Reflection

Reflections on building a window farm by Robert Jack

This project has been fun, but hard as I (R Jack) misplaced a few things along the way. I lost my window farm when it was nearly finished. This caused a huge setback. I managed to build a new one on the last day before it was due. This caused my partner and me lots of stress.

The window farm was therefore my best part of the project and also my worst, because of the stress. Right at the last minute, once I had almost put the second window farm together, I discovered that the new pump I bought was not strong enough to pump the required height. It felt like I had stumbled at the last hurdle and let my partner down. Luckily, my mother remembered that there was an old submersible water pump in a water feature in the garden, but it hadn't been used for years. It was already dark outside. We had to remove all the stones and completely dismantle this old water feature. Then I had to clean the pump and the electrical cable. Finally we plugged it in and amazingly enough, it still worked. That was a huge relief, because there was not enough time to purchase a new pump before we had to hand in the window farm. 

I liked building it, because it was a creative process, and it let me do something that was good for the environment and for the earth.

In fact I would go so far as to say that building the window farm has been my favourite project I have undertaken since I have been at Bishops.

I liked cutting the 2 litre bottles and then putting them together. Building a window farm is like a giant puzzle, but you have to build it in your head first.

Other reflections

I felt very guilty when I lost the first window farm I had built. I felt responsible that we might fail as a result, but I corrected the situation by working through the whole of Sunday.

Things I enjoyed most:

• working as a group.
• having a good time.
• sharing all of this stuff.

Things that I am grateful for:

• having a very patient partner.
• not getting criticized for every mistake.
• finding an old water pump in a disused water feature at the last minute and also that it worked

Thomas Mudge's reflection

I (Thomas Mudge) have had much fun making this blog. It has taken a lot of time and energy to come up with this but it was very worthwhile.

I was grateful for Robert doing the window farm this weekend. I know he struggled but he pulled it together and has produced a masterpiece. I am so proud of him.

Things we need to improve on:

• Communication ( getting one anothers cellphone numbers )

Pictures of our window farm in the Biology lab

Robert Jack with our window farm

Thomas Mudge with our window farm