The Real MVP

While the students in Sustainable Agriculture contribute loads of hands on work on the farm, the guidance is all contributed by Mr. Stewart, and the guests he finds to come help out. This year, Johnathan, a leader in Redwood's agriculture studies abroad, has been there helping out every week. Not only is he extremely helpful on the farm, but the students enjoy working with him too.

Pictured above are students on the farm with Mallory (far right) who works with the same program as Johnathan. Mallory was here helping and teaching on the farm last week.

Much of what the Redwood Sustainable Agriculture Program has accomplished already would be near impossible without the assistance of our guests that come and help. Not only are they there during school hours, but on work days too. We, as students, owe them a huge thank you and are excited to continue working with them out on the farm.

-Nate Flax

The students in the 6th period sustainable agriculture class prepare for the upcoming farmer's market by harvesting their plants. A major priority during the fall season is to harvest, since many of the plants grown in the Redwood sustainable farm will be incapable of surviving during the winter. In order to provide at least a modicum of growth in the winter, students have prioritized planting cold-resistant plants such as radishes and cover crops. These plants are expected to produce relatively decent yields during the winter season, in addition to preparing the soil for further cycles of growth during the spring. Specifically, cover crops will recycle and replenish nutrients in the soil which are vital for future plant growth. Radishes are resilient vegetables that grow quickly (see image below)

 Radishes that were planted at the beginning of the season are already fully grown and ready for harvest.

Furthermore, in order to compensate for the unfavorable growing conditions that are likely to occur during the winter, Mr. Stewart has taken the initiative to construct a green/hoop house. Ideally, this house will be designed to protect plants from cold temperature, heavy rain and birds, but allow the plants access to sunlight and thermal energy. Hopefully, this addition to the farm will create additional plant growth during the winter. This house will be set up in the southeast corner of the farm.

-Joe Kasselik

A Sustainable Garden is A Healthy Garden

The Redwood farm is a sustainable farm, which means it is not only good for the environment, but also helps the plants and vegetables we are growing, be healthier too. There are many ways that a sustainable garden can help the environment.   The less green waste that goes into a landfill the better.  Using green waste to make compost will make a nutrient rich soil that will add to the health of the plants and vegetables being grown.  We prepared our planting beds with cardboard, straw, manure, compost, and recycled soil. It is important that we can reuse, recycle, and renew.  Weeding is an important part of keeping the garden healthy too.   Part of the maintenance of our farm is regular weeding and those weeds get put into our compost bins.   We never use any chemicals on our plants to keep pests away, as chemicals can be harmful to the health of our plants.  Conserving water is an important part of a sustainable garden and important for our environment too. Our class installed a drip irrigation system in the farm, which helps reduce water waste, and gets the right amount of water to the plants roots.  And last, we selected the plants that would grow well for the season and climate we are in. All our activities on the farm are meant to preserve and protect resources so we can help the environment grow healthy plants.

Pat Quinn

Harvesting

Near the end of each month, the students in the Sustainable Agriculture class start to harvest the plants that have been growing around the farm. Some of the plants that were  harvested before this 
monthly farmer's market were tomatoes, pop corn, corn stalks, indian corn, squash, radishes, kale, chard, seeds, seedlings, and some flowers. Harvesting consists of picking the produce from its plant and washing them. Once they are harvested, they are then weighed on a scale and documented. After this process, they are put in baskets and put out for people to buy. While most of the plants harvested are from class beds, one main plant harvested from the group beds were radishes. A few groups planted radishes at the beginning of the school year and were ready to be harvested and sold at the market. Another plant that got harvested a lot was the different types of corn. The daily care that we give to the plants (watering, weeding, pest control, etc.) allow the produce to be ripe and ready for harvest. Another thing that allows the harvesting to be considered sustainable, and or organic, is the way that the produce it handled between picking and being sold at the market!

 - Nic G.

Cold Weather Crops

Summer Squash

As the colder weather approaches, we are starting to take out the summer crops (squash, corn, cucumber, eggplant, melons, gourd, pumpkins, tomatoes, etc.) which need temperatures from 65-90 degrees F to grow and are killed by frost. Marin is generally pretty cold from October to March and gets some light frosts during the colder seasons so we need some semi-hardy crops that can sustain temperatures as low as 35 degrees F (like beets, broccoli, Swiss chard, lettuce, carrots, celery, etc.) These crops are normally grown from the late fall and through the winter in mild climates, good for any small Bay Area farms. It should be interesting to see how these crops react to the cold weather, my question is whether or not the the frost will stunt the growth at all. Our summer crops turned out great and I'm sure our winter crops will too!

Collard with frost on leaves

October's Farmers Market

Last Friday was Redwood Sustainable Agriculture's 2nd farmers market of the year, and we had a great turnout! There was a great showing of teachers, students, and parents making there way through the market and deciding what produce to buy. The fruits and vegetables featured at this Fridays market includes squash, kale, radishes, chard, basil, tomatoes, pop corn, corn stalk, indian corn, seeds, seedlings, flowers, and a couple water melons. While everyone was bustling their way to get to the market and select the best produce (basically everything) I went around asking people questions about how they heard about the market and what produce they would like to see in the near future. I had one parent say "Anything, it all looks great!", but the parent finally narrowed the many choices into one, "If you could I'd love to see bell peppers." Although bell peppers are a summer time fruit, I wouldn't be surprised if you see them next year. Another item that a student hoped to see were some baby carrots. This type of vegetable will hopefully make an appearance next early spring. An additional question that I asked was: How did you hear about RHS Sust Ags Farmers Market? The majority of the answers were that people heard about it from the students who were in the class. So to the students who are spreading the word of our farmers markets, nice job! 

Harry Schmidt

Fall Preperations

This past week, our class has been working on our soil reports, adding onto our compost pile, working on our management jobs, and continuing to stay up to date on our One Bed Projects. The soil report showed our class how to properly identify whether or not that soil was ready to be used for planting by using a series of calculations based off of our results from putting the soil into a cylinder with water and letting it sit for a few days. With the results, we were able to determine what materials we had to add to the soil to make it ideal planting soil. For some, staying up to date on our beds meant re-planting in the areas of our beds that were having problems growing, while others may have just had to water and make sure that everything was looking good. Our pile of compost continues to grow, therefore, we have been organizing it into individual piles as it waits to be put into use. As a new month is upon us, our new water group continues to build irrigation systems for the farm as all of our other management groups continue to do their part to ensure that the farm continues to improve.
-Lars H.

By Nedda

      Sustainable Agriculture is Redwood's newest and most talked about class. Many of the students, including myself, decided to take Sustainable Agriculture for the alternative classroom experience. Splitting our time 60-40 between classroom and farm time, Sustainable Agriculture is the only class at Redwood, besides PE, that allows students to spend the majority of their instructional class time outside.
        Being able to get out of the stiff classroom setting and being able to spend time outside can be extremely beneficial to students mental health. One student, Parker Berman says, "I decided to take Sustainable Agriculture mainly because I like the outdoors and being outside a lot. The earth and sun is calming and helps to take the stress away after a whole day of writing, listening, and sitting." While some students aim for the outdoorsy experience, other students enjoy Sustainable Agriculture for the life experience, and being able to make a difference. Sust. Ag. student Rory Baker says, "I took this class so I could learn the basic skill of knowing how to grow food for yourself. I also think it's pretty cool how we make reuse and recycle almost everything on the farm, and don't need to waste anything."
        Sustainable Agriculture is a very good option to consider when deciding which classes to take, not only is it applicable to real life, but it is an excellent alternative to the classic, in door, classroom setting.