Hands on Learning

As the curtain closes on another crew’s time in Hands on Learning, I look back and ponder how It was an honour and privilege to work alongside this group. I was shown deep respect and received concerted efforts even during projects that were less glamorous. So, here’s a shout out to Billy, Jonty, Lucas and Aiden, thank you.

To recap, this group worked on installing the kitchen and associated water recycling system, landscaping, making a toolbox and preparing the indigenous garden for our opening. Of the three, blood sweat and tears, I only saw one. Phew!

I posed a few questions to the crew and here’s what they said.

What did you enjoy most about HoL?

Learning how to use tools and pallets.

The food.

The food and the different skills we got to learn.

What did you dislike about HoL?

I disliked nothing.

We had to talk so much.

Sharing a lot of the go.

What new skill did you learn?

How to build stuff out of scrap.

I did learn how to use a saw.

How to use tools to make a toolbox.

What could I do better?

Work on one thing at a time.

Nothing.

You could do more work than chatting.

What advice do you have for other students about HoL?

Have a good crack

Have fun, they could do nothing better. It was amazing.

Get ready for a big talk.

What was the best meal?

Kransky’.

I enjoyed all the food we cooked, of all my meals, if I had to pick my favourite meal it would be Kransky’.

Kransky’, not doubt.

Photos from Week 1 with our new crew

Dawn shines its soft warm glow on an eager yet unwitting new group in Hands on Learning. I had a fair idea that today’s group were not expecting today’s project.  We began the day with our usual chats, getting to know each other a little more, through sharing how we start a school day. It was great to hear so many students get up early and have respect for their parents who get up even earlier. 

Next, we talked about how the Hands-on Learning day flows, the groups personal goal and the project. Hearing we needed to move a mountain of mulch to the indigenous garden provoked some disappointment, but that subsided as they heard we were using some machinery. The ride on mower has a trailer and my thought was what better skill to learn than how to back one up while getting on with some tuff work. In the end the crew just thought driving the mower was fun. 

So, after an exhaustive safety lesson we set to work. I figured four meters was moved. WOW!

Today at HoL, Amber, Lachlan, Kaylee and I moved mulch into the indigenous garden. We drove the ride on lawn mower. For lunch Lachlan made us potatoes with cheese and bacon. They were so good. My arms were so sore from pushing the wheelbarrow and shovelling the mulch. When we finally got a lunch break, we were so tires and we sat by the fire. It was so fun. Kayden

Today, Kaydan, Amber, Kaylee and I went to HoL and we mover mulch to the indigenous garden, we drove the ride on mower. I made us potatoes with cheese and bacon and then had a talk about what we did today. Lachlan

Today in HoL I was a bit scared to use the ride on, well since I’ve never ever used it in my life. But after a bit of encouragement from Amber I could do it. I was on the mower riding around, we used the mower and attached a trailer to it and we also used wheelbarrows to move mulch down to the garden to cover up the grass and make it look neat. We will spread it out next week. We did so much we were all exhausted. We had so many breaks and we ate. We talked about our day. We talked about how to be safe and then lunch time came. We had potatoes on the fire with bacon and cheese, they were so good plus they were left over potatoes from the potatoes Olympics. That’s basically all we did. We had so so\ so much fun and at the end of the day it was a big pack up. Kaylee

Today was the first day of Hands-on Learning. Out goal was to work as a team. Our job was to move mulch into the indigenous garden to cover up the grass because it’s not native. We moved it with wheelbarrows and the lawnmower. We all got a turn on the lawnmower. We learned new skills like backing the trailer and driving the lawnmower. We had to shove all the mulch into the trailer and wheelbarrows. After all the shovelling we finally got a lunch break. Lachlan made up lunch which was baked potatoes with bacon, cheese, butter and salt. He cooked them in the fire so that they were nice, that would be an understatement, it waws beautiful. Amber