Sustainability in the 21st century part 2: Growing your own
For year 6: second edition c2011 updated 2014.
A do-it-yourself kit for students to research, choose and grow their own food at home or at school or in their communities.
less Internet use, more of a workbook.
Do you want a resource that covers the Australian curriculum of science?
Do you want a do-it-yourself practical manual where students do their own research?
Do you want your students to learn about Permaculture and no-dig gardens?
Do you want ten reproducible lessons?
Then Growing your Own could be your answer.
Year 6 Achievement Science Standard
By the end of Year 6 students plan investigations to answer questions relating to simple cause-and-effect relationships. When carrying out investigations, they collect relevant data and apply the concept of a fair test. They reflect on the processes that they have used and demonstrate an awareness of science inquiry methods in their work. They represent data and knowledge using introductory scientific language and graphical representations.
Students suggest explanations for observable changes and they predict the effect of environmental changes on living things. They compare different types of change in materials. They identify requirements for the transfer of electricity and describe one way that electricity can be generated. They describe how developments in science have affected peoples’ lives and identify examples where scientific knowledge is used in decision making.
Order by email with Michael .
The eBook is $5 pre-paid by cheque or EFT and emailed as a pdf. attachment. Email for the invoice which will have EFT details.
or from Amazon for US$2.99 (no word searches)
===============================================================================================
Review:
PREPARATION IS EVERYTHING!
ByDebra Brandon December 4, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
It’s sad that the basic gardening skills of our parents and grandparents have been lost to the increased availability of grocery stores of convenience. But what ill you do in a time of economic collapse? Where would you get your food to feed your family? Who can you go to for advice if the internet is gone?
This book will help you to maintain and grow produce during uncertain and chaotic times or even for the novice who wants to start being self-sufficient to provide fruits, vegetables, and more.
There is advice for the proper soil conditions to grow the greatest crops of foods, recipes for making your own bread and so much more. It’s very hard to produce a harvest without knowing how to prepare the ground, use the correct fertilizer, the proper amount of light needed for each type of food, but this book will help you through all of that and more.
A great study guide, for not only a hobby but a lifestyle.
===================================================================================================================
An example: Lesson 3
A word search on vegetables.
3.
Companion planting is the planting of different crops close together (in
gardening and agriculture), on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity.
Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialised and developing countries for many reasons. ..
For gardeners, the combinations of plants also make for a more varied, attractive vegetable garden, as well as allowing more productive use of space.
[from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting]
3. Answer these questions:
i. What is companion planting?
______________________________________________________________
ii. Where is companion planting used?
______________________________________________________________
4.
In China, the mosquito fern has been used for at least one thousand years, as a companion plant for rice crops. It hosts a special cyanobacteria that fixes
nitrogen from the atmosphere, and also blocks out light from getting to any
competing plants, aside from the rice, which is planted when tall enough to stick out of the water above the azolla layer.
Companion planting was practiced in various forms by Native Americans prior to the arrival of Europeans. One common system was the planting of corn (maize) and pole beans together. The cornstalk would serve as a trellis for the beans to climb while the beans would fix nitrogen for the corn. The inclusion of squash with these two plants completes the Three Sisters technique, pioneered by Native American peoples.
[from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_planting]
i. Question: Where was the technique first used?
_____________________________________________________________
ii. Look up the meanings of these new words e.g. cyanobacteria and azolla.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
LOG ON to the Internet
5. Go to this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants
6. Highlight the vegetables and save to your floppy disk or folder:
name it Vegetable companions.
7. Scroll down to Flowers.
8. Answer these questions:
i. Which flower beginning with M helps tomatoes grow?
______________________________________________________________
ii. How do geraniums help?
______________________________________________________________
iii. What are nasturtiums good for?
______________________________________________________________
9. Scroll down to Trees.
Which herbs and flowers help apple trees?
______________________________________________________________
10. i. search for Benefits of growing your own food.
ii. click on a site of the same name
www.sparkpeople.com………
11. Write the reference in your Garden journal.
12. Scroll down and answer these questions in your Journal:
i. What are four (4) benefits of growing your own fruit and vegetables?
ii. How does growing your own food help with greenhouse gases (#3)?
LOG OFF
NEXT
13. Using your list of Vegetable companions (see #6),
choose three (3) vegetables that would grow together e.g. tomatoes go with carrots but not with beans.
14. Make a table of your chosen vegies on a poster using the
headings on the site, omitting Scientific name and Attracts.
You need six (6) columns and four (4) rows so do it sideways (landscape).
Here is an example (in portrait):
| Commonname |
Helps |
Helped by |
Repels |
Avoid |
Comments |
| Beans |
Corn,spinach, |
eggplant |
|
Tomatoesonions |
Nitrogen fixing |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[NB. California Beetle is omitted under REPELS because this is an American site.]
15. Give your poster the heading Companion vegetables.
[Don’t forget to add where you found your information.]
16. Display your poster.
LAST OF ALL
17. Check your answers with the Answer book for Lesson 3 Vegetables and make any changes in your Garden Journal.
18. Keep collecting empty 2 litre clear plastic drink bottles for your seeds.
* * *
Almost at the end of Lesson 3.
On the next page is a recipe for bread to make at home.
