Weekly Update Jan 7-11

This week on the HHS Family Farm work was done to both the garden and the farm for the goat and chickens. In the garden, the students installed four 10' high posts that will be the corners of the bean trellis. For the chickens, the students removed the chicken run that was installed before  Christmas break and made a new run to mirror the softball center field. For Felicia the goat, the students made two temporary enclosures on campus for Falecia to use during the day.



Finally, the bean trellis construction has begun.  The bean trellis has been on my mind since last January.  The bean trellis is scheduled to be built as part of the grant money, but the grant folks are very slow in reacting to our needs. As a result, I have been keeping my eye open for materials that could be used from other sources. At first, I thought I had found the jackpot. Construction is taking place on Foothill Blvd.in Claremont. A portion of old fencing is being updated, But the removal of the material is pretty much destroying it. While I was in the UUSD district warehouse area I found a staging area full of fence posts. Four were used in the construction of the bean trellis. The students dug four holes approx 20 inches deep and 12 inches wide where they place the 3" dia. post and filled the hole with concrete.

Right before the Christmas break, I purchased 300 ft of four-foot high orange plastic temporary fencing. The fencing was placed along the existing garden fence in an area that included some of the grass on the football field. While looking for material for the bean trellis as described earlier, I also found a cart in the district area that had rolls and rolls of the temporary fencing. I grabbed some of this material to increase the size of the new chicken run.  The new chicken run takes up an area next to the existing storage bin in an area that would be a part of the center field of the softball field. The students place the fencing up to act as a center field fence. Anything hit over the fence would be considered a ground rule double. Very creative!

 

The third task the students completed this week was the construction of two holding areas for Felicia the goat. A first area was chosen near the science classroom. The area was short-lived for two reasons. First, the goat could use a portion of the existing wall as a launch platform to jump over the new wall the students had built. The walls the students built were made out of pallets. A modification was made that did secure the goat in the pen, but the goat was making too much noise and it was bothering classes.
A second location was selected and the pallets were relocated into the new area. The new area is working out great! The new area is next to the bike racks and skateboard storage between room 2 and the hawks nest.

 

and the new area: