In need of green fingers!

At work we have got a patio. Up till a few weeks ago it was a plot of greenisch looking grass that was attacked by bunnies and chickens! Not really the Garden of Paradise! I must say it was rather a funny sight to see one of those curious chickens looking into your class room. Math seemed to be their favorite subject. The rabbits were then more interested in being rabbits and were not educational at all. We did not want living educational material for explaining 'the birds and the bees' and had them checked before letting them run wild. Well, a few weeks later they had multiplied and we were having an invasion of the rabbits!

So our collegues decided that we had to renovate our patio! Great!!! One big problem I don't have green fingers and I have zero equipment to attack that green zone. Fortunately I have some collegues that were on the right side of the genepool!

I have to be honest I did not look forward of having to help out. My parents house has a tremendous big garden with a pont. When my mother asked me to help out I made up some really outrageous excuses. My garden experience is observing grass grow and watering plants and flowers.

The last few weeks our patio had changed into a building side and the pupils were very curious to find out what would become of this future extension of their learning habitat! We had a garden design and we found a very helpful garden designer who knew that schools don't have fortunes to spend. Thanks to him we got some new and recycled materials to let our dream become reality!

Yesterday we finally got to our centerpiece: the terrace! Some of my collegues were really brave and already got there at 7 a.m to start. I got in a bit later and had a big bag of Danish Pastry along to make up for me not being there when they were witnessing the sun coming up. They were really happy to see me and the bag!

And then I turned into a builder. It felt actually quite nice to see something come to live. Suddenly a big huge pile of stones and sand turned into a surface that you can walk, sit, stand, crawl and foremost dance on! My close collegue E who takes this project very seriously started to feel very proud of the progress of the day! We suddenly were starting to make new plans what we were going to do with this new educational surface!

The chickens had to move out! The rabbits are going to get very soon their own hill to digg and play but not to multiply! We still have some work to do before we have the dream patio that we are after. But I can't wait to see the faces of some the collegues when they walk into work! The first time when I will ask my pupils to take their chairs outside and let them sit out there I will smile and feel rather proud.

Yesterday I was happy to be out there with red cheeks, wearing boots, being on my knees, putting recycled stones in the right order to give our green spot shape! It is true that teaching is so much more then using chalk and a red pen to grade papers. Honestly, I never imagined that I needed some green fingers! For the moment my body hurts all over but that is one more proof that I was out there creating the dream! Can't wait to have the first party out there! No pupils allowed out there then!

P.S.: A big round of applause to all those extra helping hands we got the last few weeks! It is amazing to see what helpful people there are still out there! Especially E, you are an amazing person when it comes to turning dull spaces into a spot to come to rest and enjoy the sun! Thanks for motivating me to do something that I do not really like at all! No wonder that green is your favourite color!