By Jesse Seifert
Planting season is upon us, and my classmates Clarke Simonson, Desmond Setso, and Adam Washington are the caretakers of the Gudangaay Tlaats’gaa Naay (GTN) greenhouse, which they’ve taken on for special projects.
No one else was taking care of it during the winter, so Adam, Desmond and Clarke got the opportunity. Clarke has lots of previous knowledge of gardening and has a garden at his house. He is sharing what he knows with Desmond and Adam, who started the project because they wanted to try something new. Clarke took it on because he likes planting things.
The greenhouse needs a lot of maintenance — it needs watering, weeding, and compost for the soil. The whole greenhouse takes about 30 watering cans to water and even more when people decide to water each other, which happens every class. They also use a watering system with tubes that carry the water where it needs to go.
Weeds thrive in the greenhouse, but after the hard work of pulling them out, the plants get a better environment to survive. Compost is key to a healthy plant. It adds nitrogen to the soil, which gives the plants proteins to help them grow. Clarke believes that in the future they will use seaweed as a fertilizer to further help the soil. Some of the plants being grown in the greenhouse are kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, rosemary, oregano, strawberries, and even a peach tree. The three are very excited to try and grow a watermelon.
Gardening is a good thing to do in the sunny weather. Another is going for a bike ride, or a hike, or maybe both.
We recently participated in another COASt day during which I went on the bike and hike to Skonun Lake. We biked to the start of the path, which is just off the highway, and then continued to walk it.
Along the way there is a huge hole off to the side that is about three meters deep. We theorized that a mole man lived in the hole because it seemed to go off to the side — he probably has passages all over the island.
We soon decided that it would be best to lower someone into the hole with a homemade flagging-tape rope. Sol’s still down there. The bike ride was very hilly, which was fine because each hill that we had to ride up we got to ride down. All in all it was a great day.
The bike and hike was awesome and the Mount Moresby trip holds even more outdoor fun. The Grade 9 class will soon be going to Mount Moresby so they can learn outside of the classroom while getting an outdoor experience.
The forests surrounding the mountain and lake are a great place to play games like man-hunt, as well as an excellent place for learning about plants, animals, insects and more. Mosquito Lake is amazing for canoeing, kayaking, swimming and pushing friends into the water. Hopefully next year’s Grade 9 class will get to go as well, mostly just because I’ll be in it.
The Champions League semi-finals are huge excitement and already halfway done, as is our own Haida Gwaii League soccer schedule.
Juventus played Monaco for game 1, in Monaco, and won 2-0 with Gonzalo Higuain’s brace. The Madrid battle had Real Madrid win as they beat Atletico 3-0. Ronaldo (that boasting ape) got a hat trick. This game, of course, was played in Madrid. The second games will have already happened when you read this, but make sure to watch the finals on June 3.