A Visit from a Surveyor

Today we had a visit from Rowan from The Surveying Company.  Rowan talked to the children about what surveyors do.  The children were really interested and loved his equipment. Rowan was very kind to allow the students to try out his survey marker detector and to explain how the maps and work surveyors do has changed over the years with the use of GPS and satellite technology.

We then went onto the field and he found an iron survey or boundary marker that he and the children dug up.  We learned that it is against the law to remove or damage a survey mark.    Rowan then surveyed the field with a group of captivated students help.

The children could then choose from several different activities.

Identifiying Trees and Shrubs Using 'Garden Answers'

This group set to work trying to identify the existing vegetation on the field.   We used an app called ' My Garden Answers' http://www.gardenanswers.com/.    There were several plants we couldn't identify so will have to continue this over the next few weeks.

Entering the Honey Flow Compiterion

The students made a video with Georgia to win a Flow Honey Hive.  Please head to the flow hive site to vote for our school to win a hive and all the beekeeping kit click on the heart to vote ... https://www.honeyflow.com/news/bee-creative-competition-gallery/p/294?d=6iclg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhUMtIhB-ng

Working on Farm Ideas

We then got together as a group and talked about what we would like to take from what we have seen to do on our own farm. Bees were at the top of this list the combination of bees and lavender was thought to be a fantastic idea to produce honey, food for the bees and use lavender in balms and other beeswax products. The children all want to grow berries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, apples, feijoas and grapes were other favorites.

Popping corn, hazelnuts and pumpkins are on the list too. There was another suggestion to have a donkey as a school pet. We will perform an exercise in the next few weeks where we work out how much space we need and how many plants/trees/bushes we would need to produce enough of these crops to feed the school and how much more we would need to sell some to generate some farm income.

A special thank you to The Surveying Company http://www.subdivision.net.nz/   The children loved it and Rowan was great!