The very first thing that was done in the garden, almost 10 years ago now, was to build our two level terrace. We did this by levelling a piece of land and enclosing it with rocks. Since its inception we have grown maize, sweetcorn, beans and casava on the terrace, but we have always been […]
A group of nine volunteers from the school community and members of the Bolivar Garden agreed to help water the cacao plot and new terrace during our hot Christmas vacations. From the 15th December till the 6th January these volunteers came and used a newly purchased tube system – courtesy of the Don Simon Coffee […]
We have just got back after the summer hiatus and have visited the garden with my new, huge, group of Agricultural Plant Science Elective students – 21 of them! One of the biggest classes I have ever had. The garden is a bit overgrown after the summer. The terrace needs to be finished so that […]
Early on a bright and sunny day a bunch of volunteers, students, teachers, parents, social service students (and some in detention) came to the Bolivar Garden to plant our 64 clones! The day started by collecting more compost from Carlos´s compost area and mixing it with soil residue from Dr Martin´s mushroom farm. This was […]
On the 28th of March Angel and I went with the school truck to Miranda, Cauca to the Fedecacao Research Centre to pick up the clones that we had ordered two years ago. It took us an hour to get there. Once there we were taken on a tour of the site where […]
After almost two years we are finally ready to receive and plant our cacao plants. This has meant in the last two weeks we have been re-assessing and mapping out where plants will be planted. Having had the holes dug and filled with compost over a year ago, and with stakes having rotted away or […]
With a new batch of seedlings bought from Don Simón funds, students set about germinating seedlings of many types of brassicas (cabbages, kohl rabi, brussel sprouts and kale) and carrots, scorzona, parsnips and turnips. Seeds were germinated in newly purchased seedling trays and managed by students. Tomato plants were also seeded as were other herbs […]
The Colegio Bolivar Sustainability leader, Jessica Gomez, a long-time friend and supporter of the Bolivar Garden approached me at the start of the year asking if the Agricultural Plant Science class and Bolivar Garden would represent the school at the COP 16 international conference on biodiversity held in Cali during the outreach presentations to the […]
Following the visit to Agrosavia in the previous academic year, and staking out the cacao plot it has been determined that we will have space to plant 64 cacao trees. The current agricultural plant science students were asked whether they wanted to maximise production of cacao, or maximise quality of production. Discussions were had as […]
In order to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Colegio Bolivar the agricultural plant science students are going to undertake an inventory exercise of the college campus. It is hoped that this will be the first step in determining the carbon footprint of the campus, by determining the amount of carbon that is currently stored and […]
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