Mission Accomplished

A final view of our achievements

This morning at the Kick-Off,  the community at large came out to support the building of our garden.  In four hours, we built 30 raised beds from scratch, filled the beds with soil and compost, woodchipped the majority of garden pathways and mulched the school's front flower beds.  We had a great day and will be compiling photos and feature some guest bloggers to write about their first hand experiences. Thank you everyone who turned out today!

It Takes A Village

Seed trays are ready for planting

In this case, it's the seven villages within the town of Barnstable!  Our school is unique and extremely proud to say that we are a school of choice representing students from all seven villages.  As the ground continues to thaw and the buds form on the trees, we are starting our plans to plant seedlings in the classroom.  Over 365 students at our school will be responsible for planting and caring for these tender seedlings.  Once the seeds are planted, they will spend the next few weeks sitting upon window sills listening to the classroom's lessons, as they prepare to emerge from their seeds.  Finally, after 7-10 days of germination, they will spring to life as the most delicate seedlings.  They will continue to grow until they can survive on their own outside.  Late May, when we are free from the dangers of frost, they will take root in the warm rich soil. However, we are not ready for those seedlings just yet, we still have to construct that garden!

Seedlings ready to go outside

As the seeds grow and strengthen inside, outside our community volunteers will get ready to make the garden blueprints a reality.  With lumber, nails, hammers and hardware, the 30 raised beds will be constructed.  Soil enriched with compost and supplements will be shoveled into those beds.  It is a great deal of work.  It is going to take many hands to create this living edible classroom.  However, I know that hard work and dedication will yield "fruits" of our labor. We are going to need volunteers to make this garden a reality.  Every child at our school will be involved in the garden.  By volunteering a couple of hours of your valuable time on April 16th, you will be helping to provide students with lessons from our schoolyard garden that will last their entire lifetime.  Life rarely provides people with volunteering opportunities that impact not only today's generations but tomorrow's,  here is one that I think does just that! 

Raised beds grow tomatos

Photo credits:  Chiot's Run

Any Thoughts?

Onions



If you are like some of us who have been bitten by the gardening bug, then you are looking through seed catalogues and waiting for the ground to thaw. You are searching your yard for signs of Spring as you venture out to retrieve the mail down the driveway.

We too are getting ready to start planning the crops for our new garden.  Our planting goals are to include

~ hardy and easy to grow crops

~crops that are available to pick in Spring, Summer and Fall

~crops that have high yields in small spaces

With these thoughts in mind, we are planning to plant potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, blueberries, strawberries, flowers, carrots and assorted lettuces.

Is there anything else that you would like to see growing in our garden?


Photo courtesy of Chiot's Run