by chris | Aug 19, 2019 | Garden Updates, Uncategorized
As we look forward to a new year in the gardens, here is a photo of some lovely tomatoes that are ripening well in the dry spell, and also a link to an article highlighting why gardens are so important in schools. As the article says, “Young people are so rarely spotted in gardens across Britain nowadays that the Royal Horticultural Society is warning that the country is facing a green skills crisis unless more learn to garden.”
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Stay posted for the new season’s progress coming soon!
by aadya | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
In my service known as ‘Incredible Edibles’ I did activities such as weeding, planting and watering plants. I developed a skill of the process of planting and what steps should and what steps shouldn’t be avoided. I also learned names of new plants and that helped me recognise various species of plants I saw. I think planting has been the most successful part of my work as the plants have now successfully grown. The most difficult part of this service has been facing the heat and getting dirty by the soil. My best contribution to this service has been weeding as I have worked quite well on it when I was told to. What I learned about myself is that I can be more resilient when it comes to stepping out of my comfort zone which in this case was working in soil. I used to think that planting was an easy thing but when I joined ‘Incredible Edibles’ I learned that there is a long process to it. It also taught me team building skills as a few activities I did involved working with other people. If I would have to start service again, I would be more resilient when it came to stepping out of my comfort zone.
by erina | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
This year I have learned a lot from Incredible Edible, such as learning different names of plants, how to plant them and various recipes according to the plants. It was also very pleasant cooking from what we have grown, as well as improving my cooking skills. However, I felt the most fun part of the process of cooking was when we tasted the food. I think we have particularly succeeded in making pesto pasta, which I am hoping to cook it again. Composting was another exciting thing that I learned, although it required hard work. In addition, I learned that I really liked weeding and looking at the plants growing, which I actively contributed. I have particularly enjoyed seeing the pineapple and banana tree grow because it was very unique. I am looking forward to seeing how they will grow. I used to think that planting was not really interesting, Through this service, I was able to not only gain knowledge but also learn the importance of teamwork and how effective it is than individual work. Although teamwork is very difficult, I believe that this service wouldn’t have worked out with teamwork. I have learned the importance of planting, teamwork and fun from this service. Next year, I would contribute more on the blog and thinking and acting more about how we are going to improve our service. Recently, one of the ideas that I came up to improve our service was to map the countries of the plants we have grown.
by huaiyao | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
As I was a member of the team since the beginning of the school year, I am really proud of us, both groups from Season1~2 and Season 3~4, and what we did.
In Incredible Edible, we are taking care of two gardens in the campus, modifying them to make them better. we have introduced new species of trees into the garden and organized types and species of plants together, building our service website to increase our influence, prepared herb pots we started in season 1 and 2 for the Grade 5 expo to raise awareness, attempted to build an aerospring plant tower to promote urban farming, renewed the labels for the pots, and enjoyed the completely veggie cooking experience, with ingredients freshly picked from our garden. I learned how to take care of different types of plants that require different condition. My best contribution might be helping with the planting and mulching and discussing the knowledge about the plants. I learnt when we team up with other people, everything becomes easier and we could work a lot more efficiently. I used to think that I would be doing the work better by myself because that saves the time discussing with other people, but I found out that by working with others I had learnt so much more things about each other and about the plants. I think every member of this service is hard working, joyful, and nature loving. Almost all of us are hardworking, and the time I had spent here is very happy and content. If I could participate in this service again, I would like to talk and cooperate with others more.
In the future, I would pay more attention to what I buy and what I do, as they all have an effect on the environment, and living in a sustainable way would slow down the climate by just a little. If more people joined in, we could really make a difference.
I would suggest us to work out a time schedule so that we have both people working indoor and outdoor.
by hugo | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
I have done the planting, weeding, composting, mulching, cooking, I think I have developed resilience, and been a critical thinker. The weeding has been the most successful aspect in this service and the heat and dirtiness have been the most challenging because it is not a regular thing. My best contribution to the service has been when we weed as I think I weeded a lot of unnecessary plants. I have learned about myself that I can do anything if I put my mind in it and think in a positive aspect. I used to think that the Incredible Edible was boring but now I find it very enjoyable mainly because of the collaborative work. I have learned that others are also having a good time and give their all during service. If I did the service again I would change my attitude to a positive view from the start. During this experience, it will affect my personal choices, attitude, behavior to others in a positive way, such as asking for help when necessary. In the future, I could support or promote Incredible Edible by making a video about what you do in the service and all the reasons why you should choose it, by telling the viewer about what you do in the service while training them. I think to improve the service there should be like a date at the start of the year explaining about all the plants to broaden our knowledge. I also think we could have done a bit more cooking as we can learn a new skill, and know what we could make with organic everyday plants.
by inaya | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
What activities did you do?
Incredible Edibles
What skills or qualities did you develop during this service?
Gardening skills
What has been the most successful aspect of this service for you?
Learning how to plant and do gardening
What has been most difficult?
The garden was quite confusing for me at first, since I was knew to all of it
What has been your best contribution?
