Welcome Back to Strawberry Delights & Butterflies!

4/23/2020

Hi Everyone!
Hope you've all had a lovely Easter :-)

Strawberry bear and I have been very busy planting the strawberries, sowing seeds, planting potatoes AND sorting out getting a rabbit proof fence built around the garden. Those cheeky hungry bunnies annoyingly ate ALL the lovely sweetpeas you planted AND all the spinach and everything else which wasn't under the net! OH NO! So, instead of worrying about it and getting upset we've found a solution with the help of Mrs Gallagher and Andy. Lucky us, we're having a rabbit proof fence put around the veg garden, horray! It would be too sad at a time like this, when growing our own food is so important, to have everything eaten and we won't give up, so we're SOOOO grateful that it's possible to make a rabbit proof fence.
Just like Snoopy says on the home page of your website - it's about how well you bounce. Do you know that I've been a gardener for 17 years and at my other job, an amazing beautiful garden I look after once a week, I'd sown trays and trays of seeds a few weeks ago - they all got eaten by mice!!!! I'd always learnt to sow one extra for the birds and one extra for the slugs - but never for the MICE!!! Oh my goodness! THEN I'd planted a whole bed of lovely cabbages and sprouts, they were looking so happy and growing amazingly, but they all got eaten by pigeons!!!! OH NO!!! It'd be easy to give up, but I'd rather bounce back like Snoopy, so we found a way to help mouse-proof the seed table, we made sticks with string and CDs to deter the pigeons, we've learnt some lessons, taken action, so we'll keep calm and carry on. There are always lessons to be learnt and challenges to face up to, growing to do, the best remedy is a sense of humour :-) cheeky mice and bunnies ;-) they must've thought our veg was really delicious!

What have you all been up to outside?
It's very dry! Hottest dryest April on record perhaps? Usually we have April showers and it pours with rain which gets all the plants off to a good start with the new spring warmth.
Are there ways you can catch and store water in your gardens? Have you been watering your plants? More importantly have you been watering yourselves!? It's so important to stay hydrated and remember to do this at home like you do at school.

I've got lots of fun projects and pictures to post for you, keep looking on here and do leave comments. It was great hearing about Jed's garden at home, so far he's planted potatoes, sunflowers and quinoa! Can't wait to hear more about everyone's growing journeys and forest school play outside.

Here is a really fun task: can you spot these 4 beautiful native butterflies in your gardens and on your walks!? Keep your eyes peeled. Can you learn their names, write a poem, draw or paint them? They've started appearing, these are usually the first to wake up, I had a beautiful peacock butterfly at home, it was quite sleepy so it sat on my hand in the sunshine and warmed up. I also saw an orange tip in the veg garden at forest school last week!

Happy Days at home! Make the most of this precious time with your families :-)

16 Comments

Kane Hambridge

4/23/2020 05:58:28 am

Hi Kinna
I have been helping my mum at work she is looking after her flowers, I helped her move some from the polly tunnels to the beds because its getting to warm for them.

Kane

4/30/2020 01:29:17 am

Well done Kane! That's so brilliant to hear you're helping your mum :-) have you made her some cups of tea too ;-) how are the plants doing now you've moved them? Do you have robbins nesting in your teapot again!? What have you been up to this week!? :-)

OLLIE BURGESS

4/23/2020 07:15:07 am

Hello Kinner

I helped my mum plant some wild flower seeds.And helped my dad paint the gate and fence.Ive been for some walks in the forest with my family (and the next door neighbours cat).Also been on my trampoline LOADS!!!!.

Kinna

4/30/2020 01:32:32 am

Hey Ollie,
That sounds totally brilliant! You are amazing! I wish I had your help in the forest school and garden too :-)
Keep an eye every day or week on how the wild flower seeds do, maybe you could draw their growing journey or write about it, take some pics! How cool you painted a gate and fence with dad! Sounds like you're learning some brilliant new skills. If you have any left over bits of wood you want to paint then we really need some wooden signs for the garden and forest schools. How brilliant also you've been in the forest lots and the cat came too! How brill, keep bouncing :-) have fun, let me know what you get up to this week :-)

