Greening Up

Bearing Fruit

HalindaGreen has been showing early signs of proving a fertile and growing space in our community. It is a tough and hot place with our work before us but the ambience of a relaxed and bountiful zone is evident.

Saved the fate of being an empty waste space, the Green is a rich place of experience and learning.

Send her down Hughey !

Halinda Fete was a wet one for Saturday the 15th November, but the garden got a nice drop !

New Plants from the Botanical Garden were gratefully planted in the late heat of Friday afternoon and then after a light watering-in received a beautiful Spring storm shower that evening.

So, every cloud has a silver lining as they say.

Thanks Peter and John

Peter and John have been hard at work on our green house, mending fences to protect crops and students, picking up soil, bus loads of tyres, bits of wire to fend off hungry hares and currawongs, and even spotting spare bathtubs for Mr Ds waterzone. Miss Ravesi had no idea how to raise corn so John brought in seed raising mix and grew her some, "he's such a good mentor for the garden" she said. They received a big thank you from staff for all their efforts around the school.

Thankyou to the Royal Botanical Gardens

Over the last few weeks we have been getting visits from Kathy courtesy of the Royal Botanical Gardens youth program. She has taken an interest in what has been started here. The Royal Botanic Gardens has helped other schools in western Sydney establish and maintain garden programs for students. We are thankful for their contribution. We have gained links to horticulturalists and nurseries with that help. Today Kathy arrived with vegetable punnets and seeds ! They went straight in the soil. So big thanks Kathy, the Royal Botanical Gardens and to Oasis nurseries and Yates who supplied the treats. Much appreciated.

Hares Alert !

Hares were spotted on the Green over the weekend, again. . .

A rather large hare in a hurry has been seen out here before but this time he had company. Feral visitors are one of the tasks before us in the establishment of the Green and we will face others. These are the dramas that make the project a multifaceted learning venue. Students in the ED/BD unit have been briefed on the Perils of Ferals in the Australian environment this week.

The peas we planted last week are gone !

We shall overcome of course. Even if Mr D has to dust off his traps again.

Mount Druitt Primary School Digs in... and likes it !

This week our primary mentor team from Mount Druitt Primary School, (who have been visiting, helping and working with Halinda Students this year), formed a work party and started raised garden beds on Halinda Green.

Halinda Green is designed to be a community garden where school groups in our neighbourhood can plant and tend. Mount Druitt students jumped in and planted their plots with enthusiasm. Community links have made the joy of gardening a rich learning experience for a wide range of people out on the Green.

Well done and thanks to Mount Druitt Primary students for your green thumbs !

Watering in hot spring...by watering can.

Students of all grades can be seen eagerly watering their plots by hand this Spring at Halinda Green. We like water play ! Of course tanks will come, but for now students work hard going to the tap filling buckets and watering cans and tending to the needs of burgeoning vegetables.

From little things big things grow

So spring has well and truely sprung. The students have been laying down garden beds and watering the land for a few months now. Our GA and Site manager have been digging in too! Literally paving the way for subsequent projects.Teachers and aides have laid out horseshoe gardens and planted them. Community members have spent holiday time setting about finding extra soil to supplement the poor clay subsoil. Ute loads of donated soil has come from helpful community nursery growers. Our worms have been busy making juice for the roots of newly planted vegies and a mulberry tree has made a quick appearance after migrating from a local backyard. Rabbit straw from blue mountains hutches has been parceled up and found good use in the garden, our links to other growing zones are far reaching. Organic and heirloom seeds have been sourced for the basis of our growing regime, and parents of students have sent in multicutural pods as well. Each day several classes visit and tend. Junior classes have been picnicing and secondary classes have filled raised beds. Wheelchair students have planted their first crops of seedlings. We watch them grow.

The community plants together.

After the ceremony of the morning, parents and students, staff and community were asked to join in, dig in, turn the earth and plant trees. It was a great sight to see so many planting for the future and beginning the growth of the Green. Special thanks to those fathers, mothers and grandparents who came today bringing plants for windbreaks, citrus for the orchard and elbow grease for the hard yakka!

