rainwater tanks revisited

RAINWATER TANKS REVISITED

five years ago i started helping with a kindergarten class and its garden
the teacher was a mentor to my wife she several years ago when she taught my nephews
when we moved to santa barbara she knew of my interest in gardening and asked if i would help reactivate her kindergarten garden or as i called it her kindergarden 

someone i volunteered with at the alzheimers association was talking to me at a luncheon and we started talking about gardening and she said you know i have these two rainwater tanks i dont need and also a composter
so i took them
the composter was set up at the kindergarden and is being used now for 5 years

i took the rainwater tanks and found 4 others on the internet
i painted them so they would match
i hooked them up in a series and altered the rain gutter down spout so it would fill up the first tank then the water would flow to the other 5
it caught the water off a large area of the roof
the total rainwater the tanks would hold is around 300 gallons
a few inches of rain fill up the tanks

the kindergarten class has been using the rainwater for the last 5 years
i havent helped with the garden since the pandemic hit
but i have helped clean it up and provided veggie plants

recently because of the drought here the school district shut off the outside water at all the faucets
so now
the only water source for the garden is the rainwater tanks
or
hauling water back and forth from the classroom

i think they may have enough water to last them till school gets out in june



this section is raised beds that are all flower beds now
they have nasturtiums growing and lantana and lavender and alyssum and marigold and lots of other flowers
in the background are raised beds for veggies with covers over them to keep out varmints like squirrels birds gophers raccoons skunks and rabbits

they also have whiskey barrels with herbs like lavender rosemary mint 


now this area is an outdoor tk classroom
tk stands for transitional kindergarten
or for 4 years olds
in california they are starting tk programs in most of the schools

the teacher is the kindergarten teacher that got me to do all this
she taught my nephews at this school
she taught ms b in kindergarten during the pandemic year
thank goodness ms b had an experienced creative teacher for that year
sadly this would have been ms bs kindergarten play area and kindergarden

the tk kids have their classes everyday outside unless the weather is bad
which usually doesnt happen often in santa barbara

the kids love this creative classroom outside

this year the teacher is being nominated for teacher of the year
a well deserved honor

last evening i went to the kindergarden to check the tanks and to fix some things in the garden beds
what a phenomenal classroom for kids to learn in

i recently read where its important for kids to have outside time during the school day
preferable at least 2 hours
well 
these lucky tk kids get all day everyday with this teacher all year in the outside classroom 

lucky students

the organicgreen doctor