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This spring, students from 32 schools in Šiauliai, Kaunas, and Klaipėda engaged in practical, hands-on activities aimed at connecting them with nature and fostering an understanding of food production and biodiversity. These activities included observing seed germination, growing microgreens in their classrooms, and planting and harvesting wheat and vegetables in their schoolyards.

The students are participating in the „See, Sow and Taste!” project, alongside their peers from Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The project’s goal is to spark the younger generation’s interest in growing plants and deepen their understanding of the journey from seed to the food on their plates.

In Lithuania, the „See, Sow and Taste!” project is carried out by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Lithuania, in partnership with the Nordic Genetic Resources Centre (NordGen) and the Association of Lithuanian University Botanical Gardens.

„Biodiversity loss and climate change are already creating significant challenges for agriculture. In today’s global context—marked by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the recent pandemic—our dependency on imported food makes us increasingly vulnerable. Now more than ever, it’s crucial to learn how to grow local crops and incorporate them into our diets,” says Agnė Buraitytė, Climate, Environment, and Digitalization Adviser at the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Lithuania.

To support these educational activities, 290 seed sets have been distributed to schools for various experimental lessons, such as „What is a Seed?”, „Growing Microgreens Indoors,” „Four Types of Grains,” and „The Same but Different.” The first two activities focus on observing the germination process and growing different greens indoors, while the latter two involve cultivating vegetables and cereals outdoors, with harvesting planned for the summer and autumn.

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Growing greens indoors and discovering ancient carrots outdoors

"Today, few children participate in the planting or harvesting of the food they eat. It’s no surprise that many kids—and even adults—struggle to grasp that the bread in the supermarket or the carrot on their plate started as a tiny seed. Yet, it is our children who will inherit the responsibility of caring for our planet and ensuring that it can continue to sustain plant life. All of humanity relies on plants for food, shelter, energy, animal feed, and medicine, so understanding how a seed becomes a plant and what it needs to grow is essential knowledge," explains Dr. Martynas Kazlauskas, Project Manager and Head of the Botanical Garden at Vilnius University Šiauliai Academy.

The seed samples used in the project come from the Nordic Seed Collection and include vegetables well-suited to the Northern European climate. Students are growing green beans, peas, cabbages, cucumbers, clover, thyme, lettuce, and spinach in their classrooms. The four main cereals chosen for outdoor cultivation—wheat, barley, oats, and rye—have long been staples in Nordic and Baltic agriculture.

To explore plant genetic diversity, the "Same but Different" educational kit includes seeds of radishes, turnips, and carrots, with up to four different varieties of each vegetable. This provides students with a chance to discuss genetic diversity, its importance, and the traits essential for growing crops in Nordic and Baltic regions. After harvesting, they can compare the color, size, and shape of the different vegetable varieties. "For many, this might be the first time they taste turnips—a once-important food source in our region that has largely been forgotten. Many will also be surprised to learn that carrots were historically purple, cherry, red, or black, with the now-common orange variety only becoming dominant in the 18th century," Dr. Kazlauskas notes.

The plants grown in this project will also be showcased in the botanical gardens of Lithuanian universities in Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai, and Klaipėda. Additionally, celebrations are planned for May and September to discuss the importance of protecting these plants, adopting sustainable eating habits, and reintroducing forgotten regional crops into our diets.