Our seven year old neighbour was tasked with preparing a school report on a backyard ecosystem, and chose to base it on ours. I thought you might enjoy his work as much as we did! I particularly like the worm close-up on the bottom right…
Our garden is based on a plan from Linda Woodrow’s fabulous book, The Permaculture Home Garden. Now that the infrastructure is well established, it’s really quite easy to maintain. As Little D points out, the chooks and the worms do most of the work for us!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
This is the best book review I’ve ever had! I love it that a seven year old can see the beauty of the system. And yes, the worm close-up is gorgeous.
Linda, doesn’t he make it sound so simple and logical! And it really is, which is why it’s such a brilliant system. Works really well in suburbia! Thank you.. :) x
That’s so cute! It’s a rather thorough but nice and short summary isn’t it?!
Pretty impressive work for a seven year old, isn’t it? :)
I like his “review”. Did he take the pictures as well?
I think his mum took a couple, but he took most of them with her iPhone…
Excellent work for a 7 year old. And good on the school for having them look at and think about ecosystems at such a tender age.
I dunno, Amanda, I think it was quite a big project for a little tacker. Luckily Little D is more than up to the challenge! :)
How sweet indeed Celia! Isn’t it lovely that it isn’t much more complicated than that at all. Maybe the class should have an excursion to your yard to see it all in action :)
Shhh…Becca, don’t say that too loudly.. ;-)
Great work from little D – let’s hope he remembers your inspiration when he has his own garden and a family to feed.
Suelle, now that’s a nice thought! :)
Absolutely excellent work for a 7 year old! Brilliant school project idea. You never know Celia, the school may soon be doing tours through your garden.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, that is SO not going to happen.. ;-)
Please tell little D that an old school marm said that was a very fine effort indeed!
I will do that, Rose! Thank you, I’m sure he’ll be chuffed! :)
You have a super cute and smart neighbor :)
Very cute indeed, especially when he was checking out the chooks and worms. Amazing how appealing both of those are to small children!
What an impressive effort for a 7 year old – love the worm – I wonder if he worked out which end was smiling:)
Jan, I’ve never figured it out, is there a way to tell? ;-)
Fantastic – how lucky for you to have each other as neighbours :)
I think we’re very lucky indeed, Sally! :)
What a joy to have a bright little inquisitive boy come into your home and want to do a project on your backyard! They are lucky to have such interesting neighbours xx
Actually, we’re the lucky ones! You still have Alfie, Charlie, but Big Boy and Small Man are now both huge, so it’s such a treat to have little kids running around occasionally! :)
I want that 7 year old to come work in our lab! Oh, shoot… by the time he is 18 I might be retired! ;-)
seriously, what a cool kid, I hope he keeps curious and insightful for decades to come!
He is a very cool kid! I think, however, that he’s going to play cricket or rugby for Australia when he grows up! :)
I love this post!
My son has the children from his church planting raised bed gardens on the rectory side lawn to grow food for the homeless. I’m going to suggest they try
the whole chicken/garden permaculture idea. Then they could have eggs to donate to the soup kitchen as well! And my grandsons could benefit from watching over the chickens.
D was very succinct and thorough with his report. Well done all around!
Heidi, the chickens do the most amazing job of clearing up the beds. We barely have to do much at all, just nag Big Boy to rake the beds and mulch. :) The only tricky thing is keeping the hens on the bed until they’re well worked – you need some sort of pen to corral them all into (we use the chook dome).
Love it!! Thanks for sharing with us! :)
Aaah, praise from the teacher, he’ll be chuffed, thanks Abby! :)
Very nice … you are famous. How cute is his project!!
Hehehe…that’s a nice sort of fame. :) Actually, credit really should have gone to Linda for her genius plan – I feel bad that I forgot to mention the book to Little D!
Love it! What a clever little cookie you have for a neighbour. I imagine his teacher will be thrilled to receive his project! Thanks for sharing. :)
Chris, I know you can vouch for how well the system works! :)
I agree with you Celia, pretty impressive work for a seven year old.
Thanks Norma! He’s going to be thrilled when he sees all the lovely things people are saying about his project!
What an Honor – thanks for sharing! Have a Beautiful Weekend:)
Thanks Renee! Hope you have a great weekend too! :)
Wonderful! A great project for school and big it up for the worm poop! All power to seven year olds, and thanks for the show and tell :)
Don’t you love it? Little D and Pete had quite a detailed discussion about worm poop. He wanted to take a photo of the big worm farm we have, but it was getting dark and frankly, it’s a bit gross (Pete had just filled it with kitchen scraps). :)
One word. Boys :)
I think that it is wonderful that your neighbor’s child did this project. It surely impressed his teacher and fellow students but also lets anyone that visits your blog know what a healthy garden you have.
Karen, thank you, I think even more importantly it shows why the garden is quite healthy – it’s all the poop! :)
What a great piece of work – thanks for sharing it with us Celia :) Congratulations to Little D!
Most welcome – he’s an absolute treasure, isn’t he? :)
Time to invite him round for a leak tart…love the spelling and frank language. To the point!
He’s a lovely kid, Vix! :)
Oh little boys and worm poop! Love, love, love that report! My youngest just finished presenting his senior project and is a month away from graduation and moving two states away for university. Kudos to Little D. & you too for providing the inspiration.
Lynn, they grow up so fast, don’t they? Both our sons tower over Pete and I, so it’s an absolute joy to have the little ones visit. Hope your son’s move isn’t too traumatic! x
Great school project.
Thanks Choc, he’ll be pleased to hear that! :)
Awesome work! LOL. Very good indeed.
Lizzy, I thought he did a great job too! :)