NHS Greenhouse Day 6 - Project Symposium

At the project symposium, students were able to share and teach skills that they learned through tout the week at the greenhouse.

The group set up, ready to teach.

Lala shows a student how to plant.

Igor demonstrates how to build a shelf.

A student investigates Makayla and Ivana's
worm habitat.

NHS Greenhouse Day 5 - The Greenhouse is a Classroom

Over the week, the greenhouse has transformed into not only a place to grow food and flowers, but more importantly, into a classroom. It was a classroom for the twelve students and two faculty who worked on the project. It is now a much more conducive space for teachers to use going forward as a lab and classroom.

There is ample shelving and storage space so that planting tables can actually be used for planting, and the greenhouse is now the permanent home to hundreds of composting worms.

 

There is now a drip irrigation system installed. This not only saves time for those watering plants, but it can be used to display engineering and design skills.

The greenhouse now has a flexible solar panal which will provide power to offset the need to plug into the grid. 

Hundreds of seedlings have been planted in a soil mixture researched and chosen to give them the best chance to survive and thrive.

Two faculty members had an opportunity to get outside, get their hands dirty, and most importantly, learn from these twelve awesome students.

 

NHS Greenhouse Day 4 - So Much Progress

What a productive day in the Greenhouse. Everyone came ready to work and have fun! The dusting of snow overnight gave us an opportunity to think about how snow can actually help insulate if left on the shady side of the greenhouse. We also were able to take a look at the temperature gauge to see how quickly the greenhouse loses and gains heat based on the path of the sun. The temperature went from 25 degrees to a very comfortable 58 degrees in only 90 minutes!

Mr. Shackett began the day by showing everyone how to make a simple peg board. These can be hung throughout the greenhouse to add storage. Every cubic inch of the house is precious space, so every little bit of extra storage helps. Vertical storage allows for more growing space.

Work continued throughout the morning, with students taking more risks to get outside of their comfort zones. Lala and Nicki, who have been working all week planting, decided to build a shelf mirroring the design Mr. Schwab drew.

After lunch, everyone reflected on what they are proud of thus far. Here are their responses:

• Nico: Constructing the cross-brace shelves on the rafters and helping with the worm bin. 
• Nick: Building the manifold for the drip irrigation system. I have never built anything before. 
• Carl: Helping his group and others. Being able to make sure that the solar panel was installed level. 
• Igor: Helping to build shelving and helping with other projects. Proud to learn how to measure using standard units, rather than his native metric system.
• Makayla: Learning how to use tools and construct the worm bin. Especially proud to use the jigsaw.
• Ivana: I did not think we would be able to complete and finish our project, but we are well on our way.
• Rory: Completing their first shelf and now being able to fly through the second one. The finished project is very similar to our design we drew on Monday.
• Eamon: Installing the irrigation system and building the tubing.
• Michael: I was not sure how we were going to figure out the irrigation system, but now that we have, it looks good.
• Lala: This entire project is beyond my comfort zone. I am so proud of doing something that I have never done before. 
• Nicki: All of the time we put into mixing soil and the process from planning to completion. 
• Noah: Building the circuit for the solar panel. Also helping with the shelving projects. 
• Mr. Schwab: Designing and building shelves for the greenhouse that will outlast me. 
• Mr. Shackett: Able to drag myself out of bed this morning to get materials for the projects so that students could work on more than we initially planned.

Nico tests out the coffin...aka worm bin

Testing the fit for the top door to the worm bin

Construction Continues - NHS Greenhouse Day 3

All five projects continued with the construction phase during our third day in the greenhouse. Additionally, the group got to talk with Mike and Arden from Fred's Organic Farm. The farm, located in Alexandria, NH supplies the New Hampton School dining hall with many vegetables throughout the year.

Rory and Igor completed one shelving unit, which they designed themselves, and can fit snugly between two of the raised beds. This increases not only storage but also growing space.

Nico, Carl, and Noah took a break from the solar panel construction to work on overhead shelving units that run the length of the huge greenhouse. This utilization of overhead space is fantastic to add growing capacity. 

Makayla and Ivana made significant progress on their worm bin. "Today we built our frame and placed it in the ground. Then we took rocks and sand and put it on the outside to make it level. We then put styroform on the bottom of the bin for insulation." 

Lala and Nicki continued their work planting vegetables and flowers. They also helped other groups throughout the day.

Michael, Eamon and Nick made significant progress on their manifest for the irrigation system. They were also able to bury irrigation lines to run to two raised beds. 

From Design to Build - NHS Greenhouse Day 2

The second day of our project saw some groups begin to build their designs, while others spent the majority of the day acquiring the materials necessary to build.

"Today my group mates and I did a lot of efficient work. We finished our soil mixture and added it to all of the planting beds. We also planted herbs, peppers, and flowers into the soil mixture we created. Additionally, we helped another group dig and get further into their project."

-Lala

"Our worm farm has been completely dug. We are starting to put together our farm frame. We can't wait until tomorrow."

-Makayla and Ivana

The group working on the solar panel to power the drip irrigation system was able to attach the flexible solar panel to the side of the greenhouse.

The irrigation group built the manifest and went to get the rest of their supplies.

The group constructing shelving worked on several projects. Mr Schwab was able to make his design come to life and build a 6 ft tall, four-shelf unit in the corner of the greenhouse.

