Spot of Gardening

[Slartibartfast]

I've just come in from watering the Ag plot with waste water from the fish farm. It's such a nice day with the birds singing and the children screaming that I just had to take a pic and share it with you.

I've been lazy with the weeding as you can see. I just can't be bothered when the sun is out!

[dolphinscales]

Looking good richard - nothingl iek screaming kids to relax you huh

[sunray18]

your job sounds heavenly - want a switch for a change!

[Slartibartfast]

Ha! Ha! You wouldn't want to swap if you'd met the goat!

I do enjoy going up to the farm each day, bit of me time. I think we all need some every now and then out of the prep room rush!

[cactus155]

I get to look out my window at an orchard, a vegetable garden, compost bins, and a pile of horse manure that one of the Assistant Principals, a Science Teacher and a subject called "Green Team" are establishing and looking after. I also help out in this class from time to time and the classes have split into small groups undertaking Sustainability type projects ranging from collecting old mobile phones for recycling, to propagating native seeds and cuttings to waste/energy/water audits to maintaining/improving/finding out what businesses back onto the creek that runs down between the oval and the school buildings as sometimes there is a oil type slick on the creek.
It has been good getting outside when the weather has been nice but there might not be much time outside in the next few months though.

At the moment a lot of the prep room floor space has cardboard boxes on, these are meant to be going into classrooms so that paper can be collected for recycling. Also for the last few weeks I have been taking the container of empty glass bottles from the staffroom on a Friday night and placing them in my household recycling bin rather than them ending up in the skip and heading straight to landfill. We also have a separate bin for cardboard recycling but I have taken food, expanded polystyrene and other non cardboard material out of this bin on many occasions.

[Labbie]

We have a main road outside my prep window, the other side it just over looks our quad for this block, cerment cerment Not too many gardens in this school, but then again, I believe it is not the GA job to do gardens, but a few flowers would be nice.

[kimm]

Hy Richard - I have got 46 acres of weeds if you need practice on the weeding scene - either that or lend me your goat.

[Slartibartfast]

No thanks, we're on 23 acres here and that's a big enough footprint!

Brian the goat is currently carniverous and has a taste for fresh unsuspecting teaching staff so, no good on weeds I'm afraid!

Doesn't mind pavlova and/or pancakes with icecream as a surprised cooking class discovered last week! He's a sort of hairy waste disposal unit. Very handy.

[kimm]

Dammitt - I was contemplating a goat or two for the property for a bit of lawnmowing. Definately will rethink that one. Can't have any more lay about bludging animals. We already have 3 zaney geese that provide me with an endless source of amusement (if nothing else) , gang warfare against the chickens, surprise attacks on our hounds, verbal abuse of any visitors. They are supposed to eat the fallen fruit - lychees - off the ground but have discovered that they are much fresher when picked off the trees. Not so helpful.

have a good weekend.

Kim

[Slartibartfast]

Goats/sheep/children in general are good for keeping the grass down, it's just ours in particular doesn't believe it's a goat. They aren't all lunatics.

[Ocean Breeze]

Windows? You guys got windows?!!

[labman]

I know what you mean, Barbara. Our science block is surrounded by lovely gardens. It's a shame I have no windows to gaze out over them!!!!!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

Your welcome to come and gaze over mine if you weed them as you go! How are you with deranged goats?

I don't care much for windows (even though I have lots of them) as it makes me wish I was on the other side of them. I can give you a quick recipe for window making though! Got a sizeable chunk of sodium metal going to waste?

Look at how my garden is growing compared to the previous pics:

[labman]

Hi Richard,
Strangely enough, I'd kill to come and weed your garden, I love gardening. Your making my veggie patch(at home) look very sad though. Adelaide recently had a heatwave that fried everything, including my poor veggies. Your patch looks beautiful. What exactly have you got in there?
P.S. I'm a big fan of Brian, I'm sure he would help me!!!
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

There's corn, tomatos, carrots, lettuce (3 types) thyme, snowpeas (my favorite) and something else that's growing in a row but could be uniform weeds.

Brian the goat has a big following both here and at the school. The latest trick of students is to distract him while another moves the metal peg he's attached to about 1 metre. Pity the poor fool to come and stir him as they quickly discover he is now 1 metre closer to them than the eaten grass line suggests! I don't exactly encourage it, but.....

Can you buy goat helmets? He's only got a walnut for a brain and I would like to stop it rattling around inside his skull when he boofs people/things.

[labman]

Great stuff Richard! Do the kids look after it all, or do you end up doing most of it? Has Brian ever got loose, and helped himself? It would be a very tempting sight for a hungry goat!! By the way, I've never seen goat helmets for sale, but the rattle might serve as a warning to those about to be butted, so I would let him rattle!!! I think it's time you posted a few happy snaps of our favourite mascot.....it's been too long.
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

Rattle a warning like a rattle snake! Great idea!!!!

As for helmets I think he'd be a 4 litre ice cream container these days with a couple of holes for his horns. Cheap too!

Here's a pic of the fat bugger gorging himself moments before the teacher taking the photo ended up on the deck after a de-horning exercise. These were his Bob Marley days as you can see by the dreadlocks, he's been trimmed since this pic was taken and looks more like Simon Le Bon.

I tend to be the one to look after him, he attacks me slightly less than the others because I'm the hand that feeds him. He may be thick but he's not stupid! The students take him for walks around the place and move him to greener bits of field but he needs a visual incentive - usually a brave (and fast) student waving a carrot in front of him.

[labman]

Love that look!!!! Do you know us girls pay big dollars at the hairdressers to get curls like that! I just love him, you can tell by his face he has a lot of personality under that hair. You are very lucky Richard, to have such an interesting work colleague. I bet he's more fun than most of the teachers!! Thanks for the pic.
Cheers,
Lisa

[Slartibartfast]

Would you like some of his curls? I'll bag you up some! You might look a bit like Brett Whitley the artist as a result, but that's ok!!!!

His eyesight surprisingly doesn't suffer whatsoever when his fleece is this long. Then again, I think he just butts into anything that takes his fancy (i.e. everything!)

[labman]

I'd take you up on that, Richard, if I thought I could get away with coming to work resembling Bob Marley!! The students might think I was "cool", but I don't think it would go down very well.
Tell me, what do you do with the veggies? Are they planted as an experiment, or are they used for experiments, or is it more a fun thing.
Cheers,
Lisa