EnviroSchools

In Ruma Kotare we believe

Sustainability is:

Not using things faster than we can replace them.

 An analogy is:

Running a business, or keeping a business going.

Or it is like:

If you go camping and you leave a torch on it will go flat,

so you need to only use it when you need it.

In Ruma Kotare we believe

Kaitiakitanga is:

Guardianship of our class, school, land and world.

It is looking after the world that we live in.

 Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number One

On Friday 24^th of May the teachers and students in the Middle Syndicate planned a trip to the Hamilton Gardens as part of the ‘Sustainable Kai’ Inquiry. This trip was to build student knowledge about sustainable practice in relation to food and to immerse us in the inquiry focus. We hoped the trip would inspire us to ask questions that we can research to find the answers and then to act upon the findings.

At the gardens the syndicate visited the ‘Sustainable Garden’, ‘Herb Garden’, Te Parapara and the large ‘Kitchen Garden’. We were lucky to have a gardener who works in the gardens talk to us.

We found that the trip gave us lots of ideas to bring back to our own garden and we were inspired by what we saw. Teresa the gardener at the Sustainable Garden also shared a book with us ‘How to Grow Your Own Food’, which is about creating and maintaining an organic vegetable garden. This was just what we needed to get started so we now have our own copy.

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Two

We were so excited when we got back from the gardens that we went straight out to our school garden with Ruma Korimako to have a look at what needed to be done.

Oh dear, what a mess!!!!

Weeds and rubbish everywhere!!!

Okay, first we decided that we needed to clean up the gardens by putting all the rubbish in the bin. Then we pulled out the weeds and put them in the compost bins. We also dismantled the frame around one of the gardens. We found some old tools in the shed and we also found an old fork in the garden under the weeds.

We all got stuck in (this took both classes two outings in the garden before we were happy).

  

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Three

Okay, what next we thought…

We need to get together with Ruma Korimako to make a list of the things we need for the garden and collect our ideas.

We met in the library and shared our thoughts and ideas…

·      More tools – rakes, spades, forks, hand tools, wheel barrow or buckets

·      Garden monitors

·      More soil –

·      Earth chair – being built at the moment

·      Make a cover over the gardens – to stop the birds getting the worms – like what you do for the strawberries

·      Horse manure

·      Plant things

·      A new scarecrow

·      Gate so that people can’t play in the garden

·      Need to educate people

·      Cobble or concrete instead of stones to reduce weeds

·      Make sure the dirt is fresh and clean

·      A garden roster

·      Make the garden bigger

·      More pots

·      Sprinkler

·      Carvings/ garden art

·      Growing tee pee

·      Compost

·      We could bring some tools for home

·      Fertilizer – collect eggshells

·      Seasonal vegetables

·      Chicken tractors

·      Paint the edges of the garden

·      Fund raising day – sustainable garden day – bring $2

·      Ask people to donate tools

·      Sell things we don’t need – to the salvation army of swap

·      People could donate things they have made and we could sell it to raise money

·      Blue and white day – student council on board

·      Rotate our vegies – to reduce disease

·      Blood and bone – talk to the enviro group

·      Have a fundraiser day

We had such a big list that Miss Lehan and Miss Collins said that they would get together and read through our ideas and think about how or where we could start.

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Four

Okay, from our list what next? We had some discussions in our classes and we decided that to do anything we needed more tools and some more soil, as it was really low… So Ruma Korimako decided to put a notice in the school newsletter asking families to donate any spare gardening tools if they had any. We will see what happens…

Dear Parents and Caregivers

This year Ruma Korimako and Kotare are in charge of the school garden. Just last Friday we went to the Hamilton Gardens to learn how we can make our garden sustainable. We have been in the garden trying to pull out the weeds but we have not got enough tools to do the job properly. We would really appreciate any spare gardening tools to help us look after our garden.  If you do, could any donations please be taken to Ruma Korimako or Ruma Kotare.

Items we need…	Items we would really like…
·      Gardening forks ·      Trowels ·      Spades ·      Buckets ·      Gardening gloves	·      Wheel burrow ·      Garden Hoe ·      Hose ·      Rake ·      Sprinkler ·      Broom ·      Pots ·      Chicken wire ·      Old carpet

Thank you very much for your kind donations and help with our garden.

Many Thanks

Ruma Korimako and Kotare.

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Four

… and Ruma Kotare decided to sort the soil problem out, but how? Mr Redpath, a parent at our school owns a garden landscaping business so we thought we would approach him. Here is our letter that we emailed him and yay he responded.

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Dear Mr Redpath

The students from Ruma Kotare and Korimako are in charge of the school garden this year. We are also doing an inquiry about Sustainable Kai which links into our school garden.

We have had a visit to the Hamilton Sustainable Gardens to get a few ideas and we have cleaned up our own school garden.

Sadly we noticed that there is not much soil in it so we were wondering if we could please get some soil to fill up our gardens. We would appreciate organic soil because we don’t want chemicals in our garden.

Sadly also we don’t have any money so we were wondering if you could donate the soil and we will advertise your business on a sign by our wonderfully grown vegetables.

Thank you

From Miss Lehan and the students in Ruma Kotare and Ruma Korimako

Here is the email that Mr Redpath sent us...

The students from Ruma Kotare and Korimako,

Thank you for your letter of request. We at Florida will happily oblige and will supply and deliver the soil as requested free of charge. The product I specify will be Biogro certified organic compost.

To help me with the quantity you will need to use all the math skills Miss Lehan has taught you. I require the length x width x depth. This will give you a total volume.

Happy measuring and look forward to seeing the results.

Mr Redpath

Florida Ltd

60 Hautapu Road

Cambridge  3450

Phone 07 827 8494

Fax 07 8278419

www.floridaltd.co.nz

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Five

Right we need to go and measure the length, width and the depth to determine the volume of how much compost we need.

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Six

We then emailed Mr Redpath our measurements and he delivered our compost the very next day.

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Seven

As part of our Matariki celebrations, which is our very own Maori New Year, we all pitched in and filled up our gardens with the compost. Matariki is associated with the celebration of harvest, of gifting food, and planning or preparing the ground for the new year's crops. Matariki is a time to come together as whānau (family) and a time for celebration.

Our Sustainable Garden Journey

Entry Number Seven

As part of our Matariki celebrations we also learnt about our worm farm from Michaela and Brooke. We were impressed, as they knew everything there was to know!! They also told us that we could use some worm wee on our garden when we were ready. We decided that we would come up with a plan of how we could repay them when the time arrived… We also went for a walk around our school to see the other gardens. We saw the orchard, sensory garden and forest. We could even name some of the native trees.