathered at the workshop “Rural tourism through the school garden”.
Two busy days were dedicated to tourism and craft. The first day included several blocks: an introduction to the history and functionality of the gardens, a tour round the center, group work on the development of travel routes and their presentation, learning the musical heritage of the regions.
The lecture on the gardens, prepared by the expert Anna Vygonnaya, gave the participants new ideas for developing their school gardens, for example, making a corner of plant geography, where one could learn about the place where various plants appeared.
The excursion around the center, which was conducted by Irina Belyaeva, introduced some facts from the history of the village Kryukovshchina, gave the opportunity to trace the connection between past and present, to adopt the methods of the excursion. In the following discussion, the participants shared that the biovegetarium made the greatest impression.
The result of the work in groups was six routes. In the process of their preparation, the participants had to identify the most interesting, unique and attractive in their school garden and its environs, as well as find something that could connect one place with another. The peculiarity was that each group should have been oriented on the traveler introduced to that group. In addition, the inclusion of a school garden on the route was a prerequisite. Each route presented was interesting in its own way: many were focused on local history, primarily on displaying historical monuments and iconic places, there were interactive routes full of master classes, tastings, visits to local events. In the discussions after the presentations, however, a remark was made that almost no school gardens were included in the journeys. Work on travel routes will continue in the distance mode, and the final result will be presented in April at the seminar dedicated to training programs.
The second day was devoted to crafts, namely, to introducing the concept of using handicraft techniques to decorate an agricultural estate. The expert Anna Vygonnaya had a little talk on the topic of flower science, and then offered to master the technique of complex two-layer painting of wood using a stencil. As a result, each participant was able to take away with him a small piece decorated with old patterns on the stencil, which can serve as a decorative element for various interior items, as well as will be a model for the application of technology in his school, at home, on an agricultural estate.
The main result of the workshop was that in practice, techniques and methods for developing local travel routes were tested, included in the agritourism training program in the “Leisure Organization” section, as well as craft techniques for the craft program. Teachers can already apply and transfer knowledge and skills to their students, in the future they can become trainers on these topics.
This publication has been produced with the support of the European Union and the Green Cross International. Responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the public organization “Green Cross Belarus”, and it can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union and Green Cross International.