The Orca K-8 School Garden Blog!

Gearing up for tonight’s Many Cultures, One World Festival here at Orca- we collected chard to make a variation of palak. It will feature curry that I brought from India. The greenhouse will be the center of Indian food from Marletta’s classroom of Indian culture and celebration! I will have many photos out of my travels to add to the festivities. Also- come smell every spice in chai! I carted it all back from India and can’t wait to share.

bucket o' chard for palaak

It was a beautiful day too, so we were shoveling, turning over soil, and raking mulch/leaves off the garden beds. It’s fun to be outside finally- not just talkin’ about the garden, but bein’ about it!

engaged

Play the youtube link below and realize that yes yes yes- “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”.

We were out in the garden all day cutting off dead branches, clearing out the winter plants, removing weeds, and getting the soil ready for springtime. Though it was chilly, we of coursed warmed up with hard work and hot mint tea. This time of year is great because we move away from the cerebral part of imagining the garden and get into the nitty gritty part. It really is amazing to get out from under the flourescent lights of the classroom and be outside breathing fresh air and really being active. Students rarely complain about working in the garden and I think it’s because it is something that actively engages them- physically and mentally. The garden is a place where most kids are successful and really enjoy being engaged and present. Hello Spring!

The salmon are set to be released on April 20th at Seward Park. Most K-6 classrooms will walk down there (1.1 miles) and be part of the release. They are doing really well now in our tank, and might be the strongest Orca Coho yet!

Swimming in front of the office for all to see!

We had a wonderful week in the garden. We studied more about salmon habitats, toured the greenhouse and it’s jungle of soon to be plants, engaged in scientific drawings of our new seedlings (and predictions of what they will look like), caught some brief snow & sun moments, enjoyed hot mint tea, and even planted more and more seeds. All in the midst of a lot of rain showers….Phew!

The greenhouse is growin’! We’ve got 13 kinds of tomatoes so far and so many other delicious goodies. Thank you Orca students for planting all these. Soon 10 schools and many other local non-profits will get free plants! We will also supply our plant sale and garden with everything they need. Onward!

1st two weeks of seeds....

Goofin' a bit!

We played in the sun today and had a great time tasting all the new plants sprouting in the garden. We had some holdovers from last year- many plants like chard & kale can survive the winter. We also planted a few more seeds in the warm greenhouse.

Brussell Sprouts...

It was gloriously sunny as we sipped mint tea and got some independent exploration time in the garden. The pictures say it all. Fun fun fun.

Cheers!

Line of happy kids

We are so elated to get pictures from our friends at RSK High School in Hyderabad India. They got all of our 1000+ books and have started 4 school libraries. We had students from Garfield High School in Seattle deliver the books while going there to build computer labs. All the books made it, and they have so many that they are sharing them with other schools. These schools had zero children’s books and these donations will really have an impact on kid’s reading and getting excited about books. Orca really came together and made an incredible impact. Thanks again to IDEX fellow Jessica Frank for facilitating things on the India side, along with all the Garfield students who carried the books. Thank you to everyone who donated also!

Checking India out

Check out the poster in the hallway that has thank you letters from India, along with more pics of them receiving them.