Luke Healy

4/23/2020 08:10:25 am

Hi Kinna,
I helped mum mow the grass and tidy up the gardens. The weather is lovely

KINNA

4/30/2020 01:40:40 am

Hi Luke!
That is so amazing and brilliant to hear you've been helping your mum with the mowing and the garden. Well done! Top marks, sounds like you were enjoying it too! What kind of things have you been doing in the garden asside from mowing, are you growing anything? Would love to hear more about what you get up to this week. Stay brilliant :-)

Joseph case link

4/23/2020 09:04:58 am

hi Kinna

I'll try to spot those butter-flies I even saw the holy blue in my back garden ps hope those cheeky mice don't eat any more seeds

4/30/2020 01:42:31 am

Thanks so much for the message Joseph, did you manage to see any butterflies? What else have you been up to in the garden, have you had adventures on some lovely walks? It's so lovely with lots of blossom in the garden. Are you growing anything in your garden this year? Let me know, I hope those hungry mice stop eating my seeds too! :-)

Isla Gillingwater

4/23/2020 11:33:55 am

Hi Kinna

Today i saw a peacock butterfly and a orange tip butterfly in my garden when i was having an ice cream with my dad. In my sisters room there is a painting by Anna of a butterfly I think the name of it is a pink spotty splodgey by the look of it. Tomorrow I am go to look for more butterflys as we have flowers growing in the garden so it might attract them, I will report back.

Isla G

4/30/2020 01:44:58 am

Isla! This is so brilliant. I loved your message :-) well done spotting a peacock, aren't their colours beautiful!? How lucky to have butterflies and ice cream all in one go with dad, sounds like a dream. The best part though was your 'pink spotty splodgey' name for the butterfly painting in your sisters room :-) what other funny names of your own can you give to plants and wildlife in your garden, can you put them in a list with a bit of description, it'd make the most excellent poem! Let me know what adventures in nature you get up to this week :-)

Joseph Durrant

4/24/2020 01:45:43 am

Hi Kinna.
Darcy and I have made a new veg patch. Darcy made it have paths like we have at school.
Joseph

4/30/2020 01:46:34 am

That's so brilliant you've made a veg patch! Well done & how brilliant, would love to hear more, great to draw pictures, write about it and your growing journey, what will you be growing? Can you make a chart? I'll bet you're happy like me to have some rain for the plants! Super duper work, would love to hear more and see pics, well done :-)

Megan Butler

4/28/2020 03:02:26 am

Hi Kinna

I've been going on dog walks to the forest where we found a beautiful lake, massive fields around where I live and around Rendlesham. We looked for fish and insects in the lake but couldn't see any but we managed to find ducks. It was a lovely day so I took lots of photos.

4/30/2020 01:48:23 am

Hi Megan! That's so brilliant :-) what an adventure! Well done, sounds amazing and like a beautiful spot, how great you're taking photos, it'd be great to go back every week and keep a log book / diary about what you see each week, I'm sure with the rain and as time goes on you'll see more and more birds and insects, the stiller you are, the more you tune in, the more you'll see! Magic, look forward to hearing what you've been up to this week, thankyou :-)

4/30/2020 01:27:53 am

Hey all of you brilliant ones! So amazing to hear from you!!! :-) Really cheering to hear from you and know about the adventures with gardening and nature you're having. Tell me more! Can't wait to hear. Nature will be changing more and more each week, with the rain and the sun, baby birds being born, new insects emerging, trees coming into leaf and seeds sprouting. Are you growing anything?
Stay well, keep it up, have fun! & thankyou for the comments, keep 'em coming! :-) Kinna.

Logan

5/4/2020 03:47:21 am

Hi Kinna,

On our morning walk last week I found a caterpillar nest and some freshly hatched egg shells, it was still bloody inside. (Have sent pictures to the office to forward to you)
We’ve got strawberries and runner beans growing in the garden.
Have been butterfly spotting (have sent a beautiful picture we got a few years ago of a peacock and love to go to the forest to bird watch. I can hear a cuckoo in the morning which sometimes wakes me up but yet to see it.
Saved a thirsty bee with some sugar water too and also found a not so lucky one.
Missing forest school
Love Logan x

KINNA'S FOREST SCHOOL