This week was very busy. On Tuesday, school inspectors wanted to meet us so we gave them a slide show about all we have acheived in our first year. Well done to Lewis, Shaun, Catriona and Charlotte - you all read your lines very well!
On Wednesday we decided the barrels outside the front of the school really needed replanting - you can see why in the picture below!
We emptied them out completely and used new compost. They now have hyacinth bulbs deep in the soil, which should smell lovely in the spring. In the top are pansies which will get bigger and give good winter colour to brighten up the entrance of the school.
We were joined on Thursday by five members of staff and two first year girls who helped us plant yet more bulbs behind the school. There are now quite a lot of daffodils ready to come up in Spring. Thank you everyone!
We also used spare bulbs and some pansies to plant up two large pots for the garden - we will keep them a bit warmer in the greenhouse for the winter and put them out by the shed doors in the spring when they flower. Mrs MacLennan kindly donated some large pots that we can grow carrots and parsnips in next year - thankyou!
Also on Wednesday, Danielle and Mr MacFarlane finished chopping up the sunflower plant remains into the compost. They also planted some onions.
If you are wondering about the "almost Bird Tables" bit of the title, well, Miss Swallow started to make a bird table just before lunch on Thursday using old bits of wood that we have. We want to feed birds during the cold winter (which started with snow just yesterday!) and be able to watch them from the shed. Things didn't go quite to plan - some of the bits are shown below - so hopefully, she can finish it over the weekend and we can put it up next week...watch this space!
Today (Wednesday) was our last meeting before the Christmas holidays. It was -6 degrees centigrade up at the shed and the snow was still deep! We put out more fat balls for the birds, topped up the feeders and sprinkled some seed on the bird table. Then it was our turn to eat! We had our packed lunches as usual followed by cakes and Coke left over from the french club party - thank you folks!! Or should I say "Ooo la la...merci bien!!"
Danielle enjoys the face from the caterpillar cake
It was so cold in the shed, Lewis's lollipop ("What kind of a lunch is that Lewis!!" lol) was steaming!! 
"...and how evil can one look eating a lolly?!" 
We didn't have cups, so shared the coke out into bottles. When the bell went, we all parted with another big "Happy Christmas" - see you all next term, in the new year!
High energy for the birds.
There is still plenty of garlic left (in fact, the shed is filled with its aroma!)
Whilst Catriona and Lewis prepared the vegetables, Charlotte cut the pots from the fat balls. They stuck together perfectly!
A rich store of energy for the birds to peck at.
Without the wheelbarrows, there's lots of room in the shed.
Cooking the sprouts, garlic, cashews and bacon in the staff room. Miss Swallow carried the hot food out to the shed in a wicker hamper.
Reading the instructions for the crackers - they were not the usual type!!
Everyone had a whistle with a number on it. We had lots of fun TRYING to blow them at the right time to play Christmas Carols on the play sheet!
There were some gardening jokes in them. What's a gardener's favourite magazine?? "Weeders Digest" of course!!
Notice the musical hats (and we are wearing our new aprons too).
We all tucked in - yumm! The food didn't stay on our plates for long!! As we were eating, it went very dark outside and heavy snow started falling which made it feel very "Christmassy".
Danielle and Catriona pull the last cracker ready to play the whistles!
At this point, we thought it would be a good idea to use the snow outside to cool the pots as the mixture was poured.
Once cooled a litte, we left the pots in the shed overnight to set. Next week, we'll cut the pots away and hopefully they will hold together well enough to hang up on the bird feeder!
Also this week, our new aprons arrived. We bought them with money raised at the Invermoriston Christmas Fayre - they donated their raffle money to us - thankyou so much!! They will help to keep us clean all year round. We also ordered a "Christmas Hamper" with the money which hasn't arrived yet - a basket with many vegetable seeds, trowel and fork and other equipment in.
This week as you can see, the garden is buried in snow! We were off due to the snow on Monday, but we didn't let the freezing conditions put us off on Wednesday. We assembled a bird feeder pole (indoors where it was warmer).
We also put out a bird table that Miss Swallow made using old bits of wood, slats from an old cot and timbers used to pack the shed when it arrived!! Thanks to keyline for the wood cutoffs. 
Also this week, a parcel arrived for us - seeds for the spring and an "enviromesh" tunnel to protect the brassicas next year. Below, Charlotte and Catriona are trying to get the pack open!
Talking of brassicas - there are lots of brussel sprouts waiting to be harvested under that snow! 
We will have another cookup before Christmas using a recipe with bacon and walnuts too.
Another week whizzes by and we still have lots to do before the winter sets in! On Wednesday we raked more leaves and started cutting up the dead sunflowers for the compost heap. On Thursday we had some help from Miss Forsyth and five S1 boys to plant a big bag of daffodil bulbs. 
It was a pretty cold day and the ground was stoney and difficult to dig, so everyone did well to plant what they did!