Volunteer-because it IS a BIG DEAL!

I am home and showered and sliver extracted from belly (how did that happen?).  I am fresh off of another Sunday afternoon of hosting a volunteer work day in our school gardens. Today was an "extra" to make up for all the cancellations after this very snowy winter in NOVA.  Too start: I am not an exuberant hostess who can gush and stroke egos and make people feel warm and fuzzy.  Sometimes, I might go as far as to offend my volunteers with an "off comment".  Those that know me, know that I am joking and throw it back at me.  It is usually too late when I realize they don't know me as well as I have imagined. (I digress)

What I do say, when I am thinking and remembering that I am the hostess; "You all are AWESOME!"  "Thank you sooo much!"  The reply of these volunteers is most likely; "No problem."  "It was my pleasure."  "It's no big deal."  That's my favorite one.  It IS A BIG DEAL.  You all came out here on a not so warm day, on a Sunday afternoon, to do manual labor that no one else wants to do.  In particular, a job that I have procrastinated because I hate it so much!

Now the job is DONE!  In only one hour; JoAnne, Rob, Liz, Noah, Jen, Marie, Vicki, and Jaden have finished a task that I couldn't even think about because I dread it so.  I am always amazed at the amount of work a handful of motivated and hard working people can get done in a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon.  By the end of the time, I am usually making stuff up to keep them all busy!

So, my point,  VOLUNTEER!  For those things that -maybe- someone else will do and -probably- will get done without you.  But when you do show up it makes ALL the difference to that program and makes the job that much easier for everyone.

Also, we used a power tool that has made this job my new favorite task in the gardens :))

Rooster or a Hen?

We went for a visit to Chris and Sara Guerre's farm this weekend and visited the, now almost 4 week old, chicks.  They are looking spectacular and gangly with all their new feathers and gigantic feet :)  I have to say, the beaks are the most impressive to me.

They are staying warm in a special out building that has been insulated and heated with a space heater.  In just a few more weeks they will be ready to move to the "big hen" coop.  It is fun trying to guess which ones are going to be roosters and which hens. We thought we might have heard a tiny crow while we were sitting with them in their brooder.  But it was hard to think that is even possible!  With some breeds, you can tell right away by the color of the chick what gender they are.  With these Ameracaunas it is a little trickier and mainly a waiting game.  Some of chicks are already growing combs, are they the roosters?!

Our Librarian, Mrs. McKee, had entirely too much fun with our little fuzzy friends!  We will be sad to see them head back to the farm on Friday!

CHICKS!

26 Chicks from our 41 eggs!  These are some of the first pictures we took.  The chicks have taken to food and water like pros.  One more week of students asking fascinating questions about chickens and life in general :)

It is Chicken Mania around the halls of Hollin Meadows!  We have eggs incubating in the library and the questions and thinking it is generating in all the students and staff is exciting.  We are curious about what is happening inside the eggs every day and very impatient for those little peepers to start peeping!  Fairfax County School District used to have a program in place and a farmer that supplied 4,000 eggs to all the 1st grade classrooms.  It is not part of the standard curriculum at this time; but we have found soooo many applications and tie-ins at all levels of learning that we want it to be a regular part of our year!  The second graders are practicing real life application of all the measurement tools they have learned to use in science.  The first grade is bringing all their bird knowledge into the mix as well as getting a head start on learning about life cycles.  The third grade is bringing in their ancient civilization studies (because the chicken harkens back to Ancient Egypt!)  The fourth grade is bringing in their Virginia studies about agriculture.  Many of the classes are also using this project for writing activities and journal keeping.  Because we have a very generous and chicken friendly librarian, we have been able to make this project a central part of everyone's day at HM.  That is just how the egg rolls around here :))

So you want to be a Farmer? You better have some stamina ;)

NPR just did a story on how young farmers are getting creative in finding land to grow produce.  Our HM Garden supporters and all around awesome couple Chris and Sara Guerre, are featured in this spot.
Chris has been extremely generous with time, knowledge, and supplies, for our school garden program.  He is very passionate about children having access to healthy food and knowing where it comes from.  He will actually be supplying our school with an incubator and chicken eggs to hatch for an amazing life cycle lesson this year. Thanks for all your help "Young Farmer"!!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/12/26/257391197/heres-how-young-farmers-looking-for-land-are-getting-creative

Lettuce Success!

From Seed to Plate!  The HM Garden produced almost 40lbs of lettuce to feed our community at the Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon.  All the students planted their lettuce seeds in the ground in September and then harvested, measured and enjoyed their bountiful production.