"Leave a Legacy" Orchard

 

"Leave a Legacy" Orchard

 

This year we started a new tradition at Westport North School with our Year 8 students, where our Year 8 students "Leave a Legacy" for the benefit of future students...before they move onto the adventures that await them at High School.

Our Garden Gnomes enlisted the help of our Parent Group to host a lunch time BBQ prior to the inaugural planting of our "Leave a Legacy" School Orchard.

We decided it was time to rethink the traditional kiwi sausage in bread offering... and serve up a new Garden Warrior interpretation:

 

Half pita pockets, crammed with garden salad so fresh it travelled a mere 10 metres from our garden to table...accompanied by sausage slices marinated in teriyaki

...flavour sensation!

Needless to say we sold of pita pockets rapidly.

 

One year 3 student summed up the influence of ALL the eating and growing that we have been doing with the kids in the garden, when he asked for ..."a sausage in bread please, and one of those things that ALL the other kids are eating"!

 

We eat Fresh and grow fresh here at Westport North School!

Meanwhile, in between delicious mouthfuls of pita pockets, everything was laid out ready for our 36 year 8's to learn how to plant a tree...

 

Our soon to be feijoa hedge was waiting in a well regimented & orderly line...

Our Year 8's appeared very relaxed about leaving such an amazing Legacy for future generations...

Mr Aldridge was re-enlisted from retirement to kick off proceedings and provide the tree planting demonstration with Sophie, one of our very regular Garden Warriors

 

For several decades Mr Aldridge had been Westport North School's caretaker, until retiring early in 2012. It was Mr Aldridge who originally started the school garden with the 4 raised beds behind the pool...and you know the rest!

Tree planting demonstration dispensed with ...it was time to try mixing compost and fertiliser into our soil

...place trees carefully flush with the surface and not too deep!

Add water, & replace the soil around the trees...

Stake our trees carefully so they can concentrate on growing, rather than battling any winds!

We have used our very recent Tui Finalists, Tui product prize winnings... to purchase many bags of Tui compost and fertiliser to give our School Orchard the VERY best start!

Many hands made very light work of planting out over 30 assorted fruit trees!

What a Legacy!

 

3 x fruiting cherry trees (can't wait to see the puzzled faces on discovering 2 different coloured cherries on the same tree!)

3 x late season plums

3 x different apples

1 x persimmon for autumn colour & flavour

1 x pear & 2 x nashi for late summer juicy crunch

1 x nectarine

1 lemon for feeding our ginger beer bugs & squeezing over salads

1 mandarin who promises to fruit abundantly!

A pair of cocktail kiwi fruit vines...should be able to feed an entire class!

A dark and juicy grape for the back fence

An entire hedge of feijoas...should be enough for at least 1 fruit each

An Avocado tree, a 5 year growth investment fund, with potential marketable returns!

1 Pecan tree to provide shade and nuts for many, many decades!

 

What an asset to our school...definitely a Legacy for many generations to come!

 

Well done Year 8's, it was a privilege to work with you all on Friday and share this experience.

A LOT of work by our Garden Gnomes went into preparing everything for you, but seeing how much care and thoughtfulness went into the tree planting by some of you, made it all worthwhile!

Sophie's entire class came to admire the very special Cherry tree that she planted with Mr Aldridge as guests of Honour. We'll miss you next year, and wish you all the best at your new School.

Be sure to come back and visit your tree next summer, and work out just how its possible to have both dark red cherries and rosy yellow cherries on the same tree??

 

We wish you all the best Westport North Year 8's at Buller High School in 2014...be sure to pop over the fence and see how your trees are growing!

 

So what could next years bunch of Year 8's "Leave as a Legacy"...a mural on our garden fence perhaps?