The Apprentice Project (TAP) Day Two

Day Two of the TAP project. A day for making,

everyone excited and raring to get out in the garden

Start off by going to have a look at the rainfall levels in our collecting vessels

After some of the heaviest rainfall this year, causing floods in the St Austell areas overnight, the jars are very full, over 40mm of rain

Back inside the polytunnel for a warm up, we get going with taking some of the ideas from ideas board and models we made last week, and have a go at practical ideas for transporting water uphill. We start by trying to make an Archimedes Screw out of pipe and a cardboard tube.

The turning of the screw creates pressure in the pipe and forces the water upwards....
Well kind of......
Of course it needed some help to create the pressure.....

After partial success with the Archimedes Screw, we went outside and tried to make a water=transport system using pulleys, string and recycled bottles
This worked really well......

and the bottles went round and round. As the string got slack they started to dip, so back to the drawing board.... this experimenting is SUCH fun!

First Frosts

16th November sees the first hard frost of the season. The garden was a picture on arrival, the temperature -4 deg Brrrrr

A wander round the garden discovers the water collecting jars, put out last week, frozen solid

The steps icy, the swept steps forming little balls of frost-snow, the red berries on the holly trees and then hips and haws glistening in the early morning sun. The frozen dew on the grass, glistening like glitter, creating a winter wonderland, the mist in the fields rising and falling like fairy-air hanging above the grass. Gossamer threads of spiders web criss-crossing the sculptural seed-heads in the allotments, a frozen spaghetti junction of nature, held still and silent in the frozen air.

Wonderful Wonderful Winter

Mouse in the House

The first real winter frosts have come, and our furry friends are beginning to seek out warmth, like the rest of us.

A scrabble around in the near-empty log basket discovered a small family of mice nice and cosy by the woodburner, scuttling about.

Squeals of surprise from the Boot Up! team probably rendered them deaf, so instead of three blind mice, we have three deaf mice!

We had to put them outside, but somehow we think they will find their way back!

So just incase, one of the young people made them a mouse house... let's wait and see.....

Tasty Snack

Last of the summer crop, green tomatoes, a small onion, some apples and...........

Wow..... yummy green tomato chutney - Boot Up! style, eaten with crackers and cheese in the yurt for lunch. Yum

The Apprentice Project (TAP) Day One

After eating lots of cake, Meg explained about the project.( we all ate cake by the way, not just Meg...) She gave everyone the choice of an unusual and different water catcher (jar, vase, jug, bottle etc) and a beautiful personalised wooden label made on the laser cutter at Uni.

Meg has also made some lovely worksheets to fill in about ourselves

This special jar had a Christmas Tree painted on it. Wonder how much water will be in it by Christmas!

Everyone tied their labels on and we went for a walk round the site to choose special places where we could catch the rain. Each week we will measure

the level of rain in the jars.

The we worked on ideas about moving water with pictures of other methods used around the world

Ideas came thick and fast......
Next we had to make a grand design of how we could build a piece of water moving equipment. There were some fab designs with working parts....

We filled in our worksheets which said loads about us....

At break, we played apple throwing into a bucket... harder and jucier than it looks!
After doing some woodwork outside in the sunshine, we came inside to recap on the day.....

and filled in the first week on the board with designs and plans for next week

and we put some recordings in the Sound Bank...

along with our names.....and some captured images on a disposable camera

Then we had the JamJarJury to evaluate the day, 1 marble for an OK day, 2 for a Good day and 3 for an Brilliant Day

Guess what - 3 marbles all round!!!!!!!! Hooray!

What a fantastic first Boot Up! day of the new season. Cant wait for next week...

The Apprentice Project (TAP)

Meg, our 3rd yr 3D Design Student has devised a series of workshops for the young people to plan and create a unique way of moving water across the site. Drought conditions earlier in the summer led us to thinking how we were going to pump water from Tall Trees Allotment to Flowerpots Allotment, about 30 mtrs distance and 8 meters in height.

PolyHQ with its new 'carpet' of woodchip -mmmm smells lovely :)

Meg and Joe setting up a time-lapse camera to film the children's hands as they work.

Ready for Winter

Logs, logs, logs.......getting warm twice!