The Uncommon Green Leaf: The Green Academy Newsletter Vol. 3 #1 !!Fall Market Days Information!!

 Hello All!

It appears this Newsletter and their appearances on the blog have become even more sporadic and intermittent. Hopefully they will become even more extra-ordinary, odd, peculiar, and exceptional!

Over the Summer, our wonderful Teaching Assistant/Professor/Mr. Bright-Side, Mr. Justin Fyffe, accepted a position with the Science Mill. He is working in their Aquaponics Greenhouse. He and his wife, Amber, are starting a new chapter in Johnson City and we wish them the best!

Justin was in charge of our Social Media and Outreach. His absence will be missed, but it also resulted in our Instagram and the In Small Garden Blog being even more rare and irregular.

Our hope is that when we are able to post on the Blog and on Instagram, it will be a place to feature students' written work and their accomplishments in the gardens. 

On to the NEWSLETTER!

This semester started out just like the way each school year seems to. The halls were full, students were loud and excited, and they were masked. It truly feels like a different school year, after Remote Learning and such a small in school population at school last year, but at the same time it was just like always. This student, like many others, got his first chance to interact directly with nature. This was the first time he ever help a chicken. He was so excited he asked me to take this photo so he can show his Mom!

Students began work in the gardens maintaining and removing the overgrowth from our time at home during Remote Learning and the Summertime Break. The excessive growth, mostly from our Summer Sunflower Fields, was chopped and used to begin the process of making compost. Mr. Brooks repurposed some cinderblocks, and began a more permanent area for Compost growth.

Mr. Brooks' classes continued their work on cultivating, enriching, and upgrading the Food Forest on the Northside.

Mr. Jeansonne's students have taken over the work on the remaining food gardens on the Northside. The Sunshine Garden has been completely overhauled and renewed. The former Meditation Labyrinth and Medicine Wheel have been repurposed into Berms and Swales for more food beds. Mr. Jeansonne's students also removed old benches. The wood was repurposed into more useful picnic tables. The whole area will become a more usable true outdoor classroom.

Mr. Rosenberg's classes have been limbing up trees, removing dead trees from the Snow-mageddon. This work has allowed all students to be able to eat outdoors in our Gardens for the first time! Students and Teachers can now use this space to also study and have classes outdoors. Through previous work by the Green Academy, donations from Double Dave's, and from the School District, our front courtyard and Backyard are full of a multitude of various tables and chairs. 

Our former All Star educator, Ms. Maia Chambers, has been volunteering her free time back to Small and to the students. Due to her amazing assistance and tutelage we got our first harvest of honey from our bees! Our Bees were also moved from the front Flood Drainage Pond to a district built fenced area near our Prairie and the Disc Golf Course around the Football Field.

The new HEB in Oak Hill, came out for a volunteer day. Students worked with Employees, Department Heads, and Managers to create Seed Balls, Compost Tea, and to plant donated Trees.

The Trees were donated by Apache. We were able to receive 50 native trees that were placed as an addition to the Green Academy Urban Forest! The Trees were able to be used to replaced vandalized and killed Memorial Trees. One of the hardest parts of working at a community space is witnessing some of the inappropriate acts that happen on our school grounds when no one is here. We will continue to urge for a culture of stewardship for our

LinkedIn:          @ApacheCorporation

Facebook:        @ApacheCorporation

Instagram:       @apachecorporation

Twitter:             @APA_Corp

Web:                  www.apacorp.com

Our Greenhouse is getting a facelift. More on that to come in future announcements!

The OG Garden is doing well. It had needed a lot of pruning and cleaning. The paths are able to be roamed. Students are catching baby spiny lizards on a daily basis. Leopard Frogs abound in our in ground cattle trough ponds..

One of my favorite observations this year was made by Mr. Jeansonne regarding our many native gardens and pollinator gardens. Some have been made for sheer utility, like We needing a place to catch excessive runoff. We built a berm and swale. It just so happened to make an amazing native habitat. Mr. Jeansonne noticed that right when our Kidneywood stopped flowering, the bees needed some other beautifully fragrant flower to swarm. The Goldenrod began flowering concurrently. These types of relationships exist all over the gardens. 

FINALLY!

The Green Academy will once again be holding the Fall Market Days Sale! Market Days will be held in the Front Courtyard, near the Front Office, on December 6-10. It will be from 4-5pm, or later by appointment. 

Students will once again be making nature related products. In years past we have made soap, candles, jewelry, bat houses, bird houses, and planters. This year students will make other products as well, including sticker, benches, swings, as well as many personal care items.

 

Speak with your students if you would like them involved in participating and making items. Made products will be donated to the Green Academy. Donated items will be compensated with replaced assignment grades. 

Please come out and support the Green Academy!