(Some images have been borrowed from other sites due to technical dificulties)
This year has started off great! The students
have already worked on many projects to benefit our school.
A salad bar has been added to our cafeteria. Adding
more healthy options in the cafeteria is always a goal of our program. Soon the food
in the salad bar will hopefully all be grown in our vegetable gardens. We
have expanded our beds to begin this process. Prior to Green Fest we constructed more keyhole
gardens. Keyhole gardens allow one person to work a garden more efficiently by allowing them to reach the whole garden without moving. They also have
compost added right into the soil, through the middle mesh tube.
Our students raise chickens each year. In previous years we have raised the chicks from only a few days old to egg laying years all in class. This year we
purchased chicks from Callahan’s. Ms. Dunaway has taken care of the chicks up
to this point at her home. They have recently been brought back to school to get taken care
of by students and live in our chicken coup.
We have installed a new rainwater garden. This garden
helps catch rain to make sure it is absorbed by the plants instead of the water
becoming runoff. Runoff leads to erosion and the loss of valuable topsoil. It has held up to our "mosoonal" downpours.
The north pond that was started last year was finished this year. It has native plants like pink Turk’s cap and has a waterfall. It is also home to mosquito fish, red eared sliders,
and a plethora of insects.
The gardens that were built three years ago using a National Wildlife Foundation grant always need maintenance. This year our benches were beginning to look like they needed some help. We replaced some boards. and we have them a new coat of green and
purple paint. Go Cougars and Green Tech!
Green Fest was a great success! This festival raised
money for upcoming projects by selling native plants, t-shirts, entry fees for all of our awesome activites, and from donations from vendors. We are going to sell the remaining plants throughout this week ending this Friday, 10/18, at our school.
We are also still selling mulch and Green Fest shirts. Mulch is $4 a yard. Shirts are $10. You can also contact Mr. Rosenberg, nate.rosenberg@austinisd.org, if you would like to come out any purchase any items throughout the week.
Some
of the plants we still have are:
·
Esperanza (yellow Bells)
·
Mexican Feather
grass (wire grass)
·
Bulbine
·
Red
Shrimp Plant
·
Mexican
Plum
·
Conoclinium
Gregg (small, grey)
·
Black
Foot Daisy
·
Palm
Lady Tree
·
4 Nerve
Daisy
·
Mexican
Bush sage (purple)
·
Desert
Willow
·
Star
Tree Ivy
·
Fall Aster
·
American
Beauty Berry
·
Mexican
Beauty Berry
·
Mountain
Laurel
·
Oxford
Pink Salvia
·
Salvia
greggi
·
Turks
Cap
·
Texas
Rock Rose
