In the first half of 2009 Tafe Outreach ran two free courses giving an introduction to Permaculture. Each course ran for 6 weeks, and in total 17 parents / staff from our school attended. At the completion of the 6 week courses small groups had created several different designs for a Permaculture garden for an area 25m x 25m at the school.
In July 2009, a team of parents and staff formed a sub-committee of the P&C to plan, design and construct a garden based on Permaculture principles for the school.
The first step was to merge the different plans created from the two courses. The design was decided on and drawn up.
We were unable to begin construction of the design as the site for the garden was adjacent to the site for proposed new classrooms about to built . However, a small vegie garden was prepared and planted out by Mrs Sharp’s year 2 class. The excitement and enthusiasm generated from the students caring for this small garden was contagious.
To launch the design for the Eco Food Garden a Green Mufti Day was organised for October, 2009. We decided to draw out a gecko from the design and make him the mascot for the Eco Food Garden. We had a colouring and naming competition for the mascot, now known as Mr. Green. We made a gecko shape out of the gold coin donations for mufti and had the advocate publish a photo of the money gecko. A workshop was run by Hornsby Council on composting, and following their kind donation of a bin and turner a system for composting fruit and vegie scraps from the crunch and sip program. We also received donations from Bunnings Thornleigh and parents of a further two compost bins.
Also on the Green Mufti day the students were shown a powerpoint presentation of the different aspects to the design for the Eco Food Garden. This was followed by a walking tour around the proposed site where the plans had been spray painted onto the grass to give a more realistic demonstration on what was planned to come. The drawn designs were then placed on display for over a month in the front office of the school for public comment.
To maintain the interest in the garden we entered the school into the Yates pumpkin growing competition. A small bed was prepared and the plants were cared for by Mrs Sharp’s year 2 class. We did not win the competition, in fact we had one of the pumpkins stolen. This was in the subject for a computer competition where the case of the disappearing pumpkin was video and presented in news story form.
In March 2010, the pumpkins that were germinated and planted in the first vegie garden were harvested. This provided an opportunity for the students to taste their own pumpkins. First pumpkin scones were offered to the year 2 classes to enjoy. Then pumpkin soup was made with all students offered a taste. The seeds were saved from these pumpkins to be used again in the Eco Food Garden, completing the full life cycle of a pumpkin.
The Eco Food Garden team decided to apply for a Coles Junior Landcare grant. And early in December 2009 we received $995 towards three raised organic vegetable gardens. The graduating Year 6 class from 2009 donated funds towards another raised garden bed for the Eco Food Garden. The implementation of these garden beds were realised in April 2010. As of May 2010, year 1 classes are sharing the bed donated by their graduated buddies in the internal courtyard adjacent to both of their classrooms. The year 3 classes share a raised garden bed, as do the year 4 classes. Mrs Storie, the science teacher has her own garden bed. Year 2 classes continue to care for the first garden bed in the ground, as well as the rejuvenated old pumpkin competition patch. So that is a great proportion of students who are involved in caring for a vegetable garden.
The day the corrugated raised garden beds were installed we had 10 parents helping, and 2 volunteers from Permaculture Sydney North attend. The beds were constructed as no-dig beds with wet newspaper placed over the grass, and subsequent layers of soil / compost, organic fertiliser, lucerne hay, sugar cane mulch. Pockets were made and filled with soil / compost and then planted out with an array of vegetables and herbs.
The manager from the local Coles supermarket was invited to visit and placed a plaque donated by Coles and Landcare Australia. This was photographed and published by the advocate.
In July 2010, a potato patch was created for the kindy class using no-dig method and utilising the compost made by the school’s compost bins.
After entering a competition from Coles, we were successful in wining a child-sized outdoor bench made from recycled reusable shopping bags collected throughout their stores.
The computer teacher, Mrs Hall entered the year 4’s in a web design competition in which the children created a fantastic website dedicated to the school Eco Food Garden.
After the completion of the new classroom later this year we are excited about the implementation of the Eco Food Garden Design. Following the success of a grant Mrs Mamo received there is money ready for us to plant fruit trees once we regain access to the Eco Food Garden Site. We will irrigate the Eco Food Garden from the large watertank positioned at the rear of the hall. The raised garden beds will be moved down into the site along with the 4 compost bins. There are still many aspects of the design to construct and these will be done in time, as funds raised permits.
The motto of our team is
“Kids Growing for a Better Future”and we can’t wait to assist them on that journey.
The HHPS eco food garden design:
