March 2026: Earth Education & Farming
Greetings Garden School Families,
The past week has had a strong focus on preparing our planting beds for Spring. Each grade level is helping with a gardening project somewhere on campus. These purposeful and practical tasks build resilience, a strong sense of community, and a connection to our natural world.
First Grade: Earth Education
First Grade students are preparing to plant our pollinator flower bed next to the farm by turning the soil using small shovels and rakes, and pulling out weeds. We take breaks to hydrate and rest in the shade as often as needed. We will soon plant a native seed mix to attract pollinators and tend to it with weekly watering. While some students work in the garden, others take turns picking long grass to feed eager donkeys and goats while discussing which plants the animals must like the best! First Grade students always enjoy time in the field after our main activity. Some prefer more structured games such as Earth, Sky, and Charades, while others enjoy exploring the wooded perimeter led by their imaginations.
Second and Third Grade: Farming
The Second Grade has taken on our garden preparations eagerly by weeding the beds. They kindly share the weeds pulled out with the donkeys and goats, who are thrilled for the extra snacks. We have planted a few rows of carrots and radish seeds and will continue adding more each week as the weather warms up. The lizards are back to visit us on sunny days and there are lots of worms under layers of cardboard that the Third Graders are making sure to share with our chickens for extra protein. The most exciting news is that our chickens are laying eggs again after a long winter break! You may see eggs sent home with your student. They are unwashed and can be left out at room temperature. I recommend using a 50/50 mixture of warm water and white vinegar to rinse them, then store them in the refrigerator after washing (there is no “right way”, but this is my routine at home with my own). We will send eggs home with each student in rotation as fast as the chickens can lay them!
Fourth and Fifth Grade: Earth Education
The Fourth and Fifth Grade students have transplanted vegetables and flower seedlings out of their cold-start recycled mini greenhouses. Students learned how to interpret the information found on seed packets and follow the recommendations for our planting zone. We are growing broccoli, cauliflower, echinacea, sunflowers, and brussels sprouts for our garden. The sunflowers will be added to the pollinator garden, the echinacea to our dye flower garden, and the rest to our vegetable garden inside the farm. Once the seedlings are big enough to transplant, we will move some of our farm’s compost to enrich the top layer soil for the new growing season.
Middle Grades: Earth Education
While the forest is still mostly bare, Middle School has taken part in trail maintenance, using hand tools like branch pruners and small folding saws, to clear the lesser traveled wooded areas where they enjoy exploring. Sixth and Seventh Graders are working on hand-carving wooden spoons from cherry heartwood. Students first use an axe to cut down to the center heartwood of the log, finding space that is suitable for the spoon’s structure. Then they clamp their piece to the worktable vice and use draw knives to smooth the piece and continue to work the wood down smaller. This takes time, patience, and perseverance. Some students have begun sketching out the shape of their spoon and working on smaller details, like carving closer toward the handle with a chisel. Middle School is also working on replacement shovel handles made of straight pine branches from our campus, clamping each branch to the vice and working it down to size with a draw knife until it fits the metal end of the shovel. Working with soft pine is a nice break from the tough cherry wood. This is slow going, but very fulfilling once complete. The shovels will be returned to the farm once renewed. Students will have the option to make their own walking stick using a similar technique to the shovel handles, with the addition of hand-carved details, if they wish.
Take care,
Ki Heidi
