I was inspired by the experience of Melanie’s 3rd grade children on Friday January 10th as we mulched our P patch beds. Rita Howard prepared a marvelous educational story about the scarcity of good land to garden and farm, and our need to protect the soil from washing away (erosion) and to build up it’s richness. This story, which had the kids in rapt attention (and me and Melanie, too) was about 20 minutes and served as the information needed for the kid to see the importance of the task they were about to help with. They sat in a circle in the classroom eager to hear the words from Rita’s mouth as she demonstrated the earth with a green apple. We then walked half the class to the P patch, 2 blocks away and did 2 of the 4 mulching techniques, and the other two with the 2nd half of the class.
Checking out our Plot
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The four mulching types were straw, leaves, burlap and seeds for cover crop.
Getting ready to mulch
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3 Types of mulch
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Along the way, on that sunny, crisp day, we found some fabulous fully-grown carrots, which we harvested. (Thanks to the Koon family for planting them in the late summer!!)
Carrots about to be harvested from our plot.
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Harvested carrots
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exploring
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I had several helpers at the end of the day, to wash, cut and serve the carrots to the children in the classroom who were thrilled at their harvest.
There’s SO much to do and to work out about this Environmental Education/Garden Program at ORCA, but this was an experience that combined the magic of Rita’s storytelling, the important ecological knowledge and responsibility about protecting our soil, and the amazing activity of being outside together in the garden, putting it to bed for the winter and harvesting carrots to eat that very day! Wow. Makes all the struggle behind the scenes worthwhile.
Thank you Rita, Thank you Melanie’s class!
Thanks to all of us who’ve made our plots at the P Patch a special learning place for children.
If you're interested in helping with your classroom, or the development of this program, or the upcoming Environmental Education night 2/13, please contact me Sarah Hufbauer at 300-8152 or sarah.hufbauer@gmail.com or TA McCann 299-9991 or tam@helpshare.com.