Allotments showing signs of being good bee habitats!

There has been a bee study done in the UK by Friends of the Earth which has had some pretty interesting findings regarding the best habitats for the stuggling bee populations both bumble and honeybee - with Allotments coming out on top! Have a read.

 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/15/scientists-fit-honey-bees-with-tiny-sensors-to-study-decline-of-colonies

SEAI CPD Training-Exploring our Energy

Training up to train teachers in energy science education for primary schools! Kids are gonna love this!  

The programme explores the current science curriculuum in a pracitcal way, using all of the new spiral learning approaches and incoroporating activities such as design and make and a load of fair test science experiements, you'll never look at an egg or a chocolate button in the same way again.

Areas such as temperature, conduction, convection, radiation, types of energy are all explored. I think my favourite is making the land buggy!

Check out the programme here: http://www.seai.ie/Schools/Primary_Schools/Exploring_Our_Energy_Primary_Programme/

Kerry Earth Education Project & Gortbrack Organic farm - where I started!

Rocking the good life down at Gortbrack...my old Alma mater! Good on ye lads! Magical place! Check out this video about the farm here.

Irish Times Article on Forest Schools

An article written by a journalist who came out to see us on our Forest School Training...interesting stuff!

Irish Times Article by Sheila Wayman - Why children need to go into the woods today.

An extract from Sheila Wayman's article on our Forest Schools Training Course:

'There are whoops of delight as seven grown adults pile into the “debris shelter” they have built from scratch in russet woodland in Co Wicklow. In the distance, the first snow of winter is sprinkled like icing sugar onto Lugnaquilla, lit by the low-angle sun in the clear blue, winter sky.

They were given 45 minutes to complete the task, starting with the picking of a suitable tree with a “V” on which to prop a sturdy “spine” that would, in turn, support a “rib cage” of branches. Armfuls of brush were gathered to fill in the gaps and then covered with forest floor mulch to waterproof the structure.

Mission accomplished, group members stand around and admire their handiwork. Okay, they are not going to have to sleep in it tonight but that doesn’t stop them clambering in to get a feel of it – the leaf-covered, earthy base and the scratchy, twig walls of the dim interior.

It’s the stuff of childhood – at least it should be. But within the space of one generation, a gulf has opened between children and nature as their freedom to roam and play outdoors has been drastically curtailed.

Instead they turn to television and the internet for entertainment while, in the words of Last Child in the Woods author Richard Louv, they are kept under “well-meaning, protective house arrest”.

By depriving children of the chance to negotiate outdoor challenges independently, we’re in danger of raising a generation of physically inept, risk-averse softies, with no wish to get their hands dirty.' 

by Sheila Wayman.

Forest Schools Training Course...in progress.

Serious concentration a happening during the first ever Forest Schools Training that happened in Wicklow last week, basically we got to play in the woods for the week!!!!

The week involved our immersion onto what Forest Schools can and should be, so we mixed it up between playing in the woods - fire making, natural art, mud art, campfire cooking and then sound child developmental theory and educational theory which to me was fascinating! there was a whole 6th sense that I never knew about before...

New VEC Community Garden Project - IWA Clane

Forest Schools Training - first time in Ireland!

Starting 2moro....the first ever Forest Schools Training in Ireland..imagine the woods being a full time school!!!

http://www.earthforceeducation.com/courses/forest-school-level-three-training-co-wicklow-ireland/

First ever School Garden Conference to be held!

The First Conference on Organic School Gardens - TEACHING IS EASY IN A SCHOOL GARDEN, was held in Marino College, this weekend gone by, SAT 5th Oct 2013. It was a fantastidcally succesful day, organised bt SEED, our first ever national school gardens network (www.schoolearthed.ie) Fantasitc and memorable day-great to see school gardening getting the attention it deserves! With Trevor Sergeant giving our opening address and old stalwarts of the school garden world such as Paddy Madden and Ian McGrigor in tow. There were workshops and talks throughtout the day, and more to come in the near future we hope! 

Aine from www.irishseedsavers.ie giving a talk on seed saving at the SEED school garden conference at the weekend in Marino College(picture right).


http://www.schoolearthed.ie/conference.html

Weaving willow in the woods...

Willow lanterns made with kids on our summer camp in Huntingbrook gardens, this August 2013, with Earthforce Education and Ciara Hinksman, check out www.earthforceeducation.com 

Summer Camp with a twist...

Wildcraft summer Camp.

Your kids will finish this weel with a new curiosity about nature and have creative tools to go outdoors and make fun for themselves!
at Hunting Brook Gardens, nr. Blessington

Age: There are three age groups: Teens 13-15 yrs, 9-12 yrs, and 6-8 yrs.

Cost: Five days €120, three days €80, or per day €30 When: 10am–3pm daily, Mon 19^th – Fri 23^rd Aug

Wildcraft * Storytelling * Camouflage * Wildlife Tracking * Wild-Plant Identification * Games 

* Plant Food and Medicine * Folklore * Ethical Foraging & Eating * Indigenous tools * Camp-Craft

Travel: Drive via N81 or take No. 65 Bus, bus stops just a few minutes walk uphill to the gardens.

To Book: www.earthforceeducation.com or call Ciara 086 3199 515, or Lucy 087 650 8226

Woodland Education-getting our kids out playing in the woods!

Check out my friend Ciara's great coverage on Nationwide this week...
getting the kids out into the woods!

http://vimeo.com/65611610