Today, we turned in our Garden in a Wheelbarrow project to the county fair. It turned out great and it was a lot of fun. We would definitely do it again, but not next year!This is a science fair project board that we used to display our "evidence of learning." I divided it in half; one side is for Isaac and the other for Elise.

Isaac learned about where food comes from; seeds and plant life cycles; beneficial v. harmful bugs in the garden; sorting & counting seeds; he also wrote a story and a poem; and much more!

Elise did a large research project on Urban Options for Self-Sufficiency, which included the topics gardening, chicken keeping, and meat rabbits. She also did research on a moth that appeared dead on our porch and discovered that it was the Tomato Hornworm in the caterpillar stage. She also learned about the plant life cycle, the parts of a flower, Colony Collapse Disorder and wrote many poems.

We also discovered mushrooms in our wheelbarrow which led to an impromptu lesson on "NEVER eat a mushroom you find in the yard, even if it is growing in your raised bed, or wheelbarrow garden!"

Our plants did not grow very well, so Elise got to do some observations and conclusions about why that might be and added her findings to our project. When we got to the fair, several other wheelbarrows had similar components to their projects.

It did turn out nice, though. Elise made glittery signs welcoming the viewers to the garden, and naming the plant types, as well as, the kids names. Isaac made fences from popsicle sticks for a chicken run. Elise printed out pictures of a coop and chickens that are the same type as Daisey, Dolly and Charlotte. We added all of it to our wheelbarrow garden.
It was really fun to put all of this together today! Showing the kids how all their hard work really tied together was great also! They did work hard, and in the end it showed!

The Coop is Done!!

Brian built the coop in our side yard. We knew it would be heavy and didn't want to have to move it far!Joseph thought we built him a play house!

We made the coop to resemble our house. We used the same siding and painted it the same color. Green is my favorite color, so I really love it!Here Brian is working on the run. It is all enclosed with hardware cloth. We decided to put the coop along our fence where our persimmon tree was(read the earlier post about the persimmon tree!http://keslerfamily.blogspot.com/2007/12/very-busy-december.html ) So we ripped out the tree and some plants to make room for the chickens. The space is an awkward shape, which meant it was more fun for Brian to build!
Elise and Joe!
They are so sweet!

Here is the garden view of the finished coop!

(Notice the soybean and tomatillo plants!! YUM!)

The mostly finished coop!

Brian did a fabulous job!

The roof is designed to be "Green" so it will be full of plants! We thought that would help insulate the coop during our hot summers and give us more space to garden! I can't wait to see the coop with flowers and greens growing on top!

Elise & Dolly, Camille & Charlotte, Isaac & Daisy!