Welcome to September’s blog post

In the last few weeks we have been very busy in garden club. Have a look below to see a snapshot of what we have been doing.

Last week the bilingual unit at our kura had an Eco Warrior fundraiser on garden club day, so we carried the theme through. Whaea Clare showed the kids how to make a tea bag garden from used tea bags, paper towel and an old meat tray from home. The children took these home to grow and with great excitement reported that their seeds were growing after a week. Here are the instructions if you want to try at home:

And here’s a picture of Whaea Clare’s tea bag garden – can you see the tiny seeds sprouting?

This week we were back in our groups, doing some amazing work around the kura. Here’s a brief description from each group.

Group 1 – Neta’s Group

Two weeks ago we were digging up a patch ready for planting when we found some kumara. As it was our turn for cooking we cooked kumara chips with oil and salt. It was so yummy and everyone wanted to try some. While the kumara was cooking we started to sprout some for our summer garden.

Group 2 – Delwyn’s Group

Our job at the kura for the next three weeks will be to plant out the area around the stage with native shrubs. There is weed mat underneath the soil, so we learned that we needed to cut a hole in the weed mat first, then dig the hole for the shrub. As we were planting we noticed lots of rubbish in the garden. Our group wants to speak at hui about being more responsible for our rubbish.

Group 3 – Olivia’s Group

We were on seedling duty today. PiPS is holding a seedling sale on 19th October so we are sowing up a storm to sell to the community. We also sowed some for our school garden as we learnt that buying seed is WAY cheaper than buying seedlings.

Group 4 – Art Group

Our garden club beds are in need of colour, so in our art group we made signs to put in the beds. Our club is going to look amazing with these new signs in them.

Group. 5 – Dianne’s Group

We were in charge of the garden club area today, and there was so much weeding to be done. We’re lucky that our chickens love it when we weed, as they get a fantastic feed. Our worms and compost bins loved it too. The most exciting part was when we harvested beetroot and potatoes – we’re going to make a beetroot dip when it’s our cooking day.

Group 6

Whaea Clare didn’t manage to get a photo of us working VERY hard today, but we did get the chance to tell her our exciting news. We planted beans in the wicker beds today so that they can form a tunnel. In summer the tamariki can come down and get shelter from the sun, and eat some fresh beans as well. We also did some mulching of pathways.

Thank you from Arataki.