Food production starts again

As you might know in 2014 Wicor Primary won a national award in a competition run by the World Wildlife Fund for Food Production.  They were very impressed with our intention, at that point in May, to grow, harvest and sell organic fruit and vegetable boxes.  At the end of the summer we had actually sold 70 organic fruit and vegetable boxes to parents.  The positive comments about the amount of fruit and vegetables within the box, and both the range and quality of the produce were quite overwhelming.

So we started again straight away ready for harvesting and selling in 2015.  However, this time all the children have been involved right from the start with sowing the seeds, nurturing the plants and now harvesting.  We have a small team of children from Y3, 5 and 6 who are starting to learn the ropes of running a business and have been involved in taking the orders, harvesting, packing the boxes and informing the clients.

The first boxes went out last week and have proved a big success.  Within the boxes we had Swiss chard, curly kale, rhubarb, salad leaves, chives, mint and some fabulous leeks.  Obviously, as the seasons progress the contents of the boxes will change.

I can say that the allotment, poly tunnels and greenhouses are full to bursting with plants ready for this year.  So please feel free to order a box from the school website home page (see left hand side of page) and enjoy some fresh, organic, nutritious home grown fruit and veg.

Carrots and Parsnips, 3K

Thursday 26th February me , Isabelle , Ellie and Ruby went to the allotment to dig up the carrot bed  and condition it.  First we had to get the tools and gloves. Isabelle and I dug the easy bed the then I went to the hard bit with Ruby and Isabelle dug it on their own. We saw some carrot and parsnips - I had to pick them up and put them in the compost bin. When we finished we headed back to class and waited for our friends we all had fun.

Blossom, Ruby, Blossom and Izzy, 3K

 

Today I dug some ferns out of the ground  and I'm going to put them in the stumpery on Friday the 26th of march 2015. I've got 11 to 12 ferns -  I choose ferns because they are woodland plants. We had saved these from the original stumpery, before it was remade.  I'm hoping to plant poppies, cannas and primulas.

Harvey, 6N

Stumpery update

Shifting a mountain of woodchip

Today I started to make a new path for the stumpery.  This was because we needed a safe entrance for everyone that avoided the car park.  The path would also go round to the chickens.  I had to cut down the overgrown branches from some of the bushes around the stumpery and also shift a lot of wood chip!  Brandon helped me with a lot of it.  The design is quite simple and I have now chosen and costed the plants to go with it. I rang up the tree company and got a truck load of wood chip  to make a path to go round to the entrance  of the chickens' coop.
Post by Harvey 6N

Extending the stumpery and path

National Nest Box Week

Did you know this week was National Nest Box week?  We have lots of nest boxes on our site at school and some of them show evidence that they have been nested in.  I wonder what we will see this year?

Here are some links to show you how to build your own nest box, where to site them and the type of birds who might use them.

Happy nesting!

http://www.bto.org/about-birds/nnbw

Chicken poo box

On Monday the 2nd  of February I went out side to build a chicken poo box we had made one before, but it was too small so we made a larger one. We built it out of left over wood, and hammered nails in to keep the wood together. We`ve put it next to the chicken coop to help to when we clear it out. There were gaps between the wood so we found some bags and put them in between the gaps, then we stapled them together to keep them firm and in place so they don`t fall out. We had to fit a door in the box  -  the door can be lifted off easily.
      
Harvey, 6N

Plans for the stumpery

I`m thinking that I should make a spiral pathway round the back of the wooded area towards the chicken coop.  We need a path because otherwise children have to walk across the car park and it might be dangerous.   I would like my path to be made of wood chip so I need to talk to Hampshire Trees and ask if they can give me some wood chip. The path is going to start at the entrance of the stumpery and will finish at the chicken coop, and will wind through the trees at the back of the car park.

It's going to be a long job but I'm looking forward to it and my friends are going  to help me.   
Harvey, 6N