Garden Club for the next few weeks

I'm going to go ahead and cancel Garden Club for tomorrow, Tuesday October 30th.  This storm hasn't even gotten warmed up yet and we'll still be under a high wind alert until  8:00 pm tomorrow night.  That means we won't be meeting for the next three weeks.  Next week is election week and there's no school.  The week after, I have parent conferences and will need my room for that.  Everyone stay safe.

A huge thank you to my friend Mr. V for covering for me over the past couple of weeks.

One More. . .

. . . shot from yesterday's Garden Party, via Mr. V.

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who came out for the garden party today.  And a huge thank you to Mr. V for some amazing chicken roasted right next to the garden! It was an absolute blast!

Garden Club. . . in pictures.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  After today, I'm tired, so I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

Today's job. . . weeding.

This is our thank you note to Mr. V's friend Heather.  She's a landscape
architect (I think) who donated the wood for our fence.

I believe Esteban is up to something!

This is what it looked like when we started!

This picture speaks for itself!

Sophie wonders where to start.

"Weeding is my favorite. . .(not really)."

This is what it looked like 20 minutes later.

The rosemary is blooming!

That's a lot of weeds!

Mr. V keeping everyone motivated!

Team work!

Our new raised bed!  Thank you to Joan Albiston for making this happen!

Kevin and Guadalupe checking out the new garden bed.

I'm not sure.  But, I believe it's a good thing.

Jack and Elise discuss the impending snack, fresh microgreens we
started last week!

YES!

Rainy Days

I've kind of challenged myself to not cancel Garden Club for the weather.  So far, I've done okay with that.  In the past, when I've canceled, I've spent so much time figuring out how to get everyone home, I might as well have just had Garden Club.  Sure, everyone is a tad bit more energetic after being cooped up inside all day, and it can get a bit loud with 25+ kids in one room, but it's fun nonetheless.

So, today we got a couple of things done.  We made the letters for a giant thank you note.  Pictures of the full note and an explanation will come next week, as long as the weather cooperates.  

We also started our first tray on micro-greens.  Last year, Phil and Deirdre Armstrong, our friends from Harvest Thyme Herbs, donated a book to the club about how to grow them.  They're a great indoor crop that we can tend even when the weather is bad.  This tray is a batch of radishes, beets, lettuces, and nasturtiums.  We'll let them get an inch or so tall and cut them for a salad.  Thank you Phil and Deirdre!

Lastly, my student Claire has hatched some guinea fowl eggs.  Three of the chicks took up residence in my room right after club ended today.  I think they'll probably be joined by a few more later this week.  They'll stay until the end of the week, when I'll take them home.  I'm hoping they eat enough ticks come spring that Mrs. Rough and my dogs won't get any more tick diseases next summer.  We'll see.   If anyone wants to come visit them, you're most welcome to come in the mornings before class starts.  Just note, we're going to make a conscious effort to be extra quiet and calm so we don't freak them (The chicks, that is. I think the kids will be freaked out by being calm and quiet.) out over this week. 

So yes, the weather is terrible.  But I got to spend an hour hanging out with my friends, Mr. Ferg and Mr. V, and a great bunch of kids.  What could be better?

I think Liam was getting a little annoyed with me.

Mr. V's posse

Note the pen for the guinea fowl chicks that will live
in the classroom for the rest of this week.

Esteban

How did I survive last year with these two?!?

Take my picture, please!

When's snack?  I'm so hungry I could eat this red marker.

September Garden News!

Here we are almost half way through September already.  It's my favorite time of year. . . until about mid-March.  Then, that's my favorite time of year.  You'll never hear me say that February or August are my favorite times of year, though.  Sorry, I think the weather has me giddy.  Anyway, no pictures this time as I'm still blowing the sand out of the camera from the beach a couple weeks ago.  I'll have that fixed up by next week.  So. . .

