So much to be done in the garden! I sure miss my garden helpers and am really noticing HOW. MUCH. WORK you all do! Seriously. You all dig, and plant, and wheelbarrow, and weed, and giggle, and dig, and water and giggle some more! Garden isn't quite the same without you but I'm plugging away with the help of Mr. Victor, and things are looking pretty good.

And a little moment of zen:

Before you start the garden mandala, I'd like for you to check on your kitchen scrap planting and note observations in your journal for week 3! How's it looking? See any green yet? Roots growing longer? What's the color of the water? This should only take you a moment to complete before you begin this week's activity:

Garden Mandalas!

This is one of my favorite activities to do with kiddos because every single one comes out so beautiful! To to this you need very few materials but take your time and really design your masterpiece!

Please note, we will be pressing these in your journals so be sure to collect only thin items that won't be bumpy and bulky. Flat items work best.

Also, because we use glue and will be pressing these you will need to be sure not to use too much glue. Only the minimum amount to keep the glue from seeping over the edges of the materials and gluing the pages shut. We used some wax paper to start out with first (as you'll see in pictures) and then took it out later to finish off the pressing.

Have fun and enjoy the beauty all around you!

Hugs and slugs,

Ms. Anne

It's hard to believe we are on our 5th week of learning from home! This week will have two sections in our activity. First, you will check on your kitchen scrap starts to see how they're growing. Then you will collect treasures according to ten categories listed below. After you have collected the treasures then you will build either an art sculpture, or the beginnings of a fairy home...up to you! Have fun hunting and creating!

It is time to put in the summer garden! I've spent the past several weeks pulling weeds, harvesting compost, pulling out the winter garden and prepping the beds for the next season! Now it's here! April 15th marks the last frost date according to our climate zone and so it is "game on". This week I pulled out a lot of very large kale plants and got to work planting tomatoes! I will keep planting the coming weeks and will let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, be sure to check out our plant "sale" page on this website. I have lots of beautiful tomato starts, among other things, and they're all free to you. Pick-up date is this Friday, April 24th. Send me an email to let me know what you want and I'd love to catch a glimpse of you as we hand off your plants!

Hugs and slugs,

Ms. Anne

Hello and welcome to week four of home garden class!

The past three weeks we've focused on observing nature and using our journals to record our observations. This week we will be starting a project where we use common kitchen scraps to grow our own food at home! This will be an exciting experiment for all of us. I have long heard that you can do this but have never tried! I'm thrilled to see how we can reuse our scraps to continue to feed our families.

I will be asking that you start the project today, but that you then check in once a week for the next 6 weeks to note the changes in your plant over time as well as continue to add water! Follow the step-by-step instructions below and please reach out if you have any questions!

To do this project you will need to check in with an adult in your home to try and figure out what kitchen scrap you can use. Any of the following are commonly found kitchen scraps that should work but feel free to experiment and try different types!

Lettuce
Leek
Green Onion
Celery
Carrots
Beets

Here we go!

4) Now you are going to set up your journal page for today's, and future, observations. First you will open to two blank pages. We will be doing six weeks of observations. Please draw in a table with labels and in the first week's section you will draw a picture of your kitchen scrap and write an explanation of what you did. See example below:

The spring garden is really unfurling! I spent quite a bit of time last week weeding and transferring compost from our bins to the beds.

I also had to pull the fava plants (sorry Pierce!) as they were absolutely covered in aphids which were spreading to other plants. I chopped up and then left the nitrogen fixing roots in the beds and moved all of the rest of the plant matter to the compost bins and covered it with a bunch of decomposing matter to try to keep the aphids from fleeing to nearby plants. I also covered the bed with a solid five inches of compost to try to suppress the aphid population. Will see how it goes! One thing is for sure, our future compost will benefit from the fava plant which is full of nitrogen! Such a partner plant for us organic gardeners...

As always, there is no such thing as gardening in our AVS garden without plenty of interaction with critters and wildlife! It's one of the reasons our garden is so ALIVE and beautiful. :)

Miss you all soooo much!

Ms. Anne

Your moment of zen:

Hello students and parents,

It's hard to believe that we are on week 3 of learning from home. I sure miss all of you and hope you are doing well, finding the time to take care of your spirit and body, and enjoying the beauty of this season.

This week we are going to be drawing a sound map in our nature journals. It is a simple activity, but the goal is to spend time really listening to your surroundings and hearing its language. Can you hear birds? Airplanes? People chatting? What about the wind? Bugs crawling? Lizards scurrying? Take your time and enjoy your moment with nature. The more time you put into it, the more rich of an experience it will be. And if you're anything like I am, time spent paying attention to nature is very therapeutic!

I hope you enjoy this activity and please send me an email or message with a picture of your journal entry to show me your map!

Hugs and slugs,

Ms. Anne

The spring garden continues to bloom and grow and I keep popping in to keep everything in order! Please know I will be making veggie and herb starts available at the end of the month and will let you know how to "put in your order"!

In the meantime, I'll keep you updated on how things are growing! Hover on the picture for the caption :).

Miss you little gardeners so much!!!

Ms. Anne

Your moment of zen: