HUGE trees on SALE at the Plant Sale!

Mr. Rosenberg isn't that tall, but that tree still looks pretty BIG. One of the trees on the right could be yours.

Through an amazing partnership with Emerald Gardens (http://emerald-garden.com/ 5700 290 WEST)  we are able to offer trees like this one for ONLY $75! Trees like this would normally go for $100 or more. There will live oaks, monterey oaks, bur oaks and much more. Come out on Thursday October 25 and Friday the 26th to see what else we have to offer.

Student Plant Sale Posters

 

We got some great student created posters this year. Here are some of the best ones. You can even see some of the awesome work by our Life Skills and SCORES students. They're are a great addition to our class!

 

Monarch migration is in the wind.

         In preparation for the coming  migration, the Native Plants and Animals of Texas class began their projects studying the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Students began their projects by creating a PowerPoint to document their research. To help them begin their research, we invited Erin Cord, an Austin Parks and Recreation Ranger, to give the student some basic information. We were all surprised and happy about how much information the students already knew about the species of insect.

 After her presentation we went into our gardens to explore our milkweed population. As most of you know, Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed which provides them a natural toxin in ingested. We have a few different species on campus: Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), Antelope horn milkweed (Asclepias asperula), and Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).  The most common species we have is the tropical variety. Here you can see the student looking on the leaves to see what they can find.

      This was an amazing find! A few days earlier we had gone out to explore our milkweed, and sadly only found two caterpillars. Through different discussion about the weather and monarchs, we came to the conclusion that the migration might have happened earlier this year than normal. What actually seems to be happening is the migration will actually be late! With Erin's help, we were able to spot the tiny eggs, only 1.2 mm long, and even some caterpillars in their 1st instar!

     Today I went out and found almost 10 caterpillars in their 5th instar ready to go into chrysalises. Here are the two we found early last week. They went into their chrysalises very recently. Possibly this morning. One still had its old caterpillar head attached and was squirming!

      Our next step is to go out later this week to tag the monarch before they migrate to the mountains in central Mexico to the oyamel  firs for their "hibernation". This generation will live 8 to 10 times longer than other generations because of this rest.

THE PLANT SALE IS COMING! October 25 and 26 9am-5pm

 

The Small Plant Sale is once again upon us! We are getting ready, are you?

It will be biannual this year, like years in the past. We will have a fall plant sale and a spring plant sale. The fall plant sale will be during the school day similiar to last year. It will be on October 25 and October 26 from 9am to 5pm.

Please come out and support the school and our students.

 

 If you have any plants, connections for supplies, would like to advertise for us, or would like to volunteer please let me know. Nate Rosenberg (nate.rosenberg@austinisd.org)

The climbing wall at Green Fest

Seed Balls! at Green Fest

One Black Lung at Green Fest--isn't that Ms. Miller?

Good food, good friends at Small Green Fest 2012

Who will win? Green Fest Raffle

The Gourds at Small Green Fest 9-29-12

Green Fest Preparation Photo Explosion!

Green Fest went amazing! To give you an idea of how it went, we sold out of shirts in the first hour, Mr. Matthews' dedication was standing room only, and the cafeteria was so full we had a line out the door to get in. We are in the process of compiling all of the photos taken by different students. We hope to post them very soon. Thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers, and attendants! We couldn't do it without you.

We usually spend a majority of our Environmental Studies classes outdoors. To prepare for Green Fest we stepped up our game and spent even more time outside.

Mr. Brooks' (or Brooks's, which spell check marked as wrong by the way)classes spent a lot of time preparing a meditation labyrinth.

Om...

 

They worked hard with the chickens. Allowing them to get some exercise, and to  out on the open range in our chicken tractors. We are already getting eggs!

 

They also worked on creating a new space for our school to compost in. They are creating a renewable material called cob. It is a building material made up of straw, clay, water, and sand. Once it dries it is seismic, fire proof, and RENEWABLE!

Just tell mom Mr. Brooks made you do it.

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) graciously donated $500 to the Green Academy to help us purchase 16 trees. We got 14 various fruits trees and 2 Lace Bark Elms. Here are the students preparing the holes for AMDs volunteers. I think they like it!

Yay! Holes!

 

With all of our rain and a lot of student watering, all of our plants are thriving and in full bloom.  A little bit of compost tea also helps to speed the process along. It is perfect for the Monarch butterfly migration which will be heading our way very soon.

 

 

The greenhouse work surfaces are finished and are already being used to propagate seed, cacti, succulents, and trees. You may see some new and old faces (plants).

Who is that guy with the sunglasses?

Seedling!

 We also did our first clean sweep of the year.

And of course it is always nice when we get to see some of our native inhabitants. Here is a checkered garter snake we found while clearing out an over grown field. They are the true reason we are gardening and planting natives. This truly shows our balance between permaculture and native gardening. We released the snake after each class got a chance to observe.