5/4 - Plants update

Written by: Emma Moser

Pictures by: Lola Barrientez, Alexia McAleer

It’s been a while since we’ve made a blog, so today we’re updating you on our plants and gardens, because there’s been some progress everywhere! 

Here’s gardener progress:                   This one is the sunflower. 

Here’s some progress on other plants:

Fig trees! There’s big green figs, but none are ripe yet

Agarita bush! There were a ton of bordered plant bugs on it. Unfortunately, our cheap school chromebooks could not capture them, but I promise they’re there!

This is of the turtle pond, and how it 

got super clear. We are still trying to

 take out everything that will harm 

these plants.

Lastly, here’s our mulberry trees!

 I suggest you don’t eat from them, 

because there’s a lot of tiny white 

bugs on them, which I think are fruit

 mites but I’m not sure. I ate a 

bunch of them when I didn’t see 

them and I was fine, though. I personally just don’t want to

 eat bugs.

 4/1 Edible plants that you might have in your backyard!

Written by Emma Moser

Pictures by Alex Neely

Although our gardeners work hard to produce their own chosen types of produce, there are probably a few edible plants already around your house! Here are a couple common plants that you can find around your neighborhood (some of these grow at small too!)

Prickly Pear - Wood sorrel - 

 both the green pads a bit tart but edible right from the ground

 and pink fruits are edible.

Pecan tree - Chile Pequin -

Pecans are a sweet type of nut, This is a type of pepper. They’re very spicy 

They’re very good right off the tree and can be used in salsas

4/10/26: - Cow and Sheep Update

Written by: Emma Moser

Pictures by: Emma Moser, Lola Barrientez

Due to construction of a new fence, the two cows and two sheep were moved to a temporary new area. Here’s some pictures of Johnny and Howdy, settling into their transitory shelter (which includes a loafing shed!)

Howdy chillin in the shed             Johnny enjoying the overcast day

 The two sheep, Kale and Nova, were shaved recently and there’s a huge bucket of their wool that will be sold to support our school, so they look a bit bald right now!

This guy was very curious about my computer Kale and Nova sleeping in the hay

 Garden update! 

The gardens have grown enough to be harvested! There is lots of kale and lettuce available to the gardeners that have grown it. They can bring anything they grow home, so if you have any kids in gardening you might expect some crops to be brought home. 

 3/25/26: Turtle blog!! 

During the winter the level of the water went down very low and that caused the native racones on campus to reach in and take the turtles to eat. This happened because the people responsible for refilling the pond forgot to fill it to the level it needed, making it harder for the turtles to hide. After a while we added more water so that the remaining turtle could stay safe. Therefore we could add more in the future so they would be able to come back. Sadly only one survived. But right now we are trying to fix the problem so we are able to get more turtles and keep the pond healthy. This also shows what would happen in the wild when water gets low in rivers, or ponds and wild animals would eat them.

 Animals on campus: Skunk

At Clint Small, there’s plenty of non-farm animals that we have living here on campus. We have one skunk that has caused problems in the past, and just today has been aggravated, by Royal, Mr. Jeansonne’s pet dog. 

Skunks only spray when threatened, as a last resort. We can assume Royal was messing with its sleeping space, and got sprayed. Although we love our animals, the 

Skunk is considered a pest. If you 

Ever see a skunk, stay away! It 

Gives you warning signs like stamping,

raising their tail, hissing, and twisting 

their body to aim at the threat. Keep in mind that they’re nocturnal, so it’s rare to see them out and about during the day!

 Spring Time

Spring time is here and the plants on campus are starting to bloom! Texas plants are known to love the heat, and now that the cold is seceding, gardeners are on easy street. 

But we know how our weather is, one day it’s a breezy 65, and the next it’s a high of 90, so make sure you’re prepared for the heat waves we’ll surely be getting! 

We asked the gardeners what they are going to do to keep the plants safe when the extreme hot weather comes.  

The gardeners said: Watering extra at night and in the morning and harvesting them before the heat comes.

   Happy spring!!!

 Garden Growth!

The gardeners have some very big progress to report in their gardens. Some new plants have sprouted, which is very exciting news for us. 