Rory's group began working on their shelving unit as well with the hopes of making several units tomorrow.

NHS Greenhouse Day 1 - Design

The day began with breakfast and planning, including some writing about what we hope to accomplish.

From there, the group went to Mr. Shackett's classroom to create plans for our projects. There are five projects that students will be completing throughout the course if the week.

Ivana and Makayla will be planning and constructing a location for red worm composting. "Today we started building our worm farm. We began to dig our 2ft x 10ft x 22in trench. We drew our final project and are ready to get our materials".

The worm trench mapped out.

Rory and Igor are "working on making ideas for shelves in the greenhouse. We are going to hang some shelves, as well as build some shelves that go between the planters. We wrote the plans and have a list of materials to get tomorrow."

Michael, Eamon, and Nick began working on a drip irrigation system. "First we dug out the hose to rice house, which took a while due to snow. Then we measured all of the characteristics of the greenhouse. The last thing we did was design what our manifest looks like and what we are going to build tomorrow."

Nico, Carl, and Noah began working on a solar panel project. "We started off with many challenges. First, we did not have the right type of wire to use. Also, we did not have a good location and set up for the solar panel. Before lunch, we were able to determine the type of wire we need. The length of the wire was determined after lunch when we took measurements. We made a small scale sketch of our plans and tomorrow we are going to get our materials."

Mr. Shackett and Nico research the solar panel

Lala and Nicki began working on their planting project. "Today we filled the raised beds with soil, added certain nutrients, and planned what we are going to plant. We are planning on putting vegetables such as peppers, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes in the beds. We are really looking forward to growing and helping our plants thrive."

We had a very productive first day and are looking forward to putting our designs into action.

Countdown to Project Week 2015

NHS Greenhouse is only 32 days away. Students will explore the essential question: How can automated greenhouse systems be designed and constructed to enhance plant production and reduce labor? 

In addition, students will be working on five smaller projects including:

• flexible solar PV panel installation 
• bed preparation and seed starting
• irrigation manifold and integration of solar powered drip irrigation 
• plant and storage shelving construction 
• worm composting bin 

And we get to hang out here!

The NHS Greenhouse was first constructed during Project Week 2014.

Greenhouse Taking Shape

Today in Project Greenhouse, we put together the bows that will support the structure. We worked in teams to assemble all 13 of them, and when we finished, we each signed and dated them. We then stood them up, put them in their places, arranged the raised beds to see how they would fit in the greenhouse, snapped a picture, and called it a morning!
-Maggie L.

Building Doors and Mixing Soil For The Greenhouse

The Geenhouse group has been busy staining boards, assembling doors, building raised beds, mixing potting soil, and starting seeds! We split up into two groups and tackled all the work.

Staining took a lot of teamwork, and group 2 did a great job working together. Tomi 16’ and Johnny 17’ worked hard on finishing the shingles. Shen Hua 16’, Lily 16’, Jacob 16’, and Mary 17’ stained the sides.

Group 1 worked hard constructing the beds! They look great! Mian 15’ and Maggie 17’ were great leaders. Eric 15’ did an awesome job drilling and cutting the wood. Each group got to construct their own doors as well. With Mr. Shackett's design, we assembled and built four barn-style sliding doors for the ends of the greenhouse. Great job to everyone!

We were lucky to have the Tinker Shop, another New Hampton School Project group, constructing our tables! They look awesome!

We used the planting room in Pilalas to mix potting soil and learn about plant nutrition. We mixed our own soil nutrients to add to the peat moss and vermiculite base for our potting soil. We up-cycled containers that we found at our homes and in our dorms into planters, and we started some flowers in them. They are very creative, and we did a good job on mixing the soil and choosing the seeds. We also spent time looking through all of the seeds that we will start this week and throughout the growing season.

- Shen Hua R., Lily C., Mary H.

Greenhouses in Action

The greenhouse squad took a field trip to Vermont. We drove for about an hour to see some real greenhouses first hand. 

The first farm, Longwind Farm in East Thetford, VT, had massive greenhouses. They had 2 greenhouses, each being the size of the field house here at NHS. The farm is one of the only organic soil-based tomato operations in New England. The owner of the farm gave us a helpful tip in telling us that, as beginners, we should try to stick with growing greens. His reasoning was that tomatoes are very sensitive to temperature. 

The second farm we toured was run in collaboration with Dartmouth College. The greenhouses at this farm weren't quite as big as the ones at the first farm, but the owners provided us with a wealth of information. They taught us the importance of keeping a "closed loop", or making the greenhouse completely self-sustaining. They also told us the importance of being creative when closing the loop, and explained that the loop can be closed in a number of ways. All in all, the field trip was beneficial for our project, and the information we learned will help future generations of Huskies.

- Eric L.

NHS Greenhouse Project Participants Leave Their Mark

The NHS Greenhouse Project accomplished much today. With the quote of the day, “Light is the element of life,” for inspiration, we finished making the 2 x 14 foot beds, and began the project of assembling the 10 x 3 beds. We split into groups, one to up-cycle old containers into plant pots and mix potting soil, and another group to start working on the beautiful greenhouse doors! The warm weather significantly boosted moral, made working outside much more enjoyable, and reinforced the quote of the day.