We've started the fall Garden Club off with a bang.  Despite last weeks weather we got a lot done in terms of planning.  Our fall Garden Party is coming up on Saturday, October 6th.   We made a list of things we need to get done before then from cleaning up the summer weeds and weeding the flower bed, to growing some micro-greens indoors and writing a thank you note to our friend Heather for donating the fence materials.  Did I say fence?  Indeed, the fence is done!  The gates aren't installed yet, but we'll get to that, too.

This week, we just got a lot of work done.  We pretty much ravaged 1/4 of the garden, pulling out weeds, old plants, roots, rocks.  To watch it happen was like some sort of plague. . . the swarm of school kids descends on the waist high weeds and when they move away a few minutes later. . . bare ground!

So, I'll just put this out there and see what happens.  There are a lot of us in garden club this year.  We have enough tools for just over a dozen kids, and some of those are getting a bit ragged and starting to fall apart.  If anyone parents or other adults have any tools (hand tools mostly, but we can certainly use some hoes as well) they'd like to lend us for the fall, it would be greatly appreciated.  If you do, could you label them with your name and drop them off at my room (E-101, sort of the back corner of the school on the bottom floor of the new wing) when you're around school.  I think that'd be better than trying to get them to school on the bus.  I'm pretty sure that carrying garden tools is frowned upon by bus drivers. Thanks so much!

I mentioned the pot luck Garden Party a second ago.  As I said, it will be on Saturday, October 6th.  I can't remember if I told Ms. Scholl a time yet, so let's say we start gathering at the picnic tables by the garden in the field at 11:30.  I'll have my canopy up and and tables available for all kinds of great food. Please bring chairs or a blanket to sit on, a dish to share, and perhaps a frisbee or something to toss around in the beautiful fall weather.  I hope to see everyone there.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

The Cale School Garden Club is starting back up next Tuesday, September 4th, 2012.  Mr. V. will be back this year, and I believe I've talked Mr. Ferguson (music teacher, extension activities teacher, and all around swell guy) into joining us as well.  

We have a lot of cleaning up to do, so we’d better get started as soon as possible. This fall we’ll spend some time cleaning out the garden, growing some indoor greens, and planning what we’d like to plant in the spring.  If we can get everything looking good fairly quickly, there are a couple of new spots we can think about planting, as well.

We’ll be meeting on Tuesday afternoons right after school in my room (E-101).  We’ll get going at 2:30 and end at 3:30.  For now, there is no late bus leaving Cale, so the kids will need to be picked up.  Kids can be picked up in my room, but we'll wander up to the front hall by 3:35.

Please note, once the other clubs officially begin later in the fall,  some of the kids might want to take a break from the garden to do another club.  They are most welcome to do that and will be welcome to come back after the other clubs end.  We’ll being running garden club through December, will take the month January off, and will resume in February.

One last thing, we'll have our annual Fall Garden Party on Saturday, October 6th.  Details will be coming in the next few weeks.

I'm sending home permission letters tomorrow!  Can't wait to see everyone in the garden!

Last Garden Club for This Year

I can't believe we've wrapped up another year.  Our last meeting was pretty low key.  We've sort of developed a nice pattern in the last few weeks.  We split the group in half, one part working on the fence with Mr. V., the other working on the flower bed with me.  Today the flower bed crew planted bulbs.  If you haven't noticed the the front entrance to the school is looking fantastic in the past couple of days.  Over this past weekend, Ms. Riddick and her husband, with the help of Cale parent and landscape architect Joan Albiston,  gave the bed at the front of the school a much needed renovation.  In the process they salvaged about 200 bulbs (tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, etc.) that we planted in the flower bed today.  We'll see what comes up next spring.  Even if only half of them produce, the flower bed should fill out much earlier next year.  Although, it looks pretty good right now with the lilies, daisies, and butterfly bushes in bloom.

If anyone wants to come on out to the garden over the summer, you're more than welcome.  I'm going to make a commitment of being there twice a week when I'm in town (which will be most of the summer this year), but it's always nice to know that other folks are coming out to help keep up with everything.  I'm hoping to finish up the fence next week.  I'll post the days when I know more if anyone wants to get in on that.

