First Days in the Garden

 Hi everyone! We are so excited to be taking over the orchard blog for the next couple of weeks as we delve into our community field experience. We’re an excitable and eager group of elementary and middle years students, and can’t wait to jump into the garden more. Today, Gen and Rachel are taking over to tell you a bit about ourselves and our first days.

I’m Gen on the right, and I just got out of my practicum with a grade 7 class. They were so much fun, but also always had so much energy–I’m keen to learn more hands-on activities that can engage their bodies and minds, and I think gardening is perfect for that! I grew up in rural Oregon amongst the bushes and trees and thus have always had a passion for the outdoors. I remember laying in the garden watching my dad toil away as a child, and as a result having ample produce–from carrots and corn to peas and peppers–to feed the family. I want to bring that same experience to my future family and friends!

I'm Rachel, on the left. I am a visual artist and have recently completed my practicum with a lovely and lively grade 6/7 class in the fine arts stream of their school. I am interested in exploring more ways to incorporate outdoor educational experiences into my teaching.

Yesterday we journeyed into the garden for the first time! It was wonderful exploring and discovering the plants, seedlings, and wildlife in both the vegetable garden and food forest. While doing introductions and touring the garden we saw many little creatures exploring around, such as a mouse, caterpillars, butterflies, slugs, and snails. While not all of these are helpful to the garden–some need relocating to help protect the plants–it still felt like they were there to welcome us into the space. After some hard work clearing a patch of weeds, we were able to help plant a plot of strawberries! Admiring it today, we felt accomplished knowing that we’ve helped contribute to the food forest potentially for years to come!

This morning we started off chatting about worm composting with our expert teacher Melissa! She told us all about her experience doing it in schools, mainly with kindergarteners and grade ones. As intermediate teachers, we’re curious about the ways this can be done and explored with older groups as there are so many connections to be made–it’s a really valuable cross-curricular learning experience! We then harvested some Himalayan blackberry bark for weaving–this was so fun and therapeutic to do, we could have sat there peeling bark for hours!

The afternoon was again spent weeding and also pruning some of the fruit trees, tomatoes, and grape plants. Some standout moments from this time were opportunities to snack on plants such as fennel and arugula–a huge benefit to gardening in general–and finding a dead husk of either a mouse or mole (we’re still not sure!) and accidentally disturbing an ants nest. With kids each of these moments could be great learning opportunities, just as they were for us as adults!

We can’t wait to see what else we learn as we continue this adventure in the orchard garden!