Orchards!

So, my last post got you through last weekend, this one will get you to this weekend!

This past week we were out at three different schools planting orchards. These orchards are designed to provide a sustainable resource of food for the children at the schools. The first two days we were at intermediate (middle) schools and the last day we were at a primary (elementary) school. The project Orchards in Schools. The orchards were made up of apple, orange, mandarin, pear, and the native feijoa trees.

A Feijoa  fruit

The first school was Bruce McLaren Intermediate. This middle school was built on clay and was very difficult to dig. We also did not have many volunteers. Our working crew was made up of about 15 children that rotated in shifts between classes and helping us, 4 boys from the local high school, and two grandparents who owned a farm. With this little crew we dug through the clay and finished planting a total of 35 trees.

 It was hard, hot, dirty, laborious work, but the excitement and pride on the faces of the students when they saw their accomplishment, and knowing that this would provide these children with something to eat was worth it!

The next day was very similar. We were at a middle school called Henderson Intermediate. The school was mostly Maori, so before we could start digging we were honored by participating in a traditional Maori planting ceremony and blessing. They sung a few hymns in te reo Māori, the Maori’s native language, preformed a Haka, which is a traditional Maori dance of honor, and then processed out to the plot of land where we would be planting. Once out to the plot the Tohunga, or high priest, went to each corner and said a prayer of blessing over the land, and after a few more hymns we were ready to plant.

 On this day we had roughly 15 students from Henderson, another 10 from the local high school, the principal, and 5 volunteers from Constellation Brands, which had donated the money for the trees, who helped us plant. We were digging on an old rubbish heap on a hill. While this was easier than the clay, it was still hard to work with. We were supposed to plant 40 trees, but due to the difficulty of the digging ground and a run in with inclement weather, we only finished 30. The school continued the next day, and all 40 were planted.

The third day was my personal favorite. On this day we were working at Sunnyvale Primary School, which is an elementary school. We had no children working with us, instead we had about 15 parents, and 3 employees from Constellation Brands turn out to help. One father worked in construction and brought a construction digger.

Most of our holes were done before noon. Since the children were not working with us, the teachers would take turns bringing their classes out to observe what we were doing. With the manual labor covered the teacher in me came out, and my job quickly turned to instructor. I stood in a corner out of the way of the shovels, wheelbarrows, and power tools, and the teachers would bring their classes over and I would give a short talk about what we were doing, ask them a few questions, and answer any questions they had.

Though I was not as involved in the manual labor this day, I felt like I had an equally important impact on the children and their understanding of what was going on. This week was by far my favorite yet, and I cannot wait for what's to come!