Anyway. . . Thanks to everybody in club!  It was wonderful gardening with you this year!  Let's do it again in the fall!  Thanks to Esteban for today's pictures, thanks to Phil and Deirdre Armstrong (all the herbs are doing great!), and as always a huge thanks to Mr. V without whom we couldn't do this.  And thanks for the beautiful signed copy of The Edible Schoolyard.  You guys all know that Alice Waters is one of my heroes (though I'm still a bit annoyed she didn't make it to Cale when she was here), and having her sign my book was great.  I have to say, though, it's all of your signatures that mean the most to me.

So, if all goes according to plan we'll come back to a healthy looking, weeded, watered garden surrounded by a beautiful fence and a nice shed.  Oh, and I've already tentatively scheduled our Fall Garden Party for October 6th.  Let's make it a big one.   We'll have a lot to celebrate.

Ready for summer.

Apparently, this is what it feels like to finally get
outside after being in class all day.

Larry and wood.

The Fence Crew

Beamer and Alex

Cassy and Nicky. . . or Nicky and Cassy. . .

It was an bib overall kind of day.

Meanwhile, back at the fence. . .

Helen with a power tool.

An Explanation

This morning was weird. . . weather wise, that is.  I awoke to a thunderstorm and drove to school in the rain.  Three weather forecasts that I checked out said it would be raining for most of the day.  So, of course, I cancelled Garden Club for today.

I wasn't totally surprised to see the sun come out about an hour later.  After it was still sunny at 2:00, however, I seriously considered recalling all the club folks and having a go at the fence again this afternoon.  Driving home, though, I'm glad I didn't.  The thunderheads are, as I type, rolling back into view.  One of the things I've learned in the Master Naturalist class I've been taking for the last few months is that if there are thunderheads in the sky, lightening is possible.  All in all, standing out in a wide open space with the possibility of lightening still seems like a bad idea.  Here are some interesting lightening facts for you.  And, here's a picture of some Louisa County (I think) lightening my friend Wes took last year.

"Lightning is a giant discharge of electricityaccompanied by a brilliant flash of light and a loud crack of thunder. The spark can reach over five miles (eight kilometers) in length, raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,700 degrees Celsius), and contain a hundred million electrical volts."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_lightningfacts.html

Fencing & Planting

This was one of those days when we descended upon the garden like a swarm of bees, did a lot of work in a very short time, and went back to the room for a quick snack.

Phil and Deirdre Armstrong from Harvest Thyme Herb Farm came with a bunch of herbs for one of our beds.  Ms. Deirdre and Ms. Massie helped us plant those.  We also put in two rows of borage (an edible flower that for which bees absolutely go gaga), a row of nasturtiums, and a row of radishes.  If we get a few good rains in the next couple of weeks we might be able to start eating the radishes fairly soon.  Even though we started them from seed, they germinate in just a about a week and, in good conditions, can sometimes be picked in a bit over three weeks.

While all that was going on another group, led by Mr. V and Mr. Phil worked on the fence.  We got the bottom rail put on almost half the fence.  It's possible that Mr. V or I may work on the fence sometime this weekend, but even if we don't, and we keep up the pace we set today, we'll be ready to put the pickets on the fence in just a few weeks.

And while all that was going on, a smaller group helped me pull out the hose to water what was just planted.  It all went by in a blur.  I'm glad Alex and Jack were taking pictures to help me remember.

What're you planting, Liam?

"The name is Bond. . . James Bond."

A source of much fascination.

Ms. Deirdre helped with the herb bed.
Ms. Massie helped in the flower bed.

For someone who doesn't like his picture taken,  he always ends
 up in a lot of good pictures.  Plus, he's got a rockin' hat.  I bet I know
when and where he got it.

Mr. V having a "Tim The Toolman" moment.  MORE POWER!

Mr. Phil helping out with the fence.

No matter how you break it down though, a lot of stuff got done by a lot of very energetic kids today.  Thank you, everyone, for making it a great afternoon.