MV Children's Garden news from Lee Budish the week of October 29, 2007.
Starting this week, I will list chores first, and if you wish to continue reading you may. Any other suggestions are welcome.

TO DO LIST for the WEEK: CLEAN OUT YOUR CLASS GARDEN BED. PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT IT IS INDEED YOUR GARDEN BED, and not that of another class. TEACHER'S PLEASE LABEL THE FRONT OF YOUR BED WITH A SHARPIE to avoid confusion.

1. Empty your garden bed and compost remains. Please leave any compostables piled in front of the 2 compost bins or off to the right (as you are facing the bins) in the general/miscellaneous pile. We're trying to get the compost organized and we are about at capacity in our first 2 bins.

2. Amend Garden bed with soil in the compost area. Mix in, but be careful not to damage irrigation. Finished compost is to the right of the 2 compost bins and ready to add to the raised beds.

3. I will give teachers seeds for beds. Fava beans, buckwheat and winter peas for nitrogen which can be later composted back into the bed and other stuff. Please send me email when you have planted or if you need help.
 
4. Start clearing the half circles in front of and behind beds. If too low, amend with composts. We will plant daffodils in the next couple of weeks.
 
5. We need to move the wood chips away from the apple and pear trees. It is okay to move chips to the pathways in between. Use small rakes and supervise the children so they do not hit the bark of the trees with the rakes as they move wood chips away. We need to keep the area surrounding the trees sanitary to keep the cuddle moth larvae from hatching.

6. Behind the garden gate on the back side are wood chips. Kids can move wood chips to cover the pathway behind the garden beds and between the citrus trees to keep those weeds in check. Needs lots of chips as rains are coming, and so are the weeds.

If you have never spent any time in our garden until this past weekend, you now understand the magic. What an extraordinary feeling! What a wonderful show of community support for the children to witness. How do I thank all of our incredible volunteers, all the children, bakers, all our sponsors, scarecrow makers, parents, teachers, Girl Scout troops and leaders and everyone who bid on our scarecrows?
 
When I say we have garden fairies, we really do! Mischievious fairies kept raising the arms of parents holding auction paddles. Countless times the paddles went up, up again, and just kept going. How much good will in one afternoon! We raised $2,129 with our scarecrow auction. Every scarecrow had an incredibly unique personality and was obviously made with so much love, which is why the crowd responded so much. A Guinness World record was broken today, by Adam Sanchez's class scarecrow: a whopping $425!!!!! And, that ain't hay! The money raised will go to our much beloved hands-on outdoor classroom and laboratory for our children. Kudos to everyone! XXOOO
 
-Lee

PS: Fun Stuff
Also, each class has a camera. Perhaps you may want to document the seasons with the kids in a photo journal? After you document the seasons, you can do a year-end slide show. MAYBE A VIDEO, TOO????? Map out parts of the garden. Have kids count and draw apple orchard, can they tell which tree is pear or apple? Measure pumpkins and zucchini. Just get out that tape measure and ruler. LOOKING FOR ONE PARENT TO TAKE ALL THE MAPPING INFORMATION FROM ALL CLASSES TO DRAW A REAL MAP OF THE GARDEN, NO DEADLINE. IT GETS DONE WHENEVER.

Thank you all so very much! Please feel free to call me at home 388-5703 or cell 342-1870. PLEASE DO NOT FEEL YOU NEED TO DO EVERYTHING at once, WE DO WHAT WE CAN, WHEN WE CAN... MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO HAVE FUN!

Posted by Mari Allen on October 29