There was a fun beginning to the fortnight at Donkey Field Orchard, where we started laying the edging boards for the path. There were several head-scratching moments with us puzzling out the geometry, but it worked out nicely in the end and we are now half way there!
Last week we got a chance to go back to Strathesk Primary School, which gave us a chance to not only have a look at our handiwork from the summer, but also to start a new project, the fish! The fish is a large earth mound in the shape of, yes, you guessed it, a fish. It is the central feature in the landscaped garden between the nursery and the primary school.
The idea came from a lump in the ground that was already on site, which looked a little fish-like, and so they expanded the concept to have a fish, a stone mosaic seabed, and an ocean made of blue, white and grey cable ties on the fence.
So, first job when we got on site was to remove the old fish-shaped mound (it was in the wrong place) and lay the shape out anew.
Then there was filling it in, and piling it up. We all had good fun jumping on it to compact the soil, and it wobbled beautifully like jelly because the soil was just a little bit moist…
Once it was shaped we raked over the surface to give the grass something to root into and turfed over it. We also got to show our artistic side when we laid out some pretty coloured stones into the shape of waves and bubbles and set them into the ground.
The under sea area looked really beautiful when it was finished and it was a lovely chance to use our creativity and have a bit of fun whilst helping the children of the community engage in their environment.
To view photos of past and present project and our volunteers in action please click here