Hampton Hills

Hampton Hills, I loved the restaurant because the kids were so cute working as our servers! The food was delicious, I loved the lamb and Greek salad! I'm glad I got to take a picture with these hard working students! I like the idea of having the kids gain work experience at a young age in a fun and interact way, which is such is a good way for them to mature and grow in the real world! 

Phoenix High School

 I thought using old shoes and rain boots was a creative way to be reuse as soil pot for plants!

Phoenix High School, I took a picture of the apple tree that was planted by the UofM students from last year. I thought the lesson plan on this apple tree worked well with incorporating a discussion on the grafted apple tree. I also learned about grafting that I did not know before this lesson. Although I didn't get to teach at Phoenix High School, I enjoyed my time there. I thought the school offering community classes such as cooking and planting lessons as a way to use the garden was very unique and wish we had in MN.

Kew Garden

The Tree House at Kew Garden was incredibly fun! The tree house gave us a great view of Kew garden and completed my work out for the day! We had to walk a long ways to get to the tree house, but it was worth the trip!

 The Japanese garden at Kew was my favorite to visit because I love Japanese landscape! The ancient and eastern design is amazing and beautifully enriched with history!

 I believe this was the magnolia tree, I love the color of it very majestic.

Monica and I posed with the mushroom statues, which was pretty awesome! I want these gigantic mushroom statues in my backyard one day! =D

Those pictures represent some of my favorite moments at Kew garden. Aside form exploring, I learned many new things during the tour. The most interesting topic was learning about the chromosome of the plants. Also the Chinese herbs that's used as medicine and the whole process of it was fun to hear. I could spend all day at Kew garden definitely would go back to visit again!

Christ Church Primary School

Colette Morris, second from left, is the Head Teacher for Christ Church primary school. She is holding the cookbook we gave the school this year. Monica, from left, Abby and Alisha surround the Honeycrisp apple tree we gave the school last year. 

Free Day in London!

I got to cross the famous Abby Road like the Beatles did. Visited King 's cross station where Harry Potter was filmed. Got to walk around Harrods the most expensive mall in the world. And got to see the Sherlock homes sign. Great day!

Indian Food!

Authentic Indian food! I love curry, I freaked out at how amazing the food tasted! Indian food is so flavorful! I don't know how u live life if you don't love Indian food and if you weren't there you missed out :P. The curry was amazing! I also learned that London has a high population of Indians, which is really cool. I bought 2 silky scarfs made in India for 5 pounds while shopping on Oxford street!  (:

First Day in London

First day in London, we went to Wisely flower garden and had such a  lovely time! The second day in London, we walked across the millennium bridge and the tower bridge! We got to see the St. Paul cathedral filled with amazing art and chandeliers on the ceiling. We went to check out the  Tate museum and the water color river side museum. We bar hop to a few of pubs and tried different kinds of beer! So far I love, love London! (:

The bamboos at Wisley Garden was one of my favorites!

 I forgot the name of this tree, but I loved the pink and red colors on the flowers! One of my favorites!

 Mitch and I saw Bumble Bee, I had to snap a picture because he's my favorite from transformers!

The lovely Tower Bridge! =D

Christ Church Primary School

Last day of teaching and free day

Yesterday was our last day of teaching. We had the opportunity to teach at Phoenix Hgh School. The students that we had are all learning horticulture as well as the core subjects such as English and math. There are only six students in the class but only four showed up yesterday. One of the students doesn't want to do horticulture for a career,  another wants to do landscape design, one wants to do tree surgery, and the other wants to plant seeds. It was great being able to team up with a Horticulture student only a few years younger than me and share my experiences. We also did a short lesson on grafting which the students knew nothing about but hopefully got something out of. In one of their greenhouses, they had a dry erase board with where everything was within the garden and what tasks still needed to be completed. I thought this was a very efficient method to keep track of everything in regards to the garden.

On Friday, we had a free day. First I went to Hampton Court.  We walked through the palace a little and went through the maze. We also walked through a few of the gardens. After that, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral,  the Monument, saw tower bridge from afar, walked by the Gherkin and  shard, then we walked by Shakespeare's Globe. Finally, we went to King's Cross station and found platform 9 and 3/4.

