Fiesta de Primavera en Gatika

El 2 de Junio va a ser un día muy especial para nosotros porque vamos a celebrar nuestra primera Fiesta de Primavera en el jardin de nuestra casa en Gatika.  Será un día para celebrar la creatividad y disfrutar con estar en la naturaleza.  Habrá artesania, arte, verduras ecológicas, buena comida, buena compañia y juegos y diversión para los niños y ls niñas.  Una muestra de patchwork estará colgada entre los arboles y habrá artesanía textíl, ropa, complementos y juguetes para ver y comprar.  Un productor de verdura ecológica de Gatika  traerá sus productos frescos para vender y habrá pan casero de Maruri también.  Edith Kiriakova, pintora/artista adornará la casa con sus trabajos tan especiales y bellos.  Los niños y las niñas podrán hacer manualidades, cazar dragones hacer barcos para  hacer carrerras en el estanque, buscar tesoros en la arena, dar paseos o simplemente disfrutar con estar en la naturaleza y a su aire.  Para quitar un poco el hambre y la sed, habrá café, infusiones con hierbas naturales, tés y zumos acompañados de galletas caseras.  Y sobre todo, podremos disfrutar con la compañia de amigos y amigas, charlar y tomar las cosas con calma.  Espero veros allí!

El horario será de 11:00 a 19:00. Para llegar, hay que coger la autovia del aeropuerto hasta la salida "Mungia-Gatika".  A partir de allí hay que seguir las flechas y globos hasta la casa.  Habrá parking habilitado en una campa al lado de la casa.  Muy facíl!  También se puede venir en autobus desde Bilbao cogiendo el autobus de Mungia-Bakio por autopista en la plaza Moyua delante del Banco Barclays.  Se baja en la primera parada, cruzas a pie el puente por encima de la autovia hasta la rotonda.  Si me avisas con tiempo, alguien te puede recoger alli.  Si no, es un paseo agradable de 2,5km hasta la casa siguiendo las flechas y globos que estarán puestos estratégicamente.  Animaros!!

A home for a turtle

On Saturday Huck Darwin arrived to take up residence in her new home - a beautiful pond from recycled material and a garden with a very special signpost painted by Noa. She is an adventurous little turtle and has done a walkabout around the perimeter of her space and can get in and out of the water without any problem. Noa is delighted with her!

A home for strawberries and recycling at school

We bought some new strawberry plants and of course they needed homes. We made our own planters from some 2 litre Coca-Cola bottles -they are amazingly functional and not too bad too look at either. Better than seeing a plastic bottle stranded on the beach or littering the side-walks.

I have hundreds of plastic plant pots lying around the yard and getting blown about by the wind. And since spring is making my gardening fingers itch and all I can think of are seeds, I decided to recycle the pots and infect others with my spring fever. Seeds and plants are truly wonderful things! I taught the children I teach on Saturdays to make dyed paper flowers with coffee filters and create spring art. In the process we learnt some new vocabulary. At the end of the project, each child chose the seeds he or she wanted and I stuck them on to their artwork with Ironfix. As an added bonus, they got to take home a plastic plant pot to plant their new seeds! And, Bingo, I got rid of at least 60 plant pots and hopefully at least half of them will soon be used to sprout seeds.

Recycling water bottles and creating green art

Noa and I spent a happy afternoon recycling 6l plastic water bottles. After cutting them in half and making some drainage holes, we filled them with potting soil. Then we went wild with all the plants, rocks, sticks, metal cans, fabric and shells we could find to create miniature gardens. We had a super time! In October the Art Show Collective will be organising the GreenArt Event and I would love to present these gardens as a workshop for children and adults. Creating a growing piece of art can be a truly wonderful experience for a child especially for those who are not used to having an opportunity to sink their hands in the soil.

Noa says: "I had lots of fun doing the gardins with mom. I made a tree haus with a bed and a table."

I have had a blog since 2008, but this the first time I'm am daring to write anything! I have spent ages doubting that I had anything to say. A while ago I made an agreement with myself: to recycle a piece of trash every day and to do it as creatively as possible. Sometimes I succeed in my endeavours and other times I just don't get there. But at least I now have something to say! I hope that my recycling projects will inspire you to try some for yourself.