Onions+beets     Lettuce     More Lettuce!

If you’re more interested in the bigger growth, 

Asa’s Kale Garden is going very well!

We’re very proud of our gardeners, especially with the recent colder nights they’re still going strong!

 Chicken update:

So far the bantam chickens have grown so much. They grew in height, length, and personality. Right now we have many different chickens with a variety of sizes, colors, and textures. 

 With so much chicken diversity in the pen, there’s a lot of room for favorites. Here are the top 4 most loved chicks we have.  

Burnt Chicken Nugget  -     Alpaca       - Texture Powder  - Rooster (the rooster)

Fun fact! We have a lot of different chickens with similar traits as Burnt Chicken Nugget, and they’re each named different variants of nuggets. (e.g, uncooked chicken nugget)

 Animals Update: 

So far on our campus we have a large variety of animals. We have chickens, baby chicks, ducks, mini goats, a mini cow, a mini longhorn, and sheep. They are all very amazing and the sheep’s wool we sell. Another thing we have is the foxes and skunks and rats that hunt for food in our garden.

Here are some pictures of our larger animals

 Lately the gardeners have been creating a new garden, which is involving new plants and new soil. 

Question of the day: What are you growing?

Gardener 🗣️ 

Liam: Long Day Onions, Sweet bell peppers, Scallion Onion, Mild Chili Pepper, and Dill

Another thing is that everyone who wants to have a garden has to build their own garden and make sure it's healthy. 

Fact of the Day: Onions block bugs

Joke of the Day: What did the mushroom say to the tree?

🗣️What?

I’m a fungi!

 The Outdoor Classroom

There’s been a new installation at CSMS, and it’s a big one! 

This is an all new outdoor classroom, containing a shipping container, an overhead roof, and many metal tables for students to work on while outside. This also provides shade from the sun that protects the students as they work in different classes. It has metal tables for different things. Another thing is that the whole thing is made out of metal so it won’t wear or break easily.

  Chicken Coop

We got 30 chicks in October. The construction group built a coop for them, they also made a fence to keep them inside the area.  

Inside the coop they have a perch that they can  sleep on. Also in the area they have a walkway that they can walk across and stand on. 

Social outreach is painting the coop pink. They also are going to make a sign for the chicken area.

 Cows

Howdy Howdy is a mini longhorn. He has some orange spots and white spots. He is social but more shy than Johnny. He also eats hay. The mini longhorns live up to 25 years but only with good care.

Johnny  

Johnny is a mini highland cow. He has dark orange fur. Mini highland cows are more gentle then the regular highland cows. They eat hay and they live up to 20  years. 

With the recent weather events Austin has been getting particularly cold which has set up for all the chickens in the Ducks to get all cozy up in their coops.

This winter has been very cold and even snowed. Some of the plants have been injured or died from the  cold. 

We do not have enough space for all of the people in our class to plant, so the manual labor group has begun to expand the garden, and grow winter plants.

Every student will be growing something in our garden this semester.

Here are some of what we will grow.

broccoli, kale, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, arugula, tomato, cucumber, squash, zucchini, melons, peppers, etc.

This will be our first opportunity to grow fruit.

Clint Small Middle School's Green Tech Program is paving the way for environmental studies and technology innovation!

Proudly a National “Green Ribbon” school and the first in Texas to earn the Eco-Schools USA Green Flag Award from the National Wildlife Federation. 

Learn more and "Find Your Seat" at Austin ISD : https://www.austinisd.org/enroll

#AISDFindYourSeat #GreenTech #EcoSchoolsUSA #EnvironmentalEducation 

 ¡El programa de Tecnología Verde de la Escuela Secundaria Clint Small está abriendo el camino para los estudios ambientales y la innovación tecnológica! 

Orgullosa de ser una escuela "Listón verde" nacional y la primera de Texas en obtener el premio Eco-Schools USA Green Flag de la Federación Nacional de Vida Silvestre. 

Obtenga más información y "Encuentre su lugar" en el Austin ISD : https://www.austinisd.org/enroll

#AISDFindYourSeat #GreenTech #EcoSchoolsUSA #EnvironmentalEducation