Big Red

Dennis Clarke our longtime A.P., kids champion and big burly good bloke returned to Halinda from long service leave momentarily to plant an Australian Red Ceder tree. A gigantic, legendary, rare tree to mark the beginning of our garden and the presence of a big hearted man. With a personal and working history intricately bound to the school in its old location and in its new one, Dennis plants for the future. He planted with soil from the old school site to mark a continuation of tradition.

A place of peace.

I would like to thank all those who have helped make the vision of Halinda Green begin as a reality. As I said in thanking Uncle Wes today 'this will be a place for gardening, learning, meeting and forging community links, and it is a place of peace'. I believe gardens can do this.

Mathew Dollisson

Cultural Custodians on the Green

Uncle Wes, an Elder of the Darug, came today and performed the Darug smoking ceremony to begin to cleanse, welcome and heal the land and the community of Halinda Green. He burnt the freshly chosen fronds of a precious local plant to make smoke. The whole school walked through it, circling through the meeting place. Students, parents, staff and community members took part and enjoyed the experience. Good will was felt. It highlights links to this area. The land will continue to sustain people as it has done over the vast history of the Darug and will once again host plants known now as Cumberlain plain species. Plants which Uncle Wes told us have cultural histories that carry on. They are part of our story too now and we are part of theirs. We must be mindful of the importance of the nature around us and the cultures that live by it.

Busy Hands Digging

After a frosty morning setting up the meeting circle, classes came out to dig some holes for the days' planting. Students shone as enthusiastic workers on the Green! The garden brings out the best of practical abilities in the kids. The soil is hard to dig, very hard. But it was ripper to see students getting stuck into the task, which didn't seem like a task, but fun.

Hay for the winds

30 bales of hay arrived today. That's 30 bales of protection for the garden + trees. The Green is a very wind prone site and to establish our first wind break the plants will need the help of a wind break of their own. The bales are an extra bit of protection from wind evaporation too. But first they will be used for our official tree day, marking a ceremonial meeting place at the heart of the garden.

Blacktown City Council Trees

Plants arrived today from the Blacktown City Council Tree Program. Thanks to a forward thinking Council for this initiative to provide trees for schools, and thanks to all staff of Halinda who signed over & donated their residential allocation of plants to kickstart the schools native garden !

Thanks from the Halinda Green Project !

Gates have Opened

We have had a gate installed today. This solves access issues and sets us up for a fine round of preparations for the garden stage of green projects. Thanks to John and Peter who worked very hard for long hours to clear a path through years of encrusted soil and weed growth. Hard slog that will allow easier passage of bikes to the track and wheelchairs to the future sensory garden.

The pace is picking up and things are developing each day.

Thumbs Up from Track Inspection Crew

Students wasted no time getting out onto the track today. First day back students stretched their limbs in the sun and got rolling around the new bike track. Smiles all around and big thumbs up !

Things are happening on the track! The Rotary organised roadbase was poured today. Men at work dropping a track down, then rolling got underway. It's great to see the plan coming together.

Moving the Earth

Up bright and breezy this morning and Mick from Rotary was at the ready with a backhoe to shift the earth for us. It was great to see the first soil turned on the track. The soil here looks good too. It will provide landscaping for safety zones and a good base for our garden.

On your marks

Our garden will be fringed with a school bike track. Today we marked out the circuit on the ground. The track will provide the school with a fantastic area for our students to practice bike safety and road sense. It will also provide wheelchair access for our special needs and high support students.

Topsoil is more precious than oil

There are other projects going on around the school at the moment, such as the installation of a wheelchair swing ! The excavations for which mean some topsoil is for the taking !

Topsoil is the stuff we all rely on for nutrients.

Erosion, development and land degradation due to poor land use all make soil vital to hold onto and nurture. So when there was some about we jump at the chance.

Fertile Beginnings

July holidays have given us a good chance to go for a trip to the horse stables of Hawkesbury to load up with well composted manure. It was cool and foggy when we got there, it rained on us too ! But the horses were out on the track already and they had left us plenty of nuggets of wisdom to shovel. Thanks to Ms Singleton's son for the supplies. Thanks to Mr Clarke for use of his 4WD and trailer and his time. This big haul of fertility will kickstart our garden plot terrifically !

Tanks to Green Vouchers !

Over the last week we have been continuing to prepare the design base for our Halinda Green. Part of that planning is starting with the basics, water.

