Midwinter Harvest

Obtaining a yield is what schools do. Sometimes from the most unpromising soil, often in the forgotten months which might seem dormant and unproductive, the preparation of quiet work, with appropriate spaces and timely trust the school garden delivers strong gifts.

Set Our Flowers Free !

Students have been planting and potting on Halinda Green since last term, working on a special project.

They have fed and watered the biggest crop of flowers yet this year !

The Pansies are our Mothers Day Gift Product ! Grown by students just in time for Mum's special day, and quite reasonably priced too !

Getting the Green Watered

Even in mid-autumn after the wettest summer in memory HalindaGreen needs a drink. Our Garden team are at the ready.

Ready for Garden Action !

Western Sydney Garden Outlook is not to bad at Dusk

Pianos Last Garden Tune

Today we put the old pianola from the library out to graze. It's reached it's end of life and we have decided not to pay for it to be removed from school grounds. It made the journey with us along the years and it will now become something else entirely. We have put it in the garden to become a sculpture. Ephemeral, fizzing and detuned by the elements it will eventually be salvaged for parts for smaller garden ornaments and novelties to nestle in amongst the plantings and pathway corners of the Green. Graeme, our horticulturalist gave her her last loving caresses before the coming storms and the cycle of life plays on.

Integrating Work into the Grid

So a new year starts and we are group-working the green. The once rebel garden now houses (or hothouses) many different strands in an official capacity. There is a lot going on out there (or out here, when I'm updating via device).

The project that started last year, ramping up production will continue apace this year. The students are seeding the hothouse for the harvest they will turn into products for the school community to buy as the year progresses. A forty-four week program has been written for three separate class programs that combine garden, cafe and technology to feed learning. Our students experiences are extended through real world tasks that have authentic outcomes. Their motor skills develop, their knowledge of the processes around food and its production increases, and routines of engagement in skills building develops a task at a time.

A nursery will be a boon to the autistic kids who thrive on the tasks that show results across planting grids. Our curriculum should sprout and renew each planting cycle. Natural iteration by iteration. Stay tuned for fine-tuning.