Last Days of Teaching

So on Wednesday we went Brockwell park where we saw the community garden.  The community garden needs to be explained.  As I understand it the garden is somewhere you come to work in the garden but the food is not for you but for local events and charities.  I thought it was a really neat idea.

After the garden we went to Christchurch.  The students were great we went out to their "Secret Garden".  It was hidden gem and I realize why it got it's name.  The garden is tucked away in the apartment complex in between some buildings.  The kids were great, they presented to us and then took us out to the garden to work on their garden.  They had their projects and they got to tell us what to do.

Thursday we went to Phoenix where we toured their farm.  What a beautiful set up.  The gardens there help multiple students from the oldest to the youngest and also contributes to the community.  Community members come in and help maintain the garden.  The kids were older so they were talking with us and it was great.  They were telling us about their lives and what they were planning to do.  Two of the four kids we met went and walked around with us to the community gardens.  It was a great time.

Tuesday Class at Hampton Hill Junior School

I'm posting this a day late, but yesterday we visited Hampton Hill Junior School which is located out in the quaint Richmond/Twickenham area outside of London in a gorgeous Victorian Era school building. Right as we walked through the gates we could see the garden through another gate to our right and the foot path most likely traveled by much smaller feet wound off around the side of the school. Our coordinator for the day, a 4th Year teacher and the garden manager, greeted us inside. Surprisingly, the first thing we did was sit in on the first part of a string music recital some of the kids were putting on for their parents. An outside organization had come into the school for, if I remember correctly, the past few weeks to teach the kids the basics of violin, viola and cello. Most songs consisted of open strings and one finger down, but honestly I was pretty impressed. I've always thought a music education is important especially in younger grades, just as much as I think learning hands on in the garden is so I thought this was a really cool experience for the children. 

Then we went on a tour of the garden, which was probably the most impressive school garden I've seen yet. A large raised pond sat in one end of the garden full of frogs, newts, plants and many other creatures. Raising it off the ground not only decreases the drowning liability, but allows the kids to see things closer to eye level. Then there were small beds dedicated to certain lessons such as plants that could be used as dye, an herb bed and so on. Bug hotels provided an area for kids to search for critters and two empty dirt beds were provided just for little hands and trowels to simply dig around in. A large patio with benches served as a perfect meeting or lesson area. Just on the other side of this were the raised beds for fruits and veggies, a small greenhouse for seed starting and storage, and a potting bench at a good level for kids to pot up seeds and starter plants. The kids also had designated wellies for walking around in muddy areas and a small shed for their tools, gloves and other supplies. 

The thing that impressed me the most was the chicken coop at the very back end of the garden. 10 chickens scratching around in their fence in yard with a large and small coops/pens for locking them in at night clucked curiously at us as we crowded their living space. A good number of chickens had been hatched by the children and all the chickens had names like Henrietta, Blossom, Honeysuckle and Omelette. Opening an easily accessible hatch in the side we found around 6 eggs the children would get to collect later. These eggs were sold on Fridays to parents and the money mainly went to covering the feed for the layers. Our guide explained how many children rotated through the role of Chicken Monitor. 

My job when we worked with the class was to help plant seeds and the students loved hearing about the sensitive plant whose leaves curl up when you touch them and marveled at how small the seeds were. When they weren't planting seeds, they were immediately running off to the pond. Just their excitement about everything in the pond convinced me that every school needs something like that. After the class got out, we spoke at the all-class assembly where the kids asked us a lot of questions, mostly about America. I had to laugh at how huge their eyes got when we told them how cold Minnesota could get and how much snow we still had on the ground. But I had a great time with the kids and I loved their garden program. 

London highlights

Hey all--getting my first blog post up for the London trip. It's been super fun so far, I just wanted to put up pictures from things we've done the last few days and my thoughts on them.

This photo is from the garden at Brandlehow, the first school we visited on Monday. Among the many pictures I took there, I got one of this tree (growing apples or pears, I think) along the back wall. This was the first time I'd ever seen a tree being grown like this, but since Monday I've noticed them in almost every garden we've visited. I looked this up, and apparently trees grown with this technique are called espaliers. They are pruned and shaped, both for decorative purposes and for efficiency in bearing fruit.

