Eco Club Meeting

A few Garden Committee parents met with the Eco Club to try and find ways that the two groups could help each other achieve our related goals. The meeting started off well with 16 students attending and Italian pastries served. Karen, our blog administrator, also handed out several copies of "Backyard Conservation" magazine to help generate some ideas.

Then the fun started. First the fire drill bell rang just as we got the laptop and LCD to work. Sacrificing a demo of the Garden Committe website and blog due to a very tight schedule, a quick impromptu decision was made to continue in the yard after the drill.

Fortunately the fire drill didn't take too long and soon everyone was back on their way to the yard down through the back stairs and past the cafeteria. But then all of a sudden we found that the gate was locked!

After some quick hustling some Eco Club members convinced a custodian to unlock the gate for us. Whew! More minutes lost but we still had just enough time to get what we needed done.

After a quick introduction of what the Garden Committee was up to, the group started to do some brainstorming on how the Eco Club's goals may be relevant. Initial ideas that came out of it were:

• Plant native trees that indigenous to New York State
  
• Tie the garden into the work that the Biology department is doing
• Develop an ecosystem for the study of birds, butterflies and even fish!
• Reach out to the Art program to see how we can integrate art work or even a mural
• Tap into the Science teacher as a zen master resource!

Now wouldn't it be cool if the yard started to look like this !!!

After the brainstorming, Rebecca our parent architect, talked the students through the tree layout design and explained how the irrigation system would work. We had a good discussion. The Eco Club raised the concern that we should try to put as many trees as possible on the old playground side of the yard to minimize any losses if and when the school building is expanded. Point well taken!

By that time we just about had hit 3:20 pm and some students had to start leaving for their next meeting. A few stayed behind and worked with Rebecca to begin "spotting out" the layout with masking tape. This really helped give the group a better feel for exactly where each tree would be located and how much space they would take up.

Next steps from the meeting were:

• Think about raising some money by soliciting donations for the right to name a tree and have a nameplate attached (ex. "Class of ... " ). The tallest tree is reserved though - the club decided to name it after our school principal!
• Spot the remaining tree locations and design where the benches should be located
• Help move the existing potted plants over to the shade garden (adjacent to the building) to make room for the tree planting
• Begin preparing for Spring by planting Fall bulbs!

MillionTreesNYC is coming to BHSEC on 10/28 to review the final layouts with the principal and Susan, our parent horticulturalist. Then the trees start to get planted the week of November 2nd. The Yard will be transformed! Now isn't that exciting?