The Apples in My Orchard

So, today is the day! Today, I venture into the world of blogging, attracting an audience with my supposed wit and experience, hopefully gaining skills for my love of writing and growing a following by sharing that craft! Today is the day! Today, I start to share with my readers a little slice of my life enabled through a challenge posed by others. This is the slice of life writing challenge; for during the next 31 days I will share a piece of my day with you!  I have to admit it is kind of scary and intimidating. My list of potential topics did not stretch as long as I had hoped, so I really do not have any idea what specific topic I will be writing about three weeks from now. But, one thing is for sure, it will have to do with student-hood. If you check out my “About” page and my “Home” page, you will get a sense of some of the subjects that will flow from my pen (Well, fingers, actually since I am typing this blog.)

Today, my slice takes place from 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, when I planted Amaryllis bulbs with 75 fourth grade students at one of our district’s elementary schools. Cool, you might interject! Why? You might also ask. Well, last week I received a donation of 240 Amaryllis Bulb Kits. This was a generous, generous donation from a parent of a former garden club student.  I had to think quick as to what do with these bulbs, as I only have 30 garden club students.  Over the course of the week, I contacted several teachers I know to see if they could use the bulbs. I knew I would keep 30 for our garden club project in March. This worked perfectly in my scheme of things as we will be studying hummingbirds in March and what type of project could we do?  Problem solved! We would plant the Amaryllis bulbs! Some other teachers rapidly took advantage as 110 bulbs got delivered to our high school yesterday to be used by Algebra II and Agricultural students in plant growth studies. Twenty  bulb kits still need delivery to a kindergarten teacher friend in a neighboring district. And, 75 bulbs were delivered to the elementary school where today I returned to give a brief presentation and help plant!

As I knew it would be, the presentation and planting was the highlight of my day! Excitement and fascination filled the air of three classrooms as nine and ten-year olds happily dug in the dirt created by rehydrating a large peat pellet. The Amaryllis bulbs were dry with peeling brown tunics, yet sprouting whitish-green shoots, a sign of spring and rejuvenation for all to see, as well as impending photosynthesis. Ah, the awe of life science! It gets me every time. I am so thankful to have received this donation and be able to share it with those who I know would appreciate it and will use it to the best advantage for their students. Thank you, Melissa Fox and our local ACE Distribution Center. You have made 240 student lives all that much richer today. Soon, as their plants start to grow, the student lives’ will become all that much more wondrous too, as they are able to personally experience what a little sun and water can do. The plants will not be the only ones to grow from this experience!