Happy new year!
Water
We returned to school after the winter break to see that the hose bib in the garden has been installed, so we have water access again after a couple of years without it. This will be a significant improvement over dragging hoses through classroom windows or from the custodial closet in the basement, or lugging innumerable watering cans to the garden from Cottage School, as our fearless gardening advocates had been doing for awhile.
As important as this water access is during the driest months of the year, we’ll do our best to reduce our need for it over time, as we intend to eventually catch rainwater for irrigation and plan to use a number of water conservation methods in the garden.
Worms
Some classrooms keep guinea pigs as pets, some keep fish, and Ms. Alonzo’s and Ms. Revello’s classrooms will soon keep worms. We are delivering some small, portable worm bins to these classrooms within the next week so students can learn about vermicomposting, recycle some of their classroom snack waste, and contribute worm compost and tea to build the soil in our garden. Here’s a fun video that explains the why and how of vermicomposting, with nested plastic bins like the ones we’re building for Gatewood. They’re not ready yet, but you get the picture, below.
And to give them their due, those guinea pigs and fish that enrich our children’s lives in the classroom could also enrich our garden soil with their used bedding and water. Their waste could be our gain in the garden.
A green schoolyard for Gatewood Elementary 