It was towards the end of the schools calender that I did a series of composting garden talks with some of Dublin’s Primary Schools in association with Greensax.ie Lasting 20 – 25 minutes I explained what happens to our green waste after the wheelie bin is taken away and how en mass, what happens in a normal compost heap is replicated. On a side note, the images of the maggots and the worms always got a yukky but brilliant reaction from the younger generation and some of the teachers.
After our chat the young folk took some greensax compost ~ that was formerly kitchen green waste ~ a compostable coffee cup and a compostable lid and into that sowed some Irish wild flower seeds to take home.
Personally, I liked how they got that the life-cycle of compost – something formerly photosynthetic dies; decomposes and turns into compost – and the life-cycle of a plant – something which starts as a seed, grows into a plant which will die and then returns to compost ~ and how they both constantly get to collide.
Fair to say also that I was blown away by how far the ages from 2nd to 6th class and their knowledge had come since I was in school. To the approximate 900 students I had the honour to meet and their teachers of the following schools, thanks so much for being ever so lovely.
- Oatlands NS Blackrock
- St. Andrew’s NS, Lucan
- St Georges Balbriggan
- St. Brigids Young Gardeners group
- St. John of God NS, Artane
- Good Shepherd NS, Churchtown
- Carysfort NS
- St Brendans Artane
As a by the way the lovely folks of Greensax had noted on their facebook page [quote] if you know a school that would be interested in taking part in our September/October workshops, let us know!
You can get in touch with Greensax in the following ways:
- contact Greensax.ie via their website
- Greensax on facebook
Source: Peter Donegan Landscaping – Garden Talks: Greensax Compost for Schools
