Feed

Megan from Provanhall invited us for a tour of the medieval gardens before setting us to work with a smelly task!! We talked as a group about the potential projects that we could get involved in deciding that wild flowers to help the bees, bird boxes to provide shelter for the birds and even potentially hedghog homes would be the way to go! We talked about the plants and herbs you would have expected to be use within the house many years ago. We smelled, sniffed, gawped and gazed at the dried herbs and various bottles that lay before us talking about their potential uses then and even now. With so much to do all that was left to say was a massive THANK YOU to Megan and all the staff at Provanhall, with a look into the past we were all certainly excited by what lay in store for us in thge future.

Today would see us embarking upon a New Project within an Old House, Provanhall House to be exact!! Provanhall is a MUST SEE Medieval house dating bck to the 1460's and located directly behind the Glasgow Fort Retail Park. The building has recently been restored and with the help of Provanhall's Megan and our Senior Countryside Ranger for Glasgow Allison Greig we hope to play our part in the journey of Provanhall by adding our own touch of Wild Flower and Environmental Magic to this house that was once called home to so many interesting people. It was an exciting day with lunch in a medieval kitchen this was no ordinary Active Learning Adventure......

As always learning in an Active Way allowed us to embrace the learning opportunities and challenges that came before us. We discussed the temperatures these fantastic plants would need and with the help of the excellent and supportive Gardeners at the Botanics we were even given the opportunity to pull our weight and help with the watering of the plants. To be involved in this way was excellent and made the visit even more positive. As we left the warmth of the Kibble and made our way out into the wintery breath of January we agreed that we would return in Spring or Summer to see the riot of colour come tumbling down the slopes of the pond as our wild flowers spring forth and our Pollinator Pals set to work......and onwards!

As a group and individually we loved to see this amazing new environment and we walked and talked as we listened and learned from one another. We counted countries as we made our way around and told stories of what they must look like when we looked at the plants who call these countries home. We looked at the diverse history of the Kibble Palace and wondered about the lives of the people who have journey through it and called Glasgow and other cities all around the world home.

This was our second visit to the Brilliant Botanic Gardens in Glasgow but our first visit to the Kibble Palace. Ourt last visit had seen us helping to create the wild flower beds that surround the new pond and while there were only small patches of green we knew that Spring is just around the corner and our hard work would shortly be on display for all to see and for our early pollinator friends to enjoy. Today was our chance to visit the Kibble Palace and the treasures that on show within.

Getting to know Kirriemuir of the past, how houses have sprung up and reshaping the burn to feed the industrial machine of the past. This helps to understand when John Muir took his walks. Then I discovered I have been on this planet more than half the time since JM walked this earth. How time flies... The poster is a working progress!

Squirrel danced past us in flashes hoping to get a taste of our hard work! With tails twitching they licked and crunched in their own busy way darting from cone to cone and then to cover. A robin feasted on seed we left and we watched and wondered how his little legs could hold him up. This was a fantastic way to end our Active Learning Year and to all our Community Friends we must day Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night.....

The first activity would see us making Festive Table Decorations that we would take home with us. We used materials sourced from the park for this and with the help of our Countryside Ranger Friends and our fantastic Support Staff we did really well indeed producing some beautful Christmas Centre Pieces. To help support the local wild life we used pine cones, margarine, bird seed and string to make our sustainable bird feeders. A tray was filled with these and we st off into the the park to hang them. We would quickly see that these feeders weren't just for the robins and tits as they zipped from cone to cone but were also for some of our furry friends who came past for a treat....