Izmir Metropolitan Municipality organizes various activities for children to learn by recognizing ancestral seeds, to use water sparingly and to protect nature. In the workshops organized as part of the Calm Neighborhood program, children both have fun and learn.
İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Agricultural Services Department organizes a series of activities to help children get to know ancestral seeds through the Can Yücel Seed Center. Seed center employees, who met with children in different parts of the city, finally went to Bornova Mevlana District. Neighborhood residents showed great interest in the event organized as part of the “Calm Neighborhood” program in Izmir, the world's first Cittaslow Metropolis pilot city. The staff told the children about the seeds of ancestry and gave information on how to plant and water the seeds. Children who planted the seeds in the ground at the Grass People Workshop also learned how the seeds will bear fruit in the future. The importance of water conservation was also explained to the children at the event.
They planted tomato and pepper seeds
Pınar Eldem Çulhaoğlu, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Department of Agricultural Services Department, Can Yücel Seed Center Bornova Coordinator, stated that they enabled children to get acquainted with seeds with the children's agricultural workshops they organized. Pınar Eldem Çulhaoğlu said, “The important thing is to ensure that our children are competent against the situations that will arise in the future. For this reason, we act with the philosophy of 'children bend when they are old'. Today we planted tomato and pepper seeds. Again, we are holding a 'grass-people workshop' for the development of children's hand movements and for them to learn while having fun.”
“We learned that we should not harm the environment”
6-year-old İbrahim Yavuz stated that he learned how to plant seeds at the event and said, “I didn't know it was like this before. I planted the seed and gave water. This will then grow and bear fruit for us,” he said. 10-year-old Zehra Muhammed Ali said, “First I opened the soil with my finger and put the pepper seed into the soil. Then I gave water. I learned a lot of fun and useful things. I will plant the pepper seed as they teach here. I will water the beans in the same way," he said. 9-year-old Medine Nisa Erçimen said, “I attended the grass people workshop. We made our lawnmen. Now we are planting something. Here we learned that we need to take care of nature, protect my trees and not harm the environment.”
The Calm Neighborhood activities are also supported by IZSU, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Health Affairs Department.