The Students Assess the Raised Beds

 On our last day before winter break 3 fourth graders and 2 fifth graders joined me in the garden. The fifth graders skipped making gingerbread houses with their class to be out there, now THAT is dedication! I gave each student a clipboard with a map of our garden and a pen. I sent them out to get their bearings and determine North from South. Once they figured out orientation I asked them to make notes on their maps about the state of each bed. Many of the boards were rotten or broken and would need to be replaced. I also had the students make notes about anything else they observed that needed some attention before we would be able to use the beds in the spring. One student observed that there were two beds that had boards in good shape but the grass and weeds had overgrown them to the point that they were barely visible. We determined that even before putting down cardboard and wood chips around the beds we would need to dig out the mounds of grass, weeds and dirt that were obscuring these two beds. After finishing our maps we took some time to look inside the beds and found that there were lots of vegetables still growing from the past summer. There were small bok choy volunteers in a few beds and lots of kale still going strong. We also found that there were some plants that had gone to seed and decided that we needed to save those seeds and see if we could propagate them when we start our seedlings in the greenhouse in a couple months. 

Many boards were rotten and needed to be replaced

The second group to join me on this last day before break were 3 second graders having their first experience in the garden. The bird feeders we made a few weeks ago had been eaten clean of seeds and peanut butter. I had planned on refilling the feeders with these students, however one student had a peanut allergy. Those type of feeders can also be made with corn syrup, however, I had not come prepared for that. Instead, I had two suet feeders that we put together and hung in the garden. Suet feeders are loved by many birds and as soon as we put them up a few visitors made use of them right away, which was very exciting for the students. Next, we talked about how some birds like to eat off the ground instead of in the trees, so we found a nice, flat area hidden in the bushes behind the garden. We spread black oiled sunflower seeds and cracked corn in this area for those ground-feeders. Just before our time was up we also did a walk through to observe what vegetables were still going strong in this cold weather.