Chickens and beans!

This week we have been learning how to keep the Earth Trust chickens happy and healthy. We topped up their water and fed them – our hens are friendly and like to eat from our hands. They even like a cuddle now and then!

They lay us lots of tasty eggs which we collect and carry carefully to the kitchen for the Earth Trust staff to eat. Sometimes we get to make them into cakes too!

We've also had a check on the peas and beans we sowed back in February. The broad beans were ready for planting out in the vegetable patch. 

Each student dug a hole with a trowel, carefully removed the plant from the pot and placed it in its new home.

 

It is especially important to water our beans with the dry weather we’ve had recently. We will water them every week at the beginning of our session.

We are looking forward to eating our broad beans later in the year!

Planting season is upon us!

It’s that time of year – the days are getting longer, the sun is starting to shine, and the air is feeling warmer – it’s time to start planting!

We have a small vegetable patch in the Earth Trust Centre garden which is tended by the Countryside Skills students. We grow a variety of produce to eat at the end of year party!

This year, Brookfields School have started us off with some broad beans, peas, and tomatoes. The beans are in our mini greenhouse, and the tomatoes are on Engagement Co-ordinator Mariel’s south-facing windowsill in the office!

We have also started weeding the vegetable beds to prepare them for planting later in the spring.  Here are Aaron, Kalan and Samuel doing a great job of pulling up the weeds!

Wallingford School lent a hand in the afternoon, bringing over wheelbarrows of mulch to stop the weeds from growing back through. By the end of the day, we had a beautiful looking veg patch ready for spring!

Keep your eyes peeled for progress blog posts as we plant out the vegetables and watch them grow!