Friday afternoon help

Weather permitting I am usually out in the garden on Friday's, and in the afternoon Shannyn Oakes often comes and gives me a hand. She works really hard in the garden, and although she might not be our tallest student, she certainly pulls her weight and is not afraid to get stuck in. I am always grateful of the help Shannyn gives me and she is becoming a very knowledgeable gardener. Recently Shannyn and I were interviewed by two of her classmates, Josh and Ryan. Here is the short video the boys made about or time in the garden.

Here's Shannyn taking a mighty barrow load of weeds to the bin

And relaxing in the wheelbarrow after a hard afternoon's work. Way to go Shannyn! 

The shortest day is fast approaching.....

Winter has sprung, and things have slowed down in the garden. We had a mixed bag of weather in May, having more than one, 'in a hundred year' rain event, soaking our gardens. Things seems to have calmed down a bit now, with cold sunny days and plenty of decent frosts.

The plants might have slowed down but we sure haven't! Ron and his whanau have finished off the pallet planters and put the planks in place on the front of the compost bins, so our super deluxe composting system is all ready to go. Room 16 and I have set up a new worm farm, and Reuben Hill has put the plastic in the greenhouse. Room 8 and Room 16 have filled the pallet planters with pea straw and good growing soil, all ready for the spring. Last week they made carrot, orange and ginger soup and herb scones, which they enjoyed making and sharing. Whilst the scones were baking the Room 8 senior students helped our newest students, from Room 16, do some writing about our time in the garden. Great team work!

The Seniors helping the New Entrant students fill the pallet planters with pea straw and soil 

Chopping the herbs from the garden for the scones

The herb scones were delicious. 

Reuben putting the finishing touches to the greenhouse 

We're in the process of setting up the wiring systems for our espalier fruit trees, and thanks to Mrs McInnes, we now have blackcurrants planted in our edible garden. Yum! The fruit trees should be arriving next month, so now's a good time to get the wiring in place. We'll have two types of plums, two pears and three different varieties of apple out in the garden. Plenty of options for those that have forgotten their fruit break. 

The shortest day is fast approaching, so we'll be out in the garden again next week planting garlic. We'll also be building an insect hotel and making bird feeders. Fingers crossed for a dry day. In a couple of weeks we're putting on an afternoon tea as a thanks for our volunteers. The boys class have offered to help out with the baking and organising the event - Thanks boys! Oh and did I mention that the New Entrant students will be setting up a stall selling worm tea and some produce from the garden? 

Rain has stopped play!

Well the weather has taken a nose dive and we seem to have gone from summer to winter in a matter of weeks. Autumn just never happened. We've had rain for the last ten days and that means we've been able to do very little in the garden. Of course the weeds are happy, as the days are still warm enough for them to grow and the constant rain is giving them all the water they need to really get a grip.
Last Thursday we did manage to get out in the garden and we had some volunteers, Biff and Marina come in to give us a hand. Some students from Room 11 came out in to the garden to plant some green manure crops and to thin out and transplant some of the radishes we planted a few weeks ago. The students made a short video diary of what we did, which you can view here. The forecast is not looking too flash for the coming days. It looks like we'll have plenty of weeding to do after the school holidays,

Today

17 Apr

Showers

14°CHigh

9°COvernight

Rain, more persistent afternoon. S'lies tending easterly.

Tomorrow

18 Apr

Rain

16°CHigh

13°COvernight

Rain, possibly heavy. Fresh easterlies.

Saturday

19 Apr

Showers

21°CHigh

12°COvernight

Rain or drizzle clearing. Fresh NE turn gusty NW.

Sunday

20 Apr

Cloudy

19°CHigh

9°COvernight

High cloud. Northerlies, dying out later.

Monday

21 Apr

Rain

16°CHigh

7°COvernight

Rain with light winds.

Tuesday

22 Apr

Showers

13°CHigh

5°COvernight

Showers. Not much wind.

What an amazing first term!

Wow! It’s been such a busy first term with Garden To Table, but we’ve achieved SO much insuch a short space of time. We’ve dug, chopped, planted, built, carried, sieved, rolled, blended, drilled, hammered, watered, eaten, laughed, sweated, grated and worked together to learn lots of new skills. We even made it into the paper last week! All these things don’t just ‘happen’ and without the help of others we’d never of managed to achieve all that we have. So I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the fabulous students, parents, grandparents and members of our community who have supported us, volunteered their time or donated items to the garden. We couldn’t have done it without you!

