“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. ” Alfred Austin
Good day, everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all well right now. In my case, fever struck. It started last Tuesday, and I'm currently taking a break. I'm involved in a series of extracurricular activities, training, and seminar this month. All of these caused me stressed and got tired. I attended an MT Summit last March 8-10, followed by our Cebu Provincial Meet 2023 on March 17-19. Last March 22- 24, there was another training, the District Roll-Out on the Manual of Instructional Supervision. Then by Saturday, we had our Cooperative Assembly, and on Sunday, I went to my mini farm to visit my cassava plantation and pulled out the tall weeds that had grown. After that, by 10 AM. I went to school to water the plants in my garden or assigned area. I felt exhausted that day.
After watering the plants, I went to my co-teachers funeral. I was devastated by his loss because he is our school's only Science major, and God knows how much we sacrificed for him just to be hired. We are already attached to him since he was one of our close friends. On Monday, I reported to the school and continued our gardening because we will be having our Gulayan sa Paaralan evaluation soon. A series of work and activities made felt not in good condition and resulted in a fever.
Today, I utilize writing as a stress reliever since it allows me to express and lay out what's on my mind. If I had nothing to do at home the more I felt sick. This is also my way of forgetting problems. So today, I'll tell you how I restored the Gulayan sa Paaralan Project in preparation for the upcoming evaluation on April 28, 2023. I had discussed the purpose of having this project at school in my previous blog. So, every year, there will be an evaluation to see if we, as teachers, are consistently implementing this initiative. So, no matter how busy we are, particularly in my case, considering that I am always out of school and have a lot of paperwork to accomplish. But, as teachers, we have nothing to complain about except doing our jobs with all of our hearts to be happy and make our jobs easier.
Preparation of Planting Media
I gathered my advisory class a few minutes before the first session early in the morning and let them mix the soil, sawdust compost, or manure following a ratio of 1:1:1 for each part. After mixing, they filled the empty container of water bottles with the planting media so that we could transfer the seedings.
Transplanting the Seedlings
Some of my parents donated cash to purchase seedlings since we haven't prepared seedlings from our nursery. After filling in the container with soil media I transplanted the seedlings of eggplant and okra with the help of my students. After transplanting we watered and covered it with a banana stem to prevent the newly transplanted seedlings from too much or direct exposure to sunlight.
Watering the Plants
Application of Organic Fertilizer
Instead of using commercial fertilizer, I used organic or decayed compost to provide nourishment for the growth of newly transplanted seedlings. I used decayed sawdust that now became soil after storing it several months ago at home.
Construction of Fence
I installed a fence in my garden to keep it safe from students who usually played and can cause harm to our garden. This is also to serve as our borderline from one area to another assigned area. I utilized waste
lumber from the furniture factory. Luckily, I have parents who owned a furniture maker and designer in our town, because she donated all the waste lumber I needed for my fence. I only hired my brother-in-law to construct the fence.
As of this time, my garden fence needs finishing materials to keep it nice and attractive. Finishing materials like paint or varnish. I hope that somebody will donate to me or anybody from my parents to cover the expenses for paint or varnish since the budget coming from my pocket is quite a problem. I also have a lot of needs to allocate a budget. But I know God is just around and He will help and guide me on what to do to finish and comply with this project. That's all for today my dear hive friends. See you again in this community for another update on my school garden or gulayan sa paaralan project. Thank you and Mabuhay!
