GET INVOLVED

Book a Child & Youth Workshop

Looking to bring hands-on environmental education into your classroom? Look no further than our workshops for children and youth!

Book a child and youth workshop in your classroom, or come visit our teaching gardens! We offer a variety of programming for learners from preschool to grade 12. Inquire about the possibility of French composting workshops for immersion classes from kindergarten to grade 8!

Accessibility Information

Our educators aim to make our workshops accessible and enjoyable for students with diverse needs. Get in touch if you have students who may benefit from accommodations so that we can best prepare for your workshop. For information about accessibility on our site during visits, see here.

Testimonials

“It was very apparent that the kids and their parents thoroughly enjoyed the program. The day after the program I had one little guy, who attended the program, ask me to find him books on composting as his family were going to build a compost!”

“I liked how experiential the tour was for the children. The facilitator was skilled at maintaining the children’s attention and keeping them interested.”

“Elora was very interactive, engaging, and fun! She noticed when the children needed to move and was willing to respond to many questions, comments, and student inquiries!”

Spring Plant Sale – May 9th, 2026

Save the Date! The Spring plant sale will be held on May 9th, 2026 from 10am-2pm. The plant sale will take place in Haegert Park (1202 Yukon St.) one block from our site on North Park street. Bring a blanket or a picnic so you can enjoy the music in the shade of the giant…
Save the Date! The Spring plant sale will be held on May 9th, 2026 from 10am-2pm. The plant sale will take place in Haegert Park (1202 Yukon St.) one block from our site on North Park street. Bring a blanket or a picnic so you can enjoy the music in the shade of the giant Sequoia tree. Entry by donation. No one turned away from lack of funds. Dogs welcome.

The Spring Organic Plant Sale features local farmers offering a wide variety of organically grown vegetable, flower and herb seedlings to get you off to a successful start this growing season.

What you can look forward to:

• The largest selection of organically grown heirloom tomato varieties all in one place for easy shopping

• Organically grown vegetable starts from arugula to zucchini

• Native plants for your low maintenance garden

• Perennial edibles like berry bushes and other fruiting shrubs

• Medicinal herbs like English lavender, chamomile and yarrow

• Culinary herbs like Genovese basil, dill and chives

• Companion plants like marigolds, sweet cicely and comfrey

Accessibility Information

The sale will be happening in Haegert park which is grassy and slightly sloped, there are curb cuts at various entrance points to get into the park.

Visitors can park at the Vic High parking lot between Gladstone Avenue and Grant St. The parking lot is a 200m walk from Haegert Park.

Thank you to our sponsors:
- Hatchet & Seed
- LADR Landscape Architects
- Biophilia Collective
- Country Grocer
- Cold Comfort
- Habit Coffee
- Patagonia Victoria
- The Private Network
- Zero Waste Emporium
- Chek News
- West Coast Seeds
The Compost Education Centre is located on unceded and occupied Indigenous territories, specifically the land of the Lekwungen speaking people—the Xwsepsum and Songhees Nations. These nations are two of many, made up of individuals who have lived within the porous boundaries of what is considered Coast Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth and Kwakwa’wakw Territory (Vancouver Island) since time immemorial. At the CEC we seek to respect, honour and continually grow our own understandings of Indigenous rights and history, and to fulfill our responsibilities as settlers, who live and work directly with the land and its complex, vital ecologies and our diverse, evolving communities.
Community Announcement: Food & Farm Heritage Programs Coordinator

Pender Islands Community Hall is looking for a Food & Farm Heritage Programs Coordinator! This is a great opportunity for a person interested in food, farming, gardening, heritage, research and activity programming. Full time until March 31, flexible hours, some virtual hours. Click this link to find learn more and how to apply: 2021…

Pender Islands Community Hall is looking for a Food & Farm Heritage Programs Coordinator! This is a great opportunity for a person interested in food, farming, gardening, heritage, research and activity programming.

Full time until March 31, flexible hours, some virtual hours.

Click this link to find learn more and how to apply: 2021 – 2022 Food & Farm Heritage Programs Coordinator
Food Security Connections Film

In 2021 the Food Security Connections Video came together as a collaborative project of the Food Literacy Working Group of the Good Food Network and the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CRFAIR). This project was funded by an Island Health, Community Wellness Grant and supported by the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives…

In 2021 the Food Security Connections Video came together as a collaborative project of the Food Literacy Working Group of the Good Food Network and the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CRFAIR). This project was funded by an Island Health, Community Wellness Grant and supported by the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (CRFAIR).

The video is meant to spur dialogues and discussions around food insecurity, hear stories from people in our community and from individuals and organizations that are working to alleviate food insecurity through food justice efforts.

Video Production UATE Storied Learning | www.uatestories.com/

Locations in Video The Compost Education Centre www.compost.bc.ca

Victoria Native Friendship Centre www.vnfc.ca/

Saanich Neighbourhood Place www.saanichneighbourhoodplace.com/

Food Rescue Project of the Food Share Network(Capital Region) www.foodsharenetwork.com/-

To learn more about the Food Security Connections Video and it’s complimentary education package please visit www.crfair.ca
Bees & Pollen with the GVPL

What’s all the buzz about bees? Join the Compost Education Centre and the Greater Victoria Public Library to learn about the importance of pollinators and discover little known facts about native bees and the integral role they play in our local ecosystem! We’ll chat about how you can help care for bees, and demonstrate a…

What’s all the buzz about bees? Join the Compost Education Centre and the Greater Victoria Public Library to learn about the importance of pollinators and discover little known facts about native bees and the integral role they play in our local ecosystem! We’ll chat about how you can help care for bees, and demonstrate a fun and simple way to make your yard and garden more bee friendly!
Frontiers for Young Minds

Hey everyone! This month I wanted to share a new resource with you that we’ve been super into lately at the CEC. Frontiers for Young Minds (https://kids.frontiersin.org/) is an “open access scientific journal written by scientists and reviewed by a board of kids and teens.” On their website you can find hundreds of articles on…

Hey everyone! This month I wanted to share a new resource with you that we’ve been super into lately at the CEC. Frontiers for Young Minds (https://kids.frontiersin.org/) is an “open access scientific journal written by scientists and reviewed by a board of kids and teens.”

On their website you can find hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics from soil health and ecology, sustainability, anatomy, chemistry, biology, human health and more. Peruse articles written specifically for youth that will challenge young learners with new concepts, words and ideas while maintaining accessibly with the option to hover over new concepts for definitions, lots of great images and glossaries.

This website is a cool source for scientific info for school projects, or just exploring and learning new information for kids ages ~12 and up! The accessible yet scientific language and cited content would also benefit highschool learners, or adults who are looking to learn something new!

As soil contamination is one of our focuses here at the CEC, this week I was excited to read their article “ How Soil Invertebrates Deal With Microplastic Contamination.” Check it out for a simple introduction to soil invertebrates with detailed images, and a quick breakdown of what they are, what they do, and how they interact with microplastics in our soil! There was lots of info in the article that was new to me, so I hope you can learn something new ?
BioDiversity Vol.2

Volume 2 of our Biodiversity Zine is now published! This new volume is focused on Indigenous Ecological Stewardship and explores stories of 6 Indigenous folks, and the relationship and connection they have with land. The Biodiversity zine is written and created for youth by CEC staff member Zoe-Blue! It’s a great resource to explore Indigenous…

Volume 2 of our Biodiversity Zine is now published! This new volume is focused on Indigenous Ecological Stewardship and explores stories of 6 Indigenous folks, and the relationship and connection they have with land.

The Biodiversity zine is written and created for youth by CEC staff member Zoe-Blue! It’s a great resource to explore Indigenous Ecological Stewardship with your children, or as a self guided resource for older youth. The current volume looks at invasive and native plants, remediation, Indigenous plant knowledge and how we can better care for the land we are living on. Click here to view the PDF version of the zine. The Zine is also available for pickup at the CEC, or via mail, both by donation.

Know of other great resources for child and youth education relating to composting, soil health, or ecology/sustainability more broadly? We would love to hear about them and continue to share these resources. Please feel free to share any resources you encounter with our Child & Youth Education Coordinator Elora at education@compost.bc.ca
Loving the Land Zine

This month we are highlighting another great zine made in the community. The “Loving the Land” zine was made by the Youth Food Justice Group this summer and is a great resource for youth, as well as people of any age! The zine is filled to the brim with ideas for interactive activities, reflection exercises, games and…

This month we are highlighting another great zine made in the community. The “Loving the Land” zine was made by the Youth Food Justice Group this summer and is a great resource for youth, as well as people of any age! The zine is filled to the brim with ideas for interactive activities, reflection exercises, games and more. It’s a great zine to use for guided exploration. It’s available for download here. I encourage everyone to explore it with your children, or take a look through yourself!
Worm Poop Centennial Project

It is with much gratitude that we launch the Worm Poop Centennial Project! This project is in partnership with the Victoria Horticultural Society who is celebrating 100 years of hands-on gardening education. Through the VHS’ generous donation we are able to give away 100 worm bins to interested non-profit and educational groups when they book…

It is with much gratitude that we launch the Worm Poop Centennial Project! This project is in partnership with the Victoria Horticultural Society who is celebrating 100 years of hands-on gardening education. Through the VHS’ generous donation we are able to give away 100 worm bins to interested non-profit and educational groups when they book a worm composting workshop with us. Get in touch with Elora, to learn more about this initiative at education@compost.bc.ca
Hugelkultur!

On the rainiest of rainy days, a few brave souls got together to build a sweet raised bed out of rotting wood, green garden waste and compost. Hugelkultur is German for “hill culture” and it’s a great way to use rotting wood’s capacity to store water to your advantage. The quick and dirty: lay…

Watering the layers so the wood soaks it up and saves it for drier times!

On the rainiest of rainy days, a few brave souls got together to build a sweet raised bed out of rotting wood, green garden waste and compost. Hugelkultur is German for “hill culture” and it’s a great way to use rotting wood’s capacity to store water to your advantage. The quick and dirty: lay rotting logs in a line, add brush material on top, then a layer of nitrogen-rich green materials, then soil, then compost, then soil, then plant! Of course there’s more to it than that, check out our Site Manager’s more detailed blog post about it here. Huge thanks to Vic High’s garden club who provided the site for this little hugel demo and who helped with the build!

It might not look like much now, but that thing’s gonna grow some great food!
Our Schools Program is now taking youth workshop bookings for Winter and Spring 2021! We have 6 different workshops to choose from for students in Preschool to Grade 12, on topics including composting, worm care, soil ecology, organic gardening and sustainable living. We will be offering our programs in-person with COVID safety protocols in place…

Our Schools Program is now taking youth workshop bookings for Winter and Spring 2021! We have 6 different workshops to choose from for students in Preschool to Grade 12, on topics including composting, worm care, soil ecology, organic gardening and sustainable living. We will be offering our programs in-person with COVID safety protocols in place – such as teaching in outdoor spaces, with smaller groups, and maintaining physical distance from students. Online workshops are also available upon request. See below for full descriptions of all our current youth workshop offerings:

Compost Education Centre – 2021 Schools Program Flyer