Green Kids All Over Caraway

Happy New Year, Caraway! It promises to be another great and very Green year! Our special Green shirts were delivered just before winter break — remember, we ordered extra, so it’s not too late to get one!

If you had a chance to walk around the school before the holidays, you might have noticed a lot of spectacular green-inspired art and nature-related projects from our students. Here’s a glimpse of quite a few. Thank you to all our Green Kids — you are inspiration to us all!

First, here are some amazing research projects on native insects and plants by some of our 4th-grade TAG students. In fact, many of the plants and insects are native right here in Texas!

The reports covered plants such as poison ivy, bluebonnets, Texas milkweed, glacier lilies, yaupons, and chocolate daisies — and also monarch butterflies and grasshoppers.

Here are some fun facts the students wanted to share with us.

• Dylan says that the reason people are allergic to poison ivy is because the plant is covered in an oil called urushiol, so don’t touch the plant!
• Claire learned that the glacier lily is native to North America and that Native Americans used to eat the bulbs.
• Lilly says that Texas Milkweed (Asclepias texana) was once part of an Indian folktale where the root of the plant cures a rattlesnake bite.
• Isabel tells us that the bluebonnet is our Texas state flower and is also native to South America.
• Mohan shared that Chocolate Daisy (a favorite of many of our Caraway students) is a perennial, and its petals open in the morning and droop in the heat of the day.

I know that I learned a lot from these great reports! Thanks for teaching us so much about native plants and animals!

Just down the hallway were many artistic T-shirt designs from our 2nd-graders, who learned about good citizenship. Many of the T-shirts identified important laws, and several of them were about littering and protecting the planet — I wish I could post them all. Thank you all for reminding us of the importance of being good citizens!

Our preschoolers created wonderful wreaths to decorate the hallway, using elements of nature such as dried leaves, twigs, and acorns. Simply beautiful!

And finally, I want to commend our Reflections participants on their brilliant creations for the theme “Together We Can.” Several were Green-related, and they are all creative and inspiring! Here are some samples of ones on display at school. Wow!

Cheers to ALL of our talented Green Kids!

Read Full Post »

Cub Scouts Diversify Our Woodlands

A big thanks to Cub Scouts Den 2 of Pack 162, who planted seedlings in our woodlands before Thanksgiving. They learned about compost and good planting techniques and then headed out to the woods with plants and equipment. Some of the plants they added to our woodlands include Flame Acanthus, Turk’s Cap, Inland Sea Oats, and more!

The Cub Scouts also took the time to gather up any trash they found in the woods while they were working. Wow!

Thank you, Scouts and parents! We sure appreciate you helping our wildlife habitat grow.

Read Full Post »

Humans Defeat Photinias

In the ferocious battle between our Caraway habitat volunteer army against Red-Tip Photinia generals, Nandina lieutenants, toxic Pokeweed weaponry, and root-bound pawns, I am proud to declare that every invasive plant and stubborn had-to-go  on our habitat workday agenda all surrendered to our muscle power. Peace on the home front exists once again, and our new native plants will usher in a new era of tranquility and wildlife-friendly outdoor learning opportunities for all our Caraway families and visitors.

I call this a battle because I challenged our volunteers to do the impossible — tackle tough Photinias known for their massive root systems and their history of foundation destruction, breaking of backs, and diseased foliage. To make matters worse, whoever planted these plants years ago stuck them smack up against the foundation of our school, making them extra difficult to remove. But our volunteers were dedicated, determined, and strong. With tremendous muscle power, as well as shovels, mattocks, axes, loppers, bow saws, rope, trailer hitch, and a two-ton tank — those ten photinias at last succumbed. Just take a look at the roots in the above photo — you’ll know how tough these plants are to get rid of. Well done, volunteers!

The front beds have had all the Nandinas removed with weed wrenches, with new plants in their place. The side beds have been cleaned of their overgrown monster plants, and we’ll be reviving these beds with new organic matter and improved soil, just in time for students to plant new plants in the spring. Our O.W.L. has had a drink of water and a few new plants added in, too.

I want to thank every one of our volunteers — we owe them a lot for their caring, dedication, and sweat — braving rain and days worth of achy muscles to get the job done. Caraway parents and students, school neighbors, Habitat Stewards, Capital Area Master Naturalists, and many Westwood High students made all this possible. Thank you: Kelley, Jason, Sue, Richard, Julie, Isaac, Ron, Peg, Irene, Gregg, Ruifei, Ben, Wade, second Gregg, Riley, Michael, Meredith, Logan, Nolan, Kelly, Jared, Vanessa, Michelle and her two helpers, Amrita, Amrita’s mom, Cynthia, Patrick, Nima, and those who didn’t sign in but I know you were there — I know you were all tired and sore the rest of the weekend and beyond. Thank you also to Kelly and Darin for picking up tools from Keep Austin Beautiful, to Tricia for picking up snacks, to Mrs. Rieck for making cookies, to Suzanne for signs, to Randall for sign-in sheets, to Ben and Leanne for recruiting Westwood volunteers. Thanks to Kelley and the Wildflower Center for the spectacular plant donations and bonus raffle prizes. And thank you Keep Austin Beautiful for the use of tools — I promise you that we used every single one of them! Who am I forgetting?

I regret that I didn’t get pictures of everyone — it was tough to work and take pictures at the same time!

Here’s what we learned:

Caraway is surrounded by terrible nutrient-depleted soil that is hard as a rock and desperately in need of compost.

Caraway also resides on top of a rock-filled caliche bed that is about a foot under that terrible soil.

Weed wrenches rock on Nandinas.

Lemonade is very satisfying when you are working hard.

Mrs. Rieck makes great cookies.

Our volunteers rock!

Here are a few After pictures, too, and please welcome to our Caraway native plant family: Sandpaper Tree/Anacua, Mexican Plum, Coralberry, Chile Pequin, Lyre-Leaf Sage, Dwarf Palmetto, White Leadwort, Shrubby Boneset, Antelope Horns, Lindheimer’s Senna, Wafer Ash, and Red Yucca, along with more Anacacho Orchid, American Beautyberry, Inland Sea Oats, Turks Cap, Dwarf Yaupon, Mealy Blue Sage, Flame Acanthus, Gregg’s Mistflower, Texas Betony, Texas Lantana, and Evergreen Sumac plants. You beautiful plants, you!

If you missed out on the fun, we are going to be getting the rest of our native plants in the ground next Saturday, and one of our Girl Scout troops will be putting in a new butterfly-hummingbird garden for our youngest students. Please come join us! There aren’t any Photinias left, though — sorry that you’ve missed out on THAT fun.  :)

Read Full Post »

Wildflower Center Plant Sale This Weekend

The Wildflower Center is having their annual fall plant sale this weekend. The main days are October 9-10, Saturday and Sunday, with a members-only sale being offered on Friday the 8th.

This sale is one of the best opportunities to start or diversity your native plant garden — many of the plants available at the sale are ones not typically available at local nurseries. People travel from all over the state to attend this sale. I highly recommend it!

Read Full Post »