CENOVUS ENERGY FOOD FOREST

Green your community space or school with fruit-bearing trees and shrubs. The Cenovus Food Forest project will plant twenty food forests on school grounds or your chosen community space in the fall of 2024! The program will supply fruit-bearing trees & shrubs and required planting day supplies at no cost. Members of the community are highly encouraged to participate in the planting day. The benefits of having a food forest in your community include increasing biodiversity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, providing land-based learning opportunities, and creating an edible landscape for years to come!

What’s included:

● Guided planting day in the fall of 2024

● Fruit-bearing trees & shrubs (i.e. apple trees, raspberries, strawberries, etc., species subject to supplier availability)

● Planting supplies: mulch, soil mix, tree stakes

● Food Forest sign

● Other equipment needed for the planting day will be supplied for the day (i.e., shovels, buckets, etc.)

Cenovus Food Forest One-Pager

School Cenovus Food Forest Pack

2024 Selected Cenovus Food Forests 

2023 Selected Cenovus Food Forests 

2022 Selected Cenovus Food Forests 

Photo Gallery

Articles

Cenovus Food Forest takes root

September 2024

Cenovus Food Forest planted at Queen Elizabeth School 

September 2024

Testimonials

"We are so grateful for being a part of this program. Our students learned so much and truly enjoyed being outdoors.  We can't wait to begin harvesting the fruit!"


East Central Public School

"This program is especially helpful for First Nation schools, giving them the opportunity to see the outcome of their product.  My students really enjoyed learning how to plant fruit bearing trees."


Pelican Lake High School

"I was very impressed with the instructors and quality of plants brought to the school. The students were fully engaged in planting, and loved that their legacy of the food forest will live on in the school yard.  We loved the resources provided to the students. Great visuals and instructions. The instructors were great with kids and very knowledgeable with planting." 


ES Laird Middle School


"Thank you to Cenovus Energy to give our youth a chance to learn about planting, caring for and harvesting trees/shrubs.  Not every child or adult has opportunities like this.  Love that we get to have a say in the day and times."


BGC Battlefords

"The students really enjoyed learning about planting the different species and planning how we might lay them out. They are excited that they have contributed to a legacy project that will be available for future students to enjoy."


Bishop Lloyd Middle School

"Our students were so engaged and are now researching about the species. After the planting day a student was pulling their parent over to the forest at dismissal and smiling so brightly as they exclaimed that's my Saskatoon Berry plant. I did that. We can watch it grow the whole time I'm here. Some parents even took photos of their kindergarten kids beside the forest and plan to take one each year as they grow and the forest grow up."

 

Ecole Silverspring School


"Our entire school and surrounding neighbourhood community is already abuzz with excitement and we have heard such amazing feedback about what an exciting opportunity this is. The kids are loving checking on “their” plants that they planted and seeing their growth and change already. Our facilitators were exceptional and made planting super smooth. We were extra thrilled to have received some extra plants and such a large variety among species."

 

Buena Vista


"Thank you to Cenovus Energy for the Food Forest! We had two sessions and it was an incredible experience for our students to participate in the planting of this food forest. Our students learned so much in the process and they will benefit from these plants for years to come. We are very grateful for this opportunity. :)

Thank you for coming to our school! We appreciate all the amazing plants. The students loved helping too. :)"


Sakaskohc High School


"Alana was so great to work with on planting day! She did an amazing job of giving students the required information while also ensuring that they were leading the process. We had a large group of Grade 9-12 students who were all actively engaged and took great care to ensure that our new plants were successfully transplanted. We look forward to watching our food forest grow - and continuing to expand it in years to come! This is an exceptional program - and we appreciate being selected!"

 

Dinsmore Composite School


"Thank you so much, the Cenovus people were awesome and the kids learned a lot and had so much fun!"

McKitrick School 

"Our students love envisioning how our fruit forest will look and feel like in 30 years. They think it's "heaven"."


Colette Bourgonje School

"Great experience. Everyone was super easy to communicate with. My Kindergartens worked on this with their grade eight care partners. It was such a great experience for everyone."