Here's one photo from Kew Gardens later that day, it's the walkway near the student/intern plots. Besides the gardens being gorgeous, one think I noticed (that may be true elsewhere and I just haven't been paying attention) is how meticulously kept they are. I saw a guy going around the edges of the beds nearby with a hedge clippers; it got me to think about how much care and attention goes in to taking care of spaces like this.

I also thought there was some really interesting information from the tour we got. I wouldn't have known about all the research they do there otherwise. The forensics and genomics work in particular were very cool, and eye-opening as far as the range of horticulture-related jobs that exist.

Here's a shot of the beehives at Kew! I've seen hives at a few places here so far. This year I've learned a lot about the near-crisis situation that honey bee populations are in, at least in the US, with the amount of pests and insecticides threatening them, and the lack of good forage available. I'm not sure what the situation is like in the UK, but knowing that has made me more attuned to beekeeping in general, so I noticed these.

And here's a picture of that peacock everyone has been talking about:

Here is chicken at Hampton Hills! This school was great, the teaching was really fun that day--the kids were really engaged and it seemed like everyone had a great time. I was also really impressed with their restaurant. Overall, it seems like they are making really good use of their garden, and have found a lot of engaging, creative ways to incorporate it into teaching.

Last, this morning we went to Brockwell Community Gardens. I liked a lot of what they had going on there. The fact that England has volunteer gardens growing and donating food was very cool to me. I think we could use something like that in the US. Our food assistance and emergency food relief programs are often swamped with foods that are low in nutritional value, and getting more fresh fruits and vegetables to replace those is really important. A program like this could contribute to making that change.

Hampton Hills, the city at night, and teaching at Christ Church

Yesterday, we visited Hampton Hills and taught the 4th year about apples. We taught them about the growing process from seed and briefly discussed grafting. Another group did tasting with gala, pink lady, and bramley which is the cooking apple and tastes very sour unless it is cooked. The other groups discussed the change of an apple tree based on the seasons and a final group did some planting of seeds. It's was cool to see their garden which had features such as a place where children could dig for worms, a bug house which is popular in the school gardens in England, and a chicken coop all of which can be found in the images. Within the garden each student has a specific task.  We also had the opportunity to eat at the restaurant the students were running. There was also an assembly where we introduced ourselves and talked to the students about America.

Last night,  some of us students explored the main city and saw places such as the London eye and Big Ben and Parliament at night.

This morning we started off by visiting Brockwell Park and community gardens. They grow food and donate it to the community.  Schools are able to visit and work on various projects in the garden. They have benches in the greenhouse used for planting in small groups as well as other activities such as building birdhouses which was an activity that was taking place this morning with those assigned community service hours.

Later today we visited Christ Church School and worked with year 6. First, we learned about their garden which is three years old, rated level 5 by the Royal Horticulture Society, and named 'Our Secret Garden.' While in the garden students are split into groups of three with one of them as the leader. Each group has a different task such as watering , mulching,  weeding, or planting. We had the opportunity to experience this today as can be seen in the pictures below. During break, parents, families and the community help tend the garden. It was great being outside and seeing how much the students enjoyed being out in the garden.

First Days of teaching

Hey everybody!  Day three had all of us at Brandlehow teaching.  My age group was 8-9.  They were great.  Everybody was curious and willing to participate.  They knew so much and asked great questions.  I really wonder if I was that smart as a kid and I highly doubt it.

That afternoon we went to Kew Gardens.  Seeing the labs were amazing. I really enjoyed the herbarium.  To know all those plants are there from all over the world and through the years. The gardens were amazing.  I wish I could have seen more.  There was a peacock that was just walking around.  I really liked that peacock.

On Tuesday we went to Hampton Hills.  What a great group of kids.  One of the school projects is to put on a restaurant.  The child go out and by the food.  Other children prepare and cook the food.  The children had training from a nearby restaurant and they served our food.  It was a lot of fun.  After a school assembly I had a group of girls come up and ask me about fisheries.  It was great to see young children interested in my field.

Day 1-3 Wisely, Freeday, Brandlehow Garden, and Kew Garden

Hi everyone,

I didn't have time to post anything for the past three days, so I'm going to do a super long post.

On the first day, the airplane ride was a rather miserable 8 hour long ride... at least for me.  But I really can't complain too much since I have ridden a more longer ride to Taiwan.

