Saturday, June 29, 2019
Garden Harvest Begun
We have begun harvesting vegetables from the garden. We have picked corn, strawberries, beans, zucchini, and squash. On the chicken side, we are averaging about 13 eggs a day. We anticipate five more hens to start producing eggs soon. ( A George baby solid black, white with a pattern, two Ameraucanas and a Maran.)
Sunday, June 16, 2019
The 2019 School Year has Come to and End
The 2018/2019 school year has come to an end. But what a year it has been.
In August we had a garden that was thriving after its first full season. We had a small chicken coop that needed some work. The first attempt at updating the coop ended in a disaster with the roof collapsing after a major downpour. We had tarps on the chain link fence roof that up to that time had allowed the water to drain, this time it held the water, a lot of water and the roof collapsed under the weight. By the end of the year the Farm came together. The district put in a very nice cover for the animals and with the help of some grants materials and supplies followed.
The farm got some support with a $4,500 grant from Inland Empire Utility Authority (IEUA). A grant was written in the 2017/2018 school year but the money was spent this past school year. From the grant the garden received a 4' wide by 22' long raised garden, 4 new control valves, updated 3 new irrigated garden areas, and 12 citrus trees.
In October the students harvested the pumpkins that had been planted the school year before. WE ended up with 11 very large pumpkins and too many to count smaller pumpkins. Like the previous year we distributed many of the pumpkins to other schools in the district. This year the larger pumpkins were used at our Fall Fest after school event put on by our leadership group. (which by the way was well attended.)
The 2019 school year garden was planted in March in preparation for the IEUA grant presentation which was attended by dignitary from the community and our students.
As part of the class curriculum the students continued to work on the garden and more specifically the storage bin. This year the storage bin got a interior face lift. We added wood plywood to the already installed wood studs. Students then painted the plywood. We added storage shelving throughout to hold all of the garden and farm equipment. (We filled it) The students also built a goat milking stand.
The students also built a been trellis, a kitchen area in the garden as well as the bachelor pad adjacent to the storage bin. Students built a hay dispenser and a goat milking stand.
In April/May efforts were put into a title 1 grant for garden/farm supplies. From the grant we procured two 10' x 12' storage sheds, food for the animals for the school year (we hope it lasts that long), material to build cages for the animals, fencing, and a small chicken coop for baby chicks.
We started the school year with two adult chickens and four baby chicks, three ducks and then early in the school year picked up a goat. We had early problems with security. An opossum and a coyote attack took a few chickens and our female ducks. Prior to the attack the ducks had laid eggs, we placed the eggs into an incubator and came out with 8 hatchlings. We traded the baby ducks to an organization for baby chickens. Our flock was born. By the end of the school year we had approx. 22 chickens.
Goats: We started with a goat that the students named Felicia in October. We found out early that goats do not like being alone. The student that had supplied us with Felicia provided another goat in January, which the students named Sadie. Sadie was pregnant and on February 5 gave birth to two baby female goats. The baby goats flourished and were a great addition to the family farm. However, with summer looming we made a decision to sell the baby goats and the mom (Sadie) and only keep Felicia. Felicia will be boarded at a farm in Yucaipa over the summer with other goats.
Field Trips: We had five field trips from other schools to our farm this year. Los Osos, Upland High, Upland JH, and Foothill knolls all joined us on different occasions. With each occasion HHS students put together activities for the other students to participate in.
We also continued our efforts to educate our students on recycling. We added blue recycling cans to collect CRV and near the end of the school year had grey bins to collect food waste.
And this guy was the first chicken hatched. He was hatched last year on June 14, 2018.
In August we had a garden that was thriving after its first full season. We had a small chicken coop that needed some work. The first attempt at updating the coop ended in a disaster with the roof collapsing after a major downpour. We had tarps on the chain link fence roof that up to that time had allowed the water to drain, this time it held the water, a lot of water and the roof collapsed under the weight. By the end of the year the Farm came together. The district put in a very nice cover for the animals and with the help of some grants materials and supplies followed.
The farm got some support with a $4,500 grant from Inland Empire Utility Authority (IEUA). A grant was written in the 2017/2018 school year but the money was spent this past school year. From the grant the garden received a 4' wide by 22' long raised garden, 4 new control valves, updated 3 new irrigated garden areas, and 12 citrus trees.
In October the students harvested the pumpkins that had been planted the school year before. WE ended up with 11 very large pumpkins and too many to count smaller pumpkins. Like the previous year we distributed many of the pumpkins to other schools in the district. This year the larger pumpkins were used at our Fall Fest after school event put on by our leadership group. (which by the way was well attended.)
The 2019 school year garden was planted in March in preparation for the IEUA grant presentation which was attended by dignitary from the community and our students.
As part of the class curriculum the students continued to work on the garden and more specifically the storage bin. This year the storage bin got a interior face lift. We added wood plywood to the already installed wood studs. Students then painted the plywood. We added storage shelving throughout to hold all of the garden and farm equipment. (We filled it) The students also built a goat milking stand.
The students also built a been trellis, a kitchen area in the garden as well as the bachelor pad adjacent to the storage bin. Students built a hay dispenser and a goat milking stand.
In April/May efforts were put into a title 1 grant for garden/farm supplies. From the grant we procured two 10' x 12' storage sheds, food for the animals for the school year (we hope it lasts that long), material to build cages for the animals, fencing, and a small chicken coop for baby chicks.
We started the school year with two adult chickens and four baby chicks, three ducks and then early in the school year picked up a goat. We had early problems with security. An opossum and a coyote attack took a few chickens and our female ducks. Prior to the attack the ducks had laid eggs, we placed the eggs into an incubator and came out with 8 hatchlings. We traded the baby ducks to an organization for baby chickens. Our flock was born. By the end of the school year we had approx. 22 chickens.
Goats: We started with a goat that the students named Felicia in October. We found out early that goats do not like being alone. The student that had supplied us with Felicia provided another goat in January, which the students named Sadie. Sadie was pregnant and on February 5 gave birth to two baby female goats. The baby goats flourished and were a great addition to the family farm. However, with summer looming we made a decision to sell the baby goats and the mom (Sadie) and only keep Felicia. Felicia will be boarded at a farm in Yucaipa over the summer with other goats.
Field Trips: We had five field trips from other schools to our farm this year. Los Osos, Upland High, Upland JH, and Foothill knolls all joined us on different occasions. With each occasion HHS students put together activities for the other students to participate in.
We also continued our efforts to educate our students on recycling. We added blue recycling cans to collect CRV and near the end of the school year had grey bins to collect food waste.
And this guy was the first chicken hatched. He was hatched last year on June 14, 2018.
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