It's all about the willow!

It's all about the willow this week - a gorgeous willow dome built by the 6th class of Rathfarnham Educate Together NS on Monday, willow fence at Ashgrove Community Garden on Tuesday and Willow archway at Kilcock Men's shed today!

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

From the Ground Up...representing Holy Trinity School Garden

Fionnuala Fallon, horticulturalist and Irish Times journalist has published a book, 'From the Ground Up' that tells the stories of some very talented and very different `ticklers of the earth', all of whom live and garden in Ireland today. From schoolchildren to retirees, amateurs to experts, what they share in common is a delight in growing their own fruit and vegetables.

Most notable for me, she visited our amazing organic school garden in Holy Trinity National School in Donaghmede in North County Dublin over three years ago now, I had completely forgotten about it until I saw myself in print and in photos in the book at Christmas. It's a really good read, and really promotes the positive aspects of developing gardens in schools! To read more about rthe book see below.

http://www.collinspress.ie/from-the-ground-up.html

Heritage in Schools Scheme is Open for Bookings!

Heritage in Schools Scheme is Open for Bookings!
The wonderful panel of 165 Heritage Experts are all ready to bring heritage to life in the classroom for your pupils!

Find out more at...

http://www.heritageinschools.ie/

Let's get those gardens growing! You can find GROW on the website above..book us in if you want to get your school garden a growing!

Woodland Heritage Project in Wicklow

Early in 2012 we received LA21 funding from Wicklow County Council to run a  Woodland heritage Education Programme in Hollywood Woods,, Hollywood, Co. Wicklow. We worked with four different primary schools in the local area, bring them to the woods for a complete woodland immersion day. We played tracking and hide and sneak game, we deprived the kids of their sight by blindfolding them and leading them through the woods, we hunted for the bugs of the woodland, we tasted all the tasty edibles there are to be found in the ditches, looked at the trees talked about plants and their uses, we packed loads in and the day just flew, with the kids going home exhilarated and mucky and totally immersed in the woods! Job done!

For this project I linked up with my good friend and colleague Ciara Hinksman at Earthforce Education, you can check out what Ciara does here: http://www.earthforceeducation.com/

Herb Spiral in St.Finian's NS, May 2012

In May, we continued with our ongoing school garden programme at St. Finian's NS in Finglas. This time we  built a herb spiral in place of the old herbacious border that the school wanted removed from the front of the school. With 4th class we built a very magical spiral bed into which we planted a huge variety of herb plants, from medicinal to colourful to culinary herbs, rosemary, sage, thyme, marigolds etc.

April 2012, The Outdoor Classroom, redesigning the school garden!

It had been a while, but I went across to Tullamore today to work with Geraldine O'Toole from Sonairte. We did a school garden design day for the school. We worked with 4th class for the day, bringing them through the whole process of redesigning their school grounds from the perspective of making it into an Outdoor Classroom. so we went through the possible elements - vegetable patch, woodland, pond, orchard, fruit area, wild area etc, then we went outside and mapped the grounds, measuring the buildings and green spaces and auditing the site so we knew what the school already had onsite. Then in the afternoon we returned to the classroom and together with the kids we came up with the design that you see here in the picture, a fabulous 10-year plan for the school to work towards. We already made some preliminary plans to come back and start building the vegetable patch in a few weeks!

Getting your school garden started...

‘The Year Round School Organic Garden’, A Guide to Designing, Creating and Using an Organic School Garden’

by

Lucy Bell, Niamh Ni Dhuill, Áine Ni Fhlatharta of Kerry Earth Education Project and Irish Seedsavers

The Year Round Organic School Garden’  is a practical guide for teachers and other education practitioners.  It aims to help with the planning, design, creation and use of an organic school garden with children and teenagers. It demonstrates the huge possibilities of using the school grounds as an educational resource, to learn about organic food production & the importance of bio-diversity. 
The guide incorporates cross curricular activities such as Science, SESE, Maths and Art into the garden. It sets out practical projects on growing local food, creating biodiversity and native habitats in the school grounds; encouraging healthy eating, doing nature based activities and getting children active.  It aims to highlight for the children, that important link with where their food comes from, and above all is a fun and rewarding project for children to undertake.

Email me about purchasing the book at growingardens@gmail.com, it costs 15e, with 2e for p&p.

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Willow Haven in the city

We built these willow half domes and fence with a group of willing 4th class from St. Finians Nat. School in Finglas, they are to be a little haven and chill out spot for the kids, when they need some time out from class. We're going to get pieces of wood to sit on, and hopefully when spring finally fully bursts out it will become a living structure. We also found shield bugs, a bird's anvil and lots of other interesting finds on a wander along our nature trail we've built at the school.

You can book us through the INTO Heritage in Schools Scheme to do this type of work in your school. Check out www.heritageinschools.ie

School Organic Garden Book - practical guide for teachers

Kick start autumn in the school garden with this pracical teacher's guide...


The Year Round Organic School Garden
 - ON SALE NOW -

 'The Year Round Organic School Garden'  is a hands on manual for teachers and anyone working in schools setting up school gardens with children!

I co-wrote the book with KEEP and Irish Seedsavers, so if you're at all interersted in the book, they're selling at 17 euros, to buy them contact me on 087 6508226 or email growingardens@gmail.com and we'll be in touch!

Lucy in the Irish Times!

Lucy in the Irish Times!

It's only my picture, but the article is about the fantastic school garden in Donaghmede, that I worked on with Ian when I was still working for KEEP in Kerry! Great article on promoting school gardens!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2011/0526/1224297777007.html

Spring Madness!!

Spring 
Madness!

It's been a fierce busy spring for GROW, we've been teaching in Allenwood, Newbridge, Athy and we've just started a new horticulture group in Celbridge in the new ACRE Project that's been kicking off there. The ACRE Project is a very innovative community project that's looking to develop an all inclusive community garden project beside the Salesian College on the Maynooth Rd, we're expecting great things from this project!

On the schools front, we've been busy with setting up vegetable patches and especially busy doing willow structures this year. we've built a willow dome and fence in Nurney NS in Kildare and most recently I built a unique structure for the lucky hens at Derrinturn NS. With 4th class we built two mini domes and a joining fence, we're hoping they're going to provide some nice shelter for the hens, if we ever get some summer sun!

School Gardens in Full Swing!

School Gardens in Full Swing!

Well, it's been one busy spring and early summer! We haven't stopped to draw breath or get our own vegetables planted it's been so busy! School gardens are in full swing. New vegetable patches have been set up in St.Finian's and St.Malachy's in Finglas and most recently in Scoil Mhuire, Nurney, on home turf. Most of the beds were built with the capable hands of a variety of 4th, 5th and 6th class, the favourite part being the 'shovelling of cow pooh'. Other ongoing projects such as with the Holy Trinity N.S. in Donaghmede, which I still do with KEEP, are looking great too, they have 16 vegetable beds in full swing now, and the native woodland and soft fruit area has been extended over the last few visits. The potatoes are jumping put of the ground and there's radishes and lettuce for munching on. They have the biggest garlic I've seen anywhere this year. The kids are hoping there's enough blackcurrants to make home made ribena this year! We're hoping to get back to a few of the schools and do some nice projects such as living willow fences and domes in the autumn. don't forget you can book us through the INTO/Heritage in Schools scheme, and they pay half our fee!

GROW listed on INTO/heritage in Schools Scheme

 GROW listed on INTO/heritage in Schools Scheme Brochure

Great news for GROW. We've been accepted as Heritage Specialists on the INTO/Heritage in Schools Scheme for 2010. Lucy has been a specialist in Kerry for the last 4 years, and GROW are delighted to be finally set up in Kildare. We're hoping to get involved in helping Kildare and surrounding counties schools set up their own gardens in the school grounds. and with the scheme, the schools get our fee part paid by the Heritage Council. So, if you're interested in setting up a vegetable patch, or a native woodland, or building some living willow sculptures, book us now through the scheme. You can find out more about it on

http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/education/heritage-council-initiatives/heritage-in-schools-scheme/#c2639

*NEW* & ON SALE NOW - 'The Year Round Organic School Garden'

The Year Round Organic School Garden

- ON SALE NOW -

Kerry Earth Education Project and Irish Seedsavers have just brought out their joint publication - 'The Year Round Organic School Garden', which is a hands on manual for teachers and anyone working in schools setting up school gardens with children. It's been a long road to finally get it to this stage, so I'm really excited about it! I co-wrote the book with KEEP and Irish Seedsavers, and I've been doing the hard slog of editing and getting it to the printers, and it surely has been a learning curve, but well worth it when you see the finished product. So, if you're at all interersted in the book, they're selling at 15 euros, to buy them contact me on 087 6508226 or email growingardens@gmail.com and we'll be in touch, it should be going to some of the good, small bookshops near you!

Thursday May 28th, 2009

KEEP at Bloom 2009

It's a GOLD for The Living Classroom Recycled at Bloom 2009 in the Phoenix Park!
Kerry Earth Education Project, Kildare's sister project had an amazing week at the Bloom Garden Festival in the Phoenix Park, scooping a Gold Medal for its model school organic garden, 'The Living Classroom (Recycled) and Best in Engaging Spaces Category, champion nettles! Who'd have thought our weeds would have got so much praise! We had an amazing week, blasted by the sun, talked about slugs til they were literally coming out our ears and saw over a thousand school children come through the gardens' magnificent willow arches! Sadly its all over and we took down the garden on Tuesday and returned to the real world!

Check it all out on www.bloominthepark.com