sbcan youth Fund stories: interest link

We are going to be sharing some updates from the youth fund we ran earlier this year. Todays update comes from the fabulous Interest Link! Isla had the pleasure of going along to visit the group at their first session back after the holidays where they started the work on the bio-diversity project. Here is an update from Interest Link:

We were delighted to receive the funding for our wilderness and multi sensory garden project and we have now done all we can at this stage. We have learned a lot and laughed a lot in the process too. We had chosen a wee ignored corner of the Selkirk Cricket Club for our mini plot – it’s a long lump of ground with nothing more than wild grass but has a beautiful oak tree on it. Apparently a very rough way to measure the age of a tree is to see how many people it takes to hug it all the round – each person holding hands with the next person – so we estimate the tree to be 300 years old as it took 4 children from one of our groups.

We were also given some yellow rattle seeds and Anna explained how this is a flowering plant which attaches itself to the roots of the wild grass and slows its growth which will let our wildflowers grow! We learned from Anna and Sandra how to best attract wildlife and where to place different features of out garden – ie to make sure that the apple trees got enough light and rain under the oak tree, and that the raised beds got enough light. We have filled the pond (our mini pond – we called it a pondette!) with stones and positioned logs and sticks so that it is safe for wildlife and any other visitors. The solar pump runs when exposed to light and we were beyond excited to see the water flowing.

Everyone got the chance to throw seed bombs and plant seeds and bulbs. Everyone in the children’s group painted a fairy door in exactly their own personal style and these are positioned around the tree with a mini waterfall, and a table and chairs and little woodland creatures that we made from clay. Being outside and working together was great fun and everyone was kept very busy – we also built up the wee raised beds and have planted spinach and carrots in them at the moment.

We popped lavender plants at the front in the sun, filled bird feeders and hung lights and bamboo windchimes. Next spring we are planning on building a mini slate “shade hotel” for frogs and also planting more veg for summer.

In our world of next day delivery and instant results, we now all have to simply accept that nature will take it’s own sweet time but we cannot wait to see the fruits of our labour when we will hopefully welcome many, many blooms which will bring scent, colour and texture and a pollen rich haven to attract bees and pollinators, birds and maybe a hedgehog or a frog! We will keep you updated…. Photos also attached for you to have a wee peek.

Thank you again for this opportunity!