June’s Orchard Corner
Over the past few weeks the Orchard has literally been buzzing; plants have sprouted, some veg beds are ready to harvest, our oldest animal has made a shy appearance and one of the hens is hoping to hatch!
Each morning breaktime, pupils eagerly head to the Orchard to see what help is needed with the animals and any new discoveries. Pupils from Years 3 – 8 got stuck in helping to feed the sheep and hens, checked the rabbits had enough water and visited the goats in their new summer pad near the pond.
Very excitingly, there is a new draw to the Orchard with the arrival of a beautiful tortoise called ‘Larry’ who was recently adopted by Lambrook. Pupils were delighted to see him when he made the odd shy appearance for his favourite snack of strawberries and were careful to be very quiet around the enclosure as he gets used stretching his legs in his new surroundings. Larry the Tortoise had definitely brought a sense of calm to his little corner of the Orchard.
And in true ‘Spring Watch’ style there is also a ‘quiet’ notice for one of our hens who is broodily sitting on a clutch of eggs hoping they will hatch. Pupils are closely monitoring, being very careful to keep a good distance so as not to disturb her. She is already proving to be a great mum and is very committed to keeping the eggs warm!
When Year 1 visited for their Outdoor Learning Lesson they were very keen to share their tortoise knowledge before trying to coax him out of his bed for a snack.
The fruit and veg beds have suddenly sprouted and the boxes are full of raspberry vines, fennel, chard, sweet peas and sunflower sprouts. Year 1 planted the sunflower seeds before half term so they were excited to see the progress some of the plants had made and of course, give all of the beds a good water.
And it is great to see some recycling in action down in the Orchard with some of the outer leaves of the home grown chard and fennel being given to the rabbits and the tortoise, hay bales that were used to decorate the tent for the LPTC Summer Party are now in a dry shed ready to be used to feed the animals in the winter time, and the water cans were filled from the water butts that have collected the recent rainwater.
