Pembroke make a great start

Pembroke School have made a wonderful start to the gardening year. I was able to work with room 9  and their teacher for a 5 week block which was wonderful. We covered seeds, compost, bugs and had two cooking activities.
We got to turn the compost over and search for bugs.

We got to cook with the schools Appletree and also made omelettes from some of the veggies in the garden.

We have planted out beds of broccoli and beetroot. The children particularly enjoyed the cooking activity.

tasty treats to start the year

It has been a real treat to be working at Little Wonders with the Kids Growing programme.  It's always so exciting arriving and seeing such cool activities underway.  Mermaids and Mermen scaling the fort, sawing up wood, wonderful glittery water play and a mini circus tent.  My inner child wants to join in and play. So we have been playing with food and apples and cooking up delicious pans of yummy treats.
Little Wonders has a beautiful garden,  greens, herbs, chooks and a plentiful Apple tree.
We have been picking the apples slicing them up and cooking them with honey, fruit and herbs.

 We made a wonderful fresh omlette from the centers free range chooks.  Leonie is the teacher who had been wonderfully supportive and facilitates all the creative projects.

We have been making herbal infused honeys.  With sage to ward off the winter bugs and boost immunity and rosemary so we can remember!!.

It is a real pleasure to help encourage the children to enjoy their beautiful garden and get creative with the ingredients.  Next week we are planting trees in their new big back yard.

Maheno School Garden Club

Term 1 at Maheno School Garden Club has been a bustling bee hive of activity. We arrived back at school after the summer holidays to discover our garden was overgrown with weeds! This term, a dedicated group of students have chosen to participate in garden club during lunch time and 20 minutes of class time. We kicked off in February with a big working bee that involved heaps of weeding and tidying up the toolshed.

“We learned to pull out roots when you weed.” –Charlie

Weeding and composting raised garden beds

 “We learned that if you plant something after you weed, the weeds won’t grow back.” --Ainsley

So we’ve planted kale, leafy winter greens, broccoli, and rocket in some of the beds that became overgrown with weeds over summer holidays.

We’ve also harvested one of the compost bins...then, we massaged Maheno’s black gold into the raised garden beds to replenish the nutrients in the soil. 

“I learned you can’t put onion and citrus in the compost because the worms don’t like them.” --Brooke

In between the weeding, tidying, and planting, we’ve done a bit of taste testing also. 
“I learned that pansies and calendula flowers are edible.” –Oscar

The orchard of fruit trees Maheno planted last year are flourishing with green foliage are looking healthy after their first season in the ground. 

“We helped the trees grow and gave them food (horse pooh and sawdust).” –Ruby Jean

Here is a photo of Maheno School Garden Club and the new signs they have designed for their compost bins so people know which compost bin to feed and which one is resting.

Overall, Kids Growing at Maheno School is off to a great start in Term 1. We are working with Sophia to weed, compost, and plant out our garden beds with winter crops. We would like to thank the ANZ Staff Foundation for their support and making Kids Growing possible at our school this year. 2017 Kids Growing will be a year to remember!

 

Maheno School Garden Club is proudly supported by: