Fall Family Picnic on Thursday, 10/10!

Online Inspiration

Life Lab: Bringing Learning to Life in the Garden:

http://www.lifelab.org/ 

This website is a treasure trove of information and resources for garden-based education - check it out!

Fairy Houses in the garden!

This week the 1st graders are creating fairy houses in the school garden. 

Come and see!



They won't last long.

Magic never does.... 

A huge thank you to the dedicated volunteers who cared for our school garden over the summer!

It was hot and dry this August, in particular, so the watering for our perennial plantings, annual sunflowers and Three Sisters plantings was invaluable.

If you have stopped by the garden this fall, you may wonder what is growing in the raised beds - it is buckwheat, a summer 'cover crop', planted at a Family Garden Day in early summer to control weeds and provide material for composting.  Classes may experiment this fall with harvesting seeds for next year's crop.

An exciting season is ahead - fall greens will be donated by Coonamessett Farm later this month to allow all of our students the opportunity to plant and harvest fresh salad greens in their class plots.  Last fall, classes enjoyed tasting their crops in the garden, having salad parties, and even sharing with the Falmouth Service Center.  Classes may also find curriculum connections to explore in the garden, from observing weather conditions, recording and graphing temperature, to connecting with local history, to name a few! 

We urge those interested in getting involved in the garden in ANY way you can imagine, to reach out and let us know!  It is a magical place!

Hope to see you there - this Friday!

Helping Hands Day 2013

Many thanks to the kindergarteners from Mrs. Scheer / Ms. Knox's class!

Helping Hands Day was an amazing start for the new 5 Senses Garden, designed to enhance kindergarten curriculum and to create a beautiful entrance to the school garden. Our hard-working crew planted, watered and moved soil and should feel very proud of all they accomplished. 

A huge than you, too, to Ms. Goguen for her help with design, plant selection and for plant donations from her own garden, to Clipper Landscape for preparing the ground for planting, and to the volunteers who pitched in and helped make Helping Hands Day a real success in our school garden.

Our Three Sisters

Massachusetts 3rd graders study this native american agricultural technique in Social Studies. The Three Sisters are a combination of corn, beans and squash that grow nicely together, each offering something to help out the others. The beans grow up the corn stalk and the squash provides ground cover to hold back weeds. This year Mullen-Hall 3rd graders are doing more than reading about the Three Sisters; they are planting them in their school garden as well. 

Yesterday and today all five 3rd grade classes made it out to the garden to start planting the corn.  With the help of our wonderful Gardens Alive volunteers, 36 popcorn seeds went into the soil. 

In another couple of weeks, when the corn is a few inches high, the students will come back to plant the beans and squash. Third grade families will help water and care for the plantings over the summer and these same students, as fourth graders, will harvest and save the seeds for the next round of plantings. It's a way for them to experience the whole cycle of the plant. 

While the corn planters were busy, other gardeners worked on moving 7 yards of fresh loam into the newly constructed perennial strawberry beds. 

It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it, right?