The Green Voucher Scheme for Schools is a fund for practical initiatives to help provide for more sustainable learning environments. This week Halinda Green has confirmed its eligibility for Tanks in the future. National Solars directs monies through the NSW DET to schools.

This happy news means we can take the next planning and design step to water harvest, which is the basis of future harvests!

Rotary Measuring up to the Task !

Thanks to the team at Rotary who have come out to measure up the space and help us move on the next step. We are moved by people willing to put up their hand for our project.

Garden Gets the Go !

Big Thanks to the Asset Management Directorate who have taken a look at the proposals on this website and responded positively to our plans.

We thank them for their support and appreciate the use of valuable space for our community garden and outdoor classroom. We appreciate that this is no small gesture. All here at the newly sanctioned Halinda Green site are determined to utilise this project to make a productive garden that extends the scope of our programs and enhances the use of this asset in multiple ways.

Thanks from all of us here at Halinda Green.

A one day garden bed for special needs kids !

A place to grow.

We have an area next to our school that is flat and safe.
"I can't wait to have a vegie patch !" Says Kate. "A garden will work here well."
" I reckon !" Says Dylan, "And we could work here too."
"All our friends could share." Said Kristine.
"Yeah!" Said Vaenga.
Savanah smiled in the sunshine.
"Can Savanah have a garden too ?" Said Danura.
They pushed their friends on the grass.
"Are we going to have a garden?" Said Danura.

A walk in our imaginary garden

Today we took our wheelie friends for a walk in our imaginary garden. There is not one there really now. But soon we could have one there. With high garden beds for our friends in wheelchairs. So for now we just pretend.

On the Path

Today some students from Halinda SSP got to try the newly mown path on the proposed area of Halinda Green. It was a new experience for the walkers and riders!

Special School students enjoyed the freedom of a dedicated area where they could ride without crowding footpath users around school. A wide open space for bikes with lots of turns, path choices and some skill building variations was lots of fun.

Mowing in a bike path.

Today we walked a path for a trial bike track. Then our site manager Peter and our G.A. John mowed it in. The bike track will be the edging of our community garden, so it is an important first step for future plans.

The bike track can now be tested by senior students for usability.

Outdoor Classroom Project

Our school is discussing the benefits of a Community garden and getting started on seed raising. At our staff development day we set about discussing all that we wanted from it. We also made a start by beginning box terrainiums (soil and water in a container). Each class will plant the seeds of our garden beginning here. 16 classroom plant propagating terrainiums are underway !




Parents and Community members will be welcome to donate cuttings, seeds and plants for our plot.

A mind map of ideas

Here is an overview of our garden proposal in the form of a mindmap.
(click on the pic for a closer look)

There are many ideas here and they will take time to establish and will to sustain. Each one of the ideas represented in the diagram could easily have pages written about it. And many of those pages could have mindmaps of their own. An example of this is the blue box on the right which says 'sustainable plan'. Under this heading the word 'Permacultural Goals' could easily be added.

As a garden should be, it will become a rich complex living system over time.

Proposed position of Halindagreen

Unused space should be community garden don't you think ?

The Seed of an Idea : A School Community Garden

Today was a chance for members of the local school community to come to Halinda and talk about their values.

We are lucky to have such a warm and interested community of parents and caregivers willing to contribute to our school.

We enjoy our school being a support hub and community meeting place.

Halinda Green, the proposed community garden site and it's web space made it's debut as an idea today at the forum.

I am gladdened by the response to our proposal that we all have something to share when it comes to a garden. Parents, Carers and Rotarians have all had good suggestions & good things to say to me today about the potential of the project.

Be it a seed, a cutting, a hint or half an hour to water or weed, contributions will be welcome. And, of course, visits and stories!

There is a lot of work before us, planning and organising, funding and preparing. But today we made a start.

Thankyou to all who attended. Let's make it grow !

Mathew.D.

A Gardening Precinct ?

HALINDA GREEN

HALINDAGREEN is a Community Garden project of Halinda SSP and the wider local, multicultural, indigenous, learning community embracing our school. It links us in many ways in many directions.

Here, we hope to build a sustainable gardening community for students and parents and community members.

Here, we have a place for students to learn, work and watch a garden grow.

We hope to offer a place where people can get their hands dirty and have a real effect on the learning environment of their local area.