Class 2 are having a wonderful time in their gardening lessons this term, making the most of the lovely summery weather.  With Gardening Teacher Sandra Frain and parent volunteers, the children have been hard at work planting, potting, pruning, fertilising, watering, digging, raking, harvesting, tasting, smelling and discovering.

A highlight for Class 2 was harvesting the excellent crop of carrots that Class 3 planted while they were still at Castlecrag last year, a living gift from one class to the next. In small groups, the children took turns pulling a carrot – there was the double one, the tall one, the curly one, and the one that just wouldn’t come out. So just like the tale about the giant turnip, the children and adults held onto the carrot and each other – and they pulled and they pulled until out came that last one! We all tasted the fresh leaves, and at pick-up time Class Teacher Jamie Loftus cut up a carrot to share as a perfect healthy snack, less than an hour out of the soil.

To reach out and to care for trees is an empowering capacity that we can develop with the children in our lives.

In this workshop you will learn how to make a nourishing covering for the favourite trees in your life. We will discuss different ways to ‘sculpt’ fruit trees for maximum access to the fruit. 

CARING FOR TREES is a useful gardening practice and a healing opportunity for the trees and the humans of all ages who do the caring. 

Making the healing paste and applying it is great fun 

Wise regenerative agriculturalists know that putting a paste/paint on the trees trunks and branches helps to nourish the trees and to support the tree from invasions of insects, moulds and disease.

PLEASE NOTE: WE KEEP OUR CHARGES MINIMAL FOR HOMESCHOOLERS AND OTHER PARENTS ATTENDING THE WORKSHOP INDEPENDENTLY. WE ALSO INVITE SCHOOLS TO JOIN THIS PROGRAM AND FOR A SMALL FEE THEY CAN OFFER THIS WORKSHOP FREE TO THEIR PARENTS.

https://events.humanitix.com/tree-care-the-healing-way

Gardening classes with Sandra have been filled with the abundance and excitement of growth, as the rain brings vitality and life to our many garden areas. Class 2 planted beans around the lemon tree that has 45 lemons on board and examined and nibbled the the sunflower seeds from our many golden plants. Class 1 examined the hugel, our living garden pile that is now growing pumpkins, rockmelons, paw and avocado trees, amaranth, sweet potatoes and more. Sandra taught Class 1 all about Funghi and the importance of the mushroom family, exploring the grounds for the natural beauties that pop up during rainy weather.