Citrus Bird Feeders

Citrus season brings taste tests, snacks, lemonade making & fresh oj in the garden. With 450 enthusiastic students, our dozen little citrus trees don't stay full very long, though. Here's a sweet project for the last of the citrus -- the bitter oro blanco grapefruit and super sour Eureka lemons that don't get a lot of taste bud love. 

First graders scooped out the citrus flesh from the halved fruits, then used the peel shells to make bird feeders for our garden. Some kids even munched on the scooped fruit! 

Using plastic needles, the students helped each other thread twine through the citrus shells to make hangers for their feeders. Then they helped each other hang the feeders from the branches of our apple and plum trees. This was a fun, sweet activity... and I loved seeing the teamwork and communication that emerged as students made sure everyone succeeded! 

Real Work

Fourth graders work on top of the mulch pile

Managing the care of a one-acre school garden can be daunting. I love this work, and that makes it easier, but I certainly can't do it alone. Volunteer work days in our garden help keep things in order from season to season, and help tackle projects too big for one person... and bring together awesome people from our community -- and I'm so thankful for that support. However, I've struggled with how to incorporate the students in the general care and upkeep of our garden -- their garden. It's hard incorporating 25 enthusiastic children in a work project in the garden without any other adult support (even with additional support it can be a challenge!). Students do help plant seeds, water plants, harvest... but what about bigger jobs like mulching, weeding, turning compost, building structures. How do I get them ALL involved?

Well, this school year I decided to make it happen. And it has been chaotic. And joyful. And overall, a phenomenal success. Students LOVE working. They truly enjoy doing hands on, meaningful tasks, and seeing a project's impact in the garden. I frequently explain to visitors and other teachers that it might not look pretty -- it really is chaos... but I'm embracing it, and it's been good.  I see my students working together and problem solving, working hard --using their hands, their muscles, their minds.  And yes, I see them arguing and struggling, getting dirty and sometimes making poor choices -- it's part of the process.

Take a look at some of the things fourth graders have been up to:

Building bean poles -- to support the Scarlet Runner bean seedlings they have sprouted in the greenhouse. 

Sifting compost. Next step: spread the compost around our new pumpkin patch area. 

All the recent rain = SO many weeds! Students worked on weeding the apple orchard.

morning light & steam on the mulch pile

Students make sure everyone has a job

Teamwork to push heavy wheelbarrows filled with mulch

Spreading mulch