St Matthew 

"The Cenovus Energy Food Forest Program volunteers provided a fun, informative, and engaging planting day for our students. The volunteers were well prepared. They were kind, caring, and patient as they included our students in each part of the planting process. Our staff and students were thrilled with the results and grateful for this hands-on learning activity! " 


Winston Churchill School


"This was such an appreciated and amazing opportunity for our students. Everything was thought of and well organized. We are new school and in our first year we planted a row of fruit trees. Now we have been able to greatly expand our collection. In a few years from now the community will be amazed at what is growing. Our goal is to grow food on site that will be incorporated into our school lunch program. We are well on our way to achieving our goal. Thank you!"

 

Sakaskohc High School 

"The program was great!  Hopefully more and more schools will participate."  

Wesmor Public High School

"Thank you so much. Our school looks great with the food forest."


Hillmond


"It was very good, kids really enjoyed it.  Can't wait to eat the apples from the apple trees."


Nawigizigweyas education centre yellowquill school


"Our students loved being a part of this program; some students have never planted a tree or a plant before and they were excited to learn about it. They are proud of our school yard and they are looking forward to the fruit that will come from our plants."

"The facilitators came early, brought everything we needed including tools, fertilizer, a hose, and even gloves for the students to use as they planted. This was so helpful! The size, condition, and variety of fruit-bearing plants that we received was impressive - more plants and bigger than we expected - and all plants were a great choice for our growing climate. The facilitators came with duo-tangs full of planting information which was very helpful. They were friendly and great with our kids. We would highly recommend this program. Thank you to Cenovus! "

 

École Debden Public School

“A huge thank you to Cenovus Energy and Notice Nature for supporting and delivering this program. Our students did a fantastic job planting and it was inspiring to see their willingness to work so hard. The wide variety of fruit trees and shrubs was incredible . I believe it is critical to provide these opportunities to our next generation so we can help prepare them for their future. Food security is a growing area of need in all communities. This such a positive and powerful step forward with lasting impacts. Well done!”

 

Sakaskohc High School

“I am thankful that Cenovus Energy has put this program in place. I cant wait to have some delicious fruit for the students!”


Kinistino School

“I ate an apple off our tree last summer!”


Brunswick School

“Such an excellent program. Many of students involved reflect on that being a highlight for the school year thus far. Thank you!”


LP Miller Comprehensive School

“My students were quite excited to have been involved for two years in a row.”


WW Brown School

“I really wish that more schools would do things like this. It's wonderful to teach the students about how and where their food comes from.”


Chief Napew Memorial

“Wonderful program that allowed us to expand our area into a food forest with plans to incorporate community members in helping harvest and use in the future.”


BFHC Community Garden / BGC Battlefords

“This was such an appreciated and amazing opportunity for our students. Everything was thought of and well organized. We are new school and in our first year we planted a row of fruit trees. Now we have been able to greatly expand our collection. In a few years from now the community will be amazed at what is growing. Our goal is to grow food on site that will be incorporated into our school lunch program. We are well on our way to achieving our goal. Thank you!”

 

Sakaskohc High School

“I am thoroughly impressed with this program. Thank you for leaving instructions on how to help establish the plants for the next 3 years.”


LP Miller Comprehensive School

“I love this! The planning was well done, I like that it’s a student initiative and run by the kids. The plants will be well loved and used!”


Bordens little sprouts early learning centre

“Was wonderful to work with these organizations involved and create partnerships. They were able to work with various grounds and problem solve how to make anything work.”


BFHC Community Garden / BGC Battlefords

“It was awesome! Thank you”


St. Philip School

“We are thrilled with it!”


Brunswick School

“It's great. Highly recommend"


WW Brown School

“Amazing, what a great way to bring the school community together.”


Cando Community School

“We are grateful to the NSRBC and Cenovus for making these resources available to us and for your help in making the project happen. Students are already talking about how they can’t wait to sample the fruit next year. It is being noticed and appreciated in our community as well. We are excited to have it be a new part of our outdoor learning space.”

 

Diana Couture: Teacher at Debden School

"Thanks so much to all who were involved in organizing and dispersing the trees and shrubs for our Food Forest. Our students had a great time planting and caring for the trees and shrubs. We are excited to see how they winter and are curious to see how much fruit they will produce next year. This was a great opportunity to teach the students about caring for trees and enjoying the outdoors. Thanks again."

 

Joyce Paterson: Marsden School Community Council Vice Chair.

The Cenovus Notice Nature Food Forests were possible thanks to the generous funding received from Cenovus Energy.