I’d like to thank the parents and grandparents of the Room 5 students, who helped us in the garden and kitchen. I like to thank Yvonne and Reuben Hill and Hamish McDonald for giving up their time putting the greenhouse together. Thanks also goes to Scott Wilson for creating our composting system. 

Andy Moore, who owns Paving Innovations on McTeigue Road, very kindly donated the pavers for the path and for the inside the greenhouse. Thanks Andy! (If you need pavers yourself go and see Andy, tell him you saw this article and he’ll give you a discount! Tel 3493682 or 0252071130). The PTA were kind enough to give us money to buy some kitchen equipment, so thanks very much for that! But the BIGGEST thanks of all goes to the fabulous men from the Halswell Menz Shed - Ron, Alan, Jim and Colin, who have given up so much of their spare time cutting down the raised beds and building the pallet planters. You’re the BEST!

If you’re interested in getting involved in projects like this and/or joining the MenzShed contact Roger Spicer: roger.s@xtra.co.nz, 027 229 1928

We're in the news!

Here's a copy of the article about our school garden that has been published in today's Christchurch Mail. If you want to see the online version click here and go to page 3.

Turning youngsters on to gardening

OAKLANDS teacher Suzanne Wood is giving her young students plenty of food for thought, while happily letting them get their hands dirty doing it.

RIOT OF COLOUR: Suzanne Wood, teacher/co-ordinator of Oakland School’s ‘‘Garden to Table’’ scheme, on the job in a riot of colour.

Wood is co- ordinating the Halswell school’s new ‘‘ Garden to Table’’ programme, which allows students to grow and harvest their own fresh produce, then cook and prepare it to share with others.

It’s not just the school children who muck in working in the garden and the kitchen – much of the spadework for the Oaklands’ initiative has been provided by teachers, parents, older relatives and local organisations.

‘‘It’s a really good way of involving the local community in the school,’’ Wood says.

The Garden to Table concept took root in Australia more than 10 years ago, before sprouting a few years later in New Zealand.

This year, Oaklands became one of only four schools in the South Island where the ‘‘ handson’’ learning tool is starting to blossom and bear fruit.

‘ ‘ We’re using it as a whole school event,’’ Wood said.

Year 7 and 8 pupils are mentoring the new entrants – going into the garden and doing jobs like sowing and weeding.

‘‘It’s a way to develop a bond between the older and the younger children,’’ she said.

As well as helping with language and life skills, the programme lets students do practical outdoor work then gets them ‘‘into the kitchen, actually making something’’.

With the first months of the school year planting (and eating) summer vegetables like lettuce and carrots, Wood and her students are now planning for winter crops, such as cauliflower and brussels sprouts. They also hope to begin planting fruit trees later in the year.

Once the scheme is bedded in at Oaklands, Wood believes it will have the same positive impact as in other schools in New Zealand and Australia – raising youngsters’ desire to try new foods and giving better understanding and more confidence in cooking and gardening.

For Wood, this sort of teaching and learning also plants seeds in children’s minds that will allow them to lead happier and healthier lives. It’s a lesson she has taken to heart herself, recently studying organic horticulture at Lincoln University, and putting this into practice in her own kitchen garden.

‘‘Why pay for a bunch of spring onions or other veges when you can grow them yourself?’’

The Boys class lend a hand

Once again we were lucky enough to have some of the boys from Mr Brown's class helping in the garden last week. They have been working alongside the men from the MenzShed getting the pallet planters cut up and lined. One they're in place we'll fill them with soil and they'll be ready for planting out in the spring. Originally the whole of the back fence was going to be pallet planters but Scott Wilson, a helpful Dad, who gave us a hand with the construction of the composting system, suggested we plant some fruit trees along the fence. We thought it was a great idea, so we'll put some in over the winter months. Once they get established we'll espalier them, which will make great use of the space and that horrible fence will take on a new life. If there are any espalier experts out there we'd really appreciate some advice and a hand. 

 

The Greenhouse stands again

After taking a hammering from the weather the Greenhouse is now upright and looking rather lovely with the pavers laid. Thanks again Andy at Paving Innovations for donating the pavers to us. Reuben did a fantastic job of attaching it to the frame which is now staked to the ground. Hopefully it'll survive the coming winter. Our next job is to put the plastic in place and it should be all good to go.