Anyways arriving at London was terrific.  It was nice and sunny.  It was also very warm as well.  The Wisely Garden was a very nice place to go to.  I enjoyed looking at the plants and trees.  I found many unique plants, one of them included bamboo.  Who knew bamboo could grow in London!

Freeday was pretty cool as well.  I didn't do much for my group spend mostly the entire day in front of Buckingham Palace waiting to see the "Changing of the Guards" program.  I have to admit that I was slightly disapointed about it.  It wasn't as special as I thought it would turn out to be.  Instead of taking the Hop On Hop Off tour, we then decided to just walk around.  There we went to a few places including Westminister Abbey and Big Ben.

Today at Brandlehow, the Year 3 students that I went and taught, surprised me a lot.  They knew a lot about what we were teaching them.  But I must say, that made our teaching go a lot faster and smoother.  Overall I think this experience was very exciting as well as fun.  I can't wait for tomorrow's school!

Last but not least, the Kew Gardens.  I think the plants here were as magnificent as they were in the Wisely Garden.  My favorite area was the Japanese Area.  I saw a lot of cherry blossoms blooming and different types of trees growing that I have never seen before.  As for the tours that we took, the information given too us was very interesting.

Day 1 of teaching plus exploring kew

Today we started off by teaching at Brandlehow. I helped teach 5th grade about starting apples from seed, grafting, and how the apple responds to different seasons. The children seemed to enjoy it and loved the apples that we brought them to taste. I thought it was interesting that one of the students said the apple tasted like a banana. Then we explored the school garden which seemed rather small but there were a variety of different plants.

After teaching we went to Kew gardens. At Kew, we had the opportunity to explore the research labs and herbarium both of which I found interesting since I am interested in doing plant breeding. It was interesting to find out that they look at the chromosome and DNA for taxonomy as well as morphology. We also got to explore some of the other gardens there including the treetop walkway and other gardens. It's been great seeing daffodils, crocus, and hyacins in bloom here because I know they won't be blooming for another 4-6 weeks in Minnesota.  The weather has been 50-60 Fahrenheit which is gorgeous compared to minnesota. Unfortunately,  I don't have pictures at this time because I can't hook my camera up to my tablet but I hope to post some at a later date.

Tonight, after returning Monica and I decided to try one of the apples that are used for cooking here in London called Bramley. First, we tasted raw slices. They were very sour and bitter as you can tell by our faces in the first I took with my tablet. Then we warmed it up for 45 seconds in the microwave which made the apple seem a lot sweeter which is the second picture but it oxidized very quickly.  I'm very excited to teach more and explore some other gardens for the rest of out time in London.

At Wisley

Spring!

We have arrived!!!

Hey everybody! My name is Kari and I am in my fourth out of fifth year at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities.  I am going for a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife a second major in Psychology and a minor in Environmental Sciences Policy and Management.  So that is a little background about me but now here is the fun stuff.  Yesterday we arrived in London just before noon and went directly to Wisely Gardens.  We had beautiful weather when we arrived.  There are so many colors here it is great! Below is a picture from Wisely.

For today we had a free day and I took the day to go explore.  We came across the St. Patrick Day Parade. The Trafalgar square was packed with people celebrating.  It was really cool to see. 

It was a great day but a long day.  So far it has been a successful trip.  I cannot wait for tomorrow where we are going into actually teach at one of the schools.

~Kari

Free Day #1

For our first full day in London, a few of us spent our free day exploring some of the main sights. We took the tube to Hyde Park, walked through Green Park (both of which had tons of daffodils in bloom) and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.

After, our quest for lunch took us farther into the city where we found a pub for fish and chips. 

After that, we took in a few of the major sights, including the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square, the latter which was swarming with St. Patricks Day celebrations. After, we walked toward the river and saw Big Ben and Parliament, as well as Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was closed since it's Sunday so we couldn't go in, but the outside was still impressive.

We decided to see the rest of the sights on one of our other free days with a bus tour we have tickets to, but walking through London ourselves was really interesting and surprisingly easy to navigate. Even the Tube stations were really easy to figure out, so we could zip right back to the stop near our apartment building very easily.

Tomorrow we visit Brandelhow School and Kew Gardens and more schools in the day following that, so more garden related posts are to come.

-Abby