santa barbara country n news-i feel like a proud parent

SANTA BARBARA COUNTRY N NEWS-I FEEL LIKE A PROUD PARENT

that picture above is a label we made for some wine we made once at a make your own wine place
we always felt like that was a picture of the infamous larry the rooster who showed great joy in attacking my wife she when she wasnt looking


before it was planted


after it was planted

in 2014 my wife she came home and said we are going to do a school garden at our school
would you help me do my garden for my class
so
i did an approximately 3 ft x 4 ft raised bed from concrete cinder blocks
i did them eventually two layers high
in the bottom of the hole i put layers of cardboard to smother the invasive bermuda that was growing in the garden
i then brought in a load of the best organic garden soil that had compost minerals really rich healthy garden soil and filled up the bed
in the middle i added a circular bin that was made from chicken wire and was about 1 ft in diameter
this bin was used as a compost bin for the garden bin
it would feed the garden soil over time as the kids composted in it

around the garden i put a wide strip of black plastic covered with a thick layer of crushed granite to help keep the bermuda out of the garden bed

i remember a student helped me do the work
my guess he had some type of mental illness or was autistic
all i remember was he worked hard and seemed to really enjoy working in the garden
he never would look me in the eye and frequently talked to himself
but
he did smile some while he was working there

now i wasnt the brains behind this school garden
that was all the teachers and the students that thought all this up and did the work
i only contributed to the cause


this was about the time i helped one of the high schools where my wife she eventually ended up working until she retired to set up this 3,000 gallon rainwater tank so the rainwater could be used to water the new trees that were planted and the nearby native plants

i also not long before had put in my complete rainwater system that would eventually hold 30,000 gallons of water
i always felt like every school should collect rainwater off their buildings and should also have school gardens to plant veggies that they could eat and to make their own compost for the garden

so
i suggested to my wife she that we donate a rainwater tank to the school
so
one weekend i loaded up a 1500 gallon rainwater tank in my truck and hauled it to the school
i placed it in the location where it still sits
i chose that location as it was near a downspout and was strategically located so it could service the green house and the gardens

so one school day i hauled my 20 ft ladder to the school
climbed up to the top of the building
dropped 20 ft of 2in pvc down the 1 ft wide downspout
placed a 3in to 2in pvc reducer to act as the funnel for the new 2 in pvc downspout
the students held the ladder for me as i dropped the pipe down inside the bigger downspout
then
the students helped me connect the pvc downspout to the 1500 gal rainwater tank

i attached a water hose that could be used via gravity to water the beds or fill up watering cans

now
fast forward 5 years

the teachers and students obtained a grant to pay for a wind turbine to generate electricity which gets stored in a battery to provide electricity to a pump which is connected to the rainwater tank
when the water is turned on the pump can be used to pump water to the garden beds

just like when i did my wife shes garden and did the downspout the students did a lot of the work

i am sure they will always remember this project

here is the youtube video describing what they did

yep
im a proud parent

the organicgreen doctor