Friday, October 7, 2016

Growing Up Organic and Putting the Beds to Rest for the Winter

Yesterday I had the privilege of joining some of the grade three students in a soil workshop facilitated by Jenn at Growing Up Organic.  The kids learned about how much of the earth is made up of soil for us to use to grow things with (just 3%!) and how important things such as bugs contribute to making good soil for our crops to grow.

We will do an experiment with one of the beds over the winter to see how composting can help improve the soil quality (and therefore how much we can grow next summer).

The kids also got to enjoy eating the last crop of beans.  They were literally competing to get more and noticed how sweet and yummy a fresh picked bean tastes compared to a store bought bean! 

There are a few final things that need to be done to our gardens for get them ready for winter - but all in all this has been a great first gardening season at St. Cecilia.  




Sunday, August 28, 2016

                                Last week of summer vacation!  

Our school gardens are looking great and are ready for the return of students and teachers.  Last week, we were also excited to see new sod being installed - all of the sudden the school yard is green again and there will be so much more space for everyone to run and play now that so many portables have been removed.

Here are some pictures showing you the progress of the gardens:

Pumpkins are growing well! 


Happy Harvest Pickers!  Thank you :)
The first major crop of tomatoes - unfortunately many more were overripe and had to be composted but these little guys are going to be pureed and made into a spaghetti sauce for some of the students to enjoy!

Pureeing the first batch of tomatoes.  They will be frozen in batches until we have enough to make a yummy spaghetti sauce.

 

 



The kale and lettuce just keeps on going!

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Beginning of week 5 of summer vacation - our school garden is growing well!

It's the already the beginning of week 5 of summer vacation and our school garden is moving along well.  We've had some troubles with the water source not working correctly. This, along with the fact that we have been having fantastic sunny weather this summer, has meant that the crops are not getting the much needed water they need to thrive even more. The tomatoes are most affected so far. 

So today, we headed over to the fire station and asked the amazing fire fighters if they wouldn't mind bringing one of their trucks over to water our gardens.  And guess what!  They said yes!  So now, a full truck load of water has sprinkled our gardens and the plants will be happier until hopefully the water source can be fixed.  Thank you so much to the crew at Barrhaven Fire Station #47!  We are so grateful!  

The kale and lettuce have grown another crop so those were harvested today along with about 20 cucumbers.  We will again drop these off for donation to Parkdale Food Centre.   There are a ton more baby cucumbers coming; along with lots of pumpkins, potatoes and onions that will await the return of everyone to school.  

Thanks again for all the volunteers that are continuing to make this project such a success.  

More food to be donated to Parkdale Food Centre - Kale, Lettuce and Cucumbers this time!



Baby pumpkins are starting to grow

Tomatoes

Tons of Cucumbers!

Onions

Potatoes

Tuesday, July 19, 2016


Begining of week 3 of summer vacation - St Cecilia's school garden is looking great thanks to our amazing volunteers - even the grass is cut and a new crop (beans) have been planted into one empty garden in hopes that they will be ready for the beginning of school!  



Thursday, July 14, 2016

Today, we had the privilege of donating some of the harvest from our school garden to a local food bank, called the Parkdale Food Centre.  This is a unique and amazing food bank in that it is the ONLY food bank in the city that is accepting fresh produce.  It offers unique services to its clients by offering the opportunity to pick up fresh produce, meat and dairy.  They offer free cooking classes; freezer space to store prepared meals (that are often made right on site with Parkdale Food Centre staff) and a cozy eating area for clients to enjoy food with friends.  It was so fabulous to see the harvest from our school gardens go to a meaningful place that will be enjoyed by so many.  They are looking forward to enjoying tomatoes when they are ready from our gardens and have invited us to participate in making tomato sandwiches for the clients.  It is a truly unique centre!

Dropping off huge bags of lettuce, kale and spinach
Look at all the fresh produce that clients can choose from!
Pantry staples


Guided with the belief that all individuals have the right to healthy, fresh food, the Parkdale Centre atmosphere and enthusiasm for healthy food is inspiring and contagious!  

Our kale, lettuce and spinach garden is now all harvested with the hopes that they will grow again this summer.  Let's wait and see!




Monday, July 11, 2016


Week 2 of summer vacation and our school garden is growing so well!  We have lots of kale, lettuce and spinach that is ready to harvest.  We have potatoes, onions, cucumbers and pumpkins.  And we have tomatoes - tons of tomatoes that are flowering and growing.  If all the flowers turn into fruit we will be looking for great ways to use them up!  


Kale is growing in abundance!  
Lettuce!
 K

There promises to be pumpkins come the fall

Potatoes!  

Monday, June 27, 2016

June 27

These radishes are our first pick of the crop in our community garden!! Super exciting!! 



Friday, June 10, 2016

June 2

Mr. Daher and Mr. Armstrong’s Grade 4 classes planting potatoes in the school garden! We can’t wait to harvest our crops and share the food! Students had fun digging, measuring, and collaborating while following procedural instructions on how to properly plant and take care of red potatoes!


G4's planting.jpg




Friday, June 3, 2016

Friday June 3rd, 2016

Tomotosphere - Grade 3 Inquiry


IMG_3881.JPGToday all 5 Grade Three classes got together to plant our Tomatosphere plants in the St. Cecilia garden.  The students were so excited to prep the gardens, plant and water.

We decided to plant the larger, stronger plants first and wait until our tiny seedlings become a bit stronger.  The Grade Three Students are looking forward to continue their observations over the next few weeks and see how our plants grow and change now that they have more room to grow!


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May 31

Mme Nathalie JKSK5 and Mrs. Smith’s Grade 1 Class


We have a great gardening block this week. We decided to plant cucumbers and snow peas in our garden bed. All the students helped by getting our soil ready. It was super dry. All students watered a section. Then they had a chance to plant a seed in the garden. The students also noticed that there were weeds growing around so we spend some time taking the weeds out of our bed and around the beds as well. Here are some pictures of the day: