
Here are some recent photos of the rose garden. Can you spot the A and the S. The scent is divine.
Welcome to our Green Team blog.
Friday was leek and potato soup day! Members of the Green team harvested leeks at morning tea time and then chopped them along with potatoes. This was all saute’d together in butter. (It smelt devine!, and set off the smoke detector-ooops!)
Next chicken stock and water were added and the whole thing left to simmer away until all the veges were cooked through. Once cooked and cooled a little, the soup was whizzed up until smooth.
Later in the day the Green team from each class got to sample the brew! Delicious was pretty much the unanimous response! Other comments included ‘Hey, my Nana makes this!’ ‘This is like Dads Samoan soup!’ “This is the best soup ever!”
So leeks and potatoes are definitely going into the garden for this summer!
Today Room 4 and the Green Team, made pinecone birdfeeders. These were made by spreading peanut butter over the pine cones and then rolling them in bird seed! Mrs Douglas kindly provided the ingredients and we got to work. Most children ended up with more seed and peanut butter on them than the pine cones!!
Next the cones were carefully hung in trees around the classrooms and library.
We look forward to watching our feathered friends enjoy these treats over the coming days.
We at the green team have so much news to share.
Potatoes in for Christmas
Now that spring is really and truly underway, we are pleased to report that our Jersy Benne potatoes are in. See the photo of Kahu and Tamzin finishing the planting at the end of last Term. They are up and almost ready to be mounded. (The potatoes that is!!)
After much pondering and discussion it was agreed that alyssum flowers would be planted into the two front beds. So in preparation Room 2 kindly offered to come and help the Green team weed these two beds and the rose garden as well! This took place last Friday and everyone was working so hard that Mrs Blackburn had trouble convincing her children to return to class to pack up the classroom! The children had great fun discovering all sorts of bugs and beetles. One was heard to say that they’d “ never done this before”, and another “I don’t want to go home, can we do some more after school?” Of course the whole of Room 2 has now joined the Green Team.
This week, wonderful Mr Wood and his trailer collected 4 scoops of soil for the beds. At lunch time a large group of Greenteamers and many volunteers worked a chain of buckets and emptied the trailer, very speedily, onto the garden. In no time at all the soil was spread, and is all ready to plant up. Thank you Mr Wood for helping us out!! We are just awaiting our plants now.
In the beginning….
The Green Team began at Addington School during 2008, with the aim of reducing waste throughout the school. The initial focus was on recycling of paper waste within each classroom.
Over the past two years, the Green Team has taken on the collection of materials for the compost, and the creation of four busy compost heaps. In addition three large raised vegetable beds have been built, filled with soil and our own compost, and produced a delightful supply of fresh vegetable treats for Green team members, and the whole school (eg Radish-o-Rama ( See Addington Article for some of those fun harvests)
We have developed a special friendship with the Strickland St Gardens who regularly come and help us out with advice, and who host us at their gardens for special demonstrations and celebrations.
The Green team also raised seedlings for the Addington Fair, donated Christmas potatoes to the City Mission, and to the Strickland St Gardens.
The excitement and passion of the children on the Green Team has so far driven the direction and projects taken on by this group. The group itself has grown in size over the past year, with more and more children wanting to be involved in activities.
Officially there are two representatives from each class to take on the compost and recycling collection, and then further members who participate during various activities. At last count, over one third of the children at school actively participate in the Green team over the course of a month. Involvement includes weeding (Rose or Vegetable gardens), sowing seeds, planting vegetables and flowers, Autumn leaf collection, walnut collection, compost collection, compost heap maintenance and turning, and harvest!!
Cooking our produce has been an unexpected spin off, with children trying their hand at preparing various dishes and sauces, using our own produce. We intend to add a recipe page to our blog.
The future….
Completing the vegetable garden mural (on Mr Sinclair’s caretaker shed) is high on our list for this year, however bad weather has slowed the process. The children have a design which is creeping its way across the wall, during fine Friday afternoons.
The Green Team have plans to make the Vegetable Garden area another learning space, complete with seating and fruit trees. This way children can watch and participate in a complete growing season. Lots of opportunities to initiate learning.
Other plans include further development of the Rose garden, areas around each classroom, and the office block.
We are keen to further develop our composting collection (foodscraps) with more detailed data on volumes collected, and volumes of compost made. Lots of ways to incorporate “measurement”!
The worm farm is also waiting in the wings, ready to be set up and maintained.
We have heaps to do……… so its time to get cracking!!