Helping plant things and take care of things
What have you learned about yourself?
That once I get used to it, I quite like planting
How have you changed?
I used to have no experience in gardening whatsoever, but this service has made me get better at these things, and I also grown a liking for them too, and I learnt the importance of urban gardening
What have you learned about others?
I learned that most people who joined this service didn’t have a lot of experience
If you could start the service again, what would you do differently?
I would try to take part in things with more variety, instead of going for the same activity every time
How will this experience affect your personal choices, your attitude or your behaviour towards others in the future?
I will try to grow more of my own produce in my garden at home
What do you think you could do to help support the work of this service in the future? For example how could you advertise the service or train others to do it? (Be specific!)
I could tell my friends and family about urban gardening, and plant my own produce, and if their are any urban gardening events, I will donate to them and attend them too
Do you have any suggestions for improving the service?
Maybe do a bit more ‘Edible’!
by ganju83174 | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
In Incredible Edibles, we have done a variety of activities such as cooking Laksa Pesto and Laksa. During this service, I believe that I developed the qualities of curiosity and leadership as since January I have increased my interests in gardening and horticulture and have been in a leading role in two activities namely the creation of the Zen Garden and the cooking module, where we tried to make Laksa. The most successful aspect of this service has been tasting the fruits of our success (no pun intended). The most difficult thing was cooking the Laksa as it required a lot of patience and a bit of cooking experience, something almost all our amateur chefs lacked. I think my greatest contribution to this service has been the planning the cooking module, which took a lot of time and had a few logistical problems, which might not have ended well but was a fun experience.
I think that over the course of this service I have learned that I am able to do many things that I thought that I couldn’t do well like gardening. I believe that in the service there could be a couple of irritating people but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the others are like them. I think that if I could the service again, I would definitely learn how to plan better as that was one of my shortfalls over the course of the past 6 months.
I think after finishing doing the service for around 6 months, I think now I will probably start doing things which are much more eco-friendly as seeing a healthy plant makes me feel much happier than seeing a dying one.
I think that I could definitely recommend this service to a lot of people who’s interests in nature and the environment can definitely be furthered and nurtured well.
by ethan | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
The activities I’ve done was weeding, watering, planting, and creating our own project which was the “zen garden. I developed skills such as being resilient and collaborative. The most successful aspect of service was being able to learn the basics such as planting, watering and weeding and getting comfortable with it. The most difficult thing was collecting the mulch because we had to roll the wheelbarrow across the campus and it was very heavy. My best contribution was probably creating the zen garden because it all started from a small idea and we managed to make it into reality. Something I’ve learnt about myself is that I haven’t really thought about how much effort is put into the process of growing food. I used to think that gardening was really difficult but I discovered that once you get the basics, it’s quite simple. Some things I’ve learnt about others is how supportive other people are especially when I’m not sure what to do, the other members in our service help and support each other. If I could start this service again, I would try to be more involved with planting because I didn’t get to spend a lot of time planting and mainly weeding and working on the project. This experience will affect me positively because it gives me a different perspective to what it is like to grow food and it gives me a lot of appreciation to the people that grow our own food that we eat each day. I would get others to join this service by sharing some experiences I’ve had and encourage them to see what it’s like to grow your own food and learn at the same time. Some suggestions I would give to improve this service is to have more edible lessons.
by mia | Jun 12, 2019 | Student Experiences, Uncategorized
What activities did you do?
Incredible Edible
What skills or qualities did you develop during this service? (See the UWCSEA Profile in ‘A Guide to Service Reflection in the Middle School’, pages 5 and 10-11.)
Learning how to plant different types of plants.
What has been the most successful aspect of this service for you?
To learn how to cook, with everyday material that you can find in your own garden.
What has been the most difficult?
Not to over-water plants, and not to spice up the pesto.
What has been your best contribution?
Planting the Soursop tree.
What have you learned about yourself?
That garden is very fun and enjoyable.
How have you changed?
I used to think that gardening was boring and useless, but now I know that it is fun, and to know that it is useful to have your own garden.”
What have you learned about others?
That it is more fun to do anything when you have company.
If you could start the service again, what would you do differently?
I would contribute more to the weeding, there I tried as best as I could to stay away from it.
How will this experience affect your personal choices, your attitude or your behavior towards others in the future?
It doesn’t really affect my behavior towards others, there I haven’t treated anyone disrespectfully.
What do you think you could do to help support the work of this service in the future? For example, how could you advertise the service or train others to do it?
To ask what more I can do, there I sometimes just talk, and don’t do much work.
Do you have any suggestions for improving the service?
Maybe to do a bit more of the “Edible” part!
Do you have any suggestions for improving the service?
by eal | Jun 4, 2019 | Garden Updates, Projects, Uncategorized
Check out our herb towers. Finally ready (its taken a while) – complete with herbs from our own garden, cuttings of dill and a few extras.
Herbs included are: pandan; chillis; basil; dill; coriander; rosemary and laksa
The towers will be on display in the G5 expo
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