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Arts Awards Support

Today we met to make a plan for our Arts Awards in schools

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27th Nov: Write Poetry: focus on Poetry London Magazine.

We will discuss three Poems: 

‘Crocodile’ by Richard Scott

'Hiding My Face’ by Chloe Stopa-Hunt

'Murking’ (After Stormzy) by D.S Marriott

'Pass’ by Nick Makoha

http://poetrylondon.co.uk

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Worms@Jefferies (Permaculture)

During the learning process through Permaculture I discovered that adding worm towers can be a fun way of adding nutrients to the veg beds. 

Children love gathering worms. This is an Earthworm. I am learning so much about worms! You can mix this discovery with stories. We used Super Worm by Julia Donaldson.

To make a worm tower:

1. See Mike Pringle!

2. Ask him to get you some piping.

3. Cut that piping into 6o cm single pipes.

4. Drill holes in the first 30 cm

5. Place the first 30 cm of the tube into your veg bed and make sure it is covered with soil. Put some compost at the bottom. Shred some newspaper. Add some compost worms. 

6. Place a layer of hay on top.

7. Add a top to your worm tower. 

8. Feed your worm tower weekly with veg scraps.

Compost worms - my first escapees! 

Compost worms safely in the tower

All safe inside the worm tower.

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No-Dig Parenting (Permaculture)

I have been thinking, and gardening helps me think, that No-Dig might also apply to how we raise our children. Just loosen the soil, add amazing experiences: stories, poetry, sports, fun, everyday maths, LOVE! Do we dig too much, see certain traits as ‘weeds’? Do we value their natural talents, interests, and personalities or do we throw these into the wheelbarrow and carry them away somewhere else to make room for formal education in the hope of a good set of GCSE’s? 

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No-Dig Veg Beds

I love exploring Permaculture with the groups I run at the Richard Jefferies Museum. It has been fun, engaging, exciting and full of hope for abundance and learning for us all. I thank Naima and her family for sharing their love of this system with me. It has been inspiring to meet them all and work on this new project. 

Over the past few weeks I have worked on 8 of our beg beds:

1. We loosened the soil with a fork and pulled up any huge weeds to stay in the beds. 

2. We loaded up barrels of compost from around the museum gardens into the beds on top of all the weeds and old plants. 

3. We raked leaves and added these to the beds (great fun for toddlers and their parents)

4. We layered newspaper over the beds in sheets of around 10. 

5. We placed hay over the beds. 

6. We pierced holes in the newspaper and placed onions and garlic in compost.

See  Morag Gamble’s explanation of No-Dig: https://youtu.be/A9Wq32IRrPQ

I have also subscribed to Permaculture Magazine: https://www.permaculture.co.uk

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Permaculture Jefferies

In the last few weeks I have been experimenting with permaculture. The veg-beds at the museum were over-run with weeds and rarely produced any impressive vegetables - the odd courgette, spinach, some manky potatoes. Then i mat Naima - we can try permaculture, she suggested. I decided to turn the beds over and get rid of the impossible weeds and with my under 5’s Little Mulberries, we went on a warm hunt and made a worm farm. We then planted some ‘Shakespeare Onions’ 

We began learning by heart, ‘I know a bank’ from William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Spoken by Oberon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 1

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies. Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove: A sweet Athenian lady is in love With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; But do it when the next thing he espies May be the lady: thou shalt know the man By the Athenian garments he hath on. Effect it with some care, that he may prove More fond on her than she upon her love: And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

I have now discovered, through learning about Permaculture, that I can use a ‘No Dig’ method. I like the idea of ‘No Dig’. No more barrels of weeds to the compost heap. The beds themselves become their own composters! See the next post.