Farm Garden News

KAZ PHILLIPS

Well, here we are near the end of the year and the anticipated rains have eluded us yet again.Very disappointing! I think we’ve all been glad to only have early morning classes this term in order to be finished up before the heat gets too intense. The early arrival of hot weather challenged us somewhat and definitely shortened the harvest season of many plants such coriander, parsley, spinach, silverbeet and lettuce as they all bolted (went to seed) very early.

 

Flowers

We’ve had a year with quite a few more flowers…. and more to come. Children regularly identify the beneficial insects that they attract and draw gorgeous flower pictures in the garden journ al. Next year we’ll set up a flower press as well. The addition of our ‘Observe and Create’ groups has added some extra delight. For example, Class 3 decided to build a teepee out of bamboo and had a play with leaf weaving. We’re currently watching the beans now starting to grow up the structure.

 

Soil Health

We’ve made loads of compost, fed the worms and lovingly added all the bounty they offer with all that we’ve sown. We’ve stirred and applied biodynamic preparations and developed a crop rotation system. The children can now quite independently identify seedlings ready to plant, identify whether they’re heavy feeders, light feeders or soil feeders and check which beds they need to be planted in. Most children are aware of how to aerate and prepare the soil for sowing and are increasingly developing an understanding of what weeds need to be pulled. This can be a tad challenging when you have mixed plantings and loads of self seeding plants.

 

Produce Stall

Congratulations to Class 6 for maintaining the produce stall throughout the year and taking such good care of the chickens. Their class was small and this was no mean feat. Today we celebrated their hard work with a bit of a reflection while munching on delicious berry icy poles.

 

Chickens

We’ve decided to take the chickens next door to hang out with Rodney’s flock over summer and while we rebuild the coop and run early next year. We’ll replace them when we have a new space finished. Thanks to Hannah for writing the submission and to Alice Springs Town Council for funding to do the rebuild and to run some workshops for the general community about the best way to care for chickens in our arid climate.

A special thank you to Class 5 who’ve worked particularly hard to support all aspects of the garden. We met last week to plan what plants they want to be growing next year for the produce stall and how long they will take to harvest. They are keen to ensure that we’ll have produce ready for sale during the second week of Term 1.

 

Summer Holidays

I’ll be away from Dec 13 till the end of Jan and would like to invite any families who are around to visit the garden, check that all’s well and harvest whatever you might find. There’ll be a few office staff around too to help keep an eye on things. There’ll definitely be tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and leafy greens. If you could bring in some food waste for the worm farms &/or pick some older leaves for them too that’d be fabulous. There’s a few bountiful dandelion and comfrey plants that are a great addition to their diet.

 

2025 Garden Working Bees: keep an eye out for dates early next year.

 

Kaz contact details: 0427 461 047gardener2@alicesteiner.nt.edu.au

 

Steiner School Gardeners WhatsApp Group: If you’d like to be added, please send contact details.