Iron Chef #1, 2016

Normally farm days in Sust Ag consist of water plants soil and compost, but not this week. On Tuesday we all enjoyed a nice sunny day and worked on our management jobs, but our block day was a bit out of the ordinary. On Wednesday we all traded in our pruners and shovel for a pot and pan. We had our first ever Iron chef competition this week and overall it was a blast.

We made Iron chef groups Tuesday and quickly developed our plans. Each group needed a creative dish that would be graded on taste, look, and sustainability. The next day we all spent about 15 minutes picking any foods from the Farm that we needed. Then we took these and any other ingredients that we brought in to the teachers lounge. After a brief intro on rules and safety we were off and running.

After about 45 min of hard work we had all finished our master pieces. They looked absolutely amazing and lucky Mr. Stewart and Ms. Di Domizio got to taste and judge them all. We had two dishes of pasta, one with homemade pesto and the other with a homemade red sauce. Another group made an omelet and the last group made a fresh salad and onion rings. After a long deliberation, Mr. Stewart announced that the winner was the onion rings and salad!

However, once class was finished Stewart found himself cleaning up after the onion ring group. This did not make Mr. Stewart very happy, especially because he told us all we would be marked down if we didn't clean up. Therefore Mr. Stewart was forced to deduct points from the winning team, which put them in second place. This left the omelet team claiming the victory!

Overall this week was quite exciting and a nice change of pace and scenery. We got to see everyone's competitive and creating side shine very bright. We also learned a lot this week, like new cooking techniques, and the importance of teamwork and cleaning up. We all had a great time in Sust Ag this week and I know we're all already thinking of ideas for the next Iron chef.

-Alyssa

Working hard

This was a very busy and productive week on the farm. Rather than focusing solely on our individual one beds, the class worked collectively to work on the E beds. As a class, we spent a great deal of time and effort working to weed out compostable and invasive plants, while at the same time prepping the soil to plant a variety of seedlings. Additionally, we worked to reinforce the pathways throughout the garden using donated cardboard and wood chips. The class spent a lot of time working to make these beds (and soil) ready for new plants. Although we worked hard, there are still more beds to be worked and prepped.

As of now, most of the one beds have been prepped and have new plants growing. There is more work to be done and this will be achieved by working as a class again in our new management jobs. This week we were assigned new jobs. Students from previous jobs taught the incoming students how to carry out their new job to their best ability. It is important that we work in unison and execute our jobs properly so that the farm may function in the most effective way.

We have been experiencing a water leak that has resulted in parts of the farm being excessively wet, however, we are in the process of fixing that. 

Overall, the farm is looking better and better each day. It has greatly improved since the beginning of the year but, there is still many more things to do and ways to make the farm even better than it is now. 

Audrey P

More Progress on the Farm

During this week on the Sustainable Agriculture farm, all of the students teamed up and worked on some of the E beds, which are located behind the hoop house. With all of our efforts combined, we were able to finish four beds in one day. This included double digging, putting some compost on top, transplanting many different crops, and adding organic fertilizer to the bed.

We added many different plants to the farm that day, including lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. All of these plants are classified as heavy feeders, which means the plants need a lot of nutrients from the ground to grow. Onions were already growing in one of the E beds, but it is a light feeder and will be able to grow well with these other plants. Peas were planted in one of the C beds along the fence, and those are classified as legumes, which help rebuild the soil and put nutrients back into the ground. The farmers have accounted for each plant and know that the next rotation for crops should be a light feeder or legume to allow the soil time to revitalize.

At the end of the period, all of the members of the Sustainable Agriculture Farm looked back on what we accomplished in just an hour and 20 minutes. All of them felt proud that together they were trying to create a more sustainable way to live.

Donald Ahn

New Friends (Plants!)

     Exciting week for the Redwood Sustainable Agriculture farm. We have been hard at work preparing our beds. We have gone through the extensive process of double digging our beds, lying down compost as well as organic fertilizer including aerating the soil. We also spent time on our pathways and laid down some mulch to make it functional as well as visually pleasing. With the farm now being in excellent shape it was time for us to select some vegetables to plant. This is not as simple as just choosing some plants that would grow well in the current season but had a lot more depth and planning which was an eye for me, for the reason I previously was unaware of all the delicate intricacies in maximizing plant growth potential that are associated with biointensive agriculture.

   Biointensive agriculture is an organic agricultural system that focuses on achieving maximum yields from a minimum area of land while also increasing biodiversity and sustaining and increasing the fertility of the soil. There were few process we went through in choosing the correct plants for our garden the first step was checking what plants were growing in our beds and making sure to avoid planting the same plants for the reason planting the same type of plants seasonally over time will deplete nutrients. Each plant absorbs different types of nutrients from the soil and having the same plants seasonally will deplete the nutrients specific to those plants in the soil and the soil will become deficient in that nutrient and over time it will make the plants not have enough of that nutrient and it will stunt that plants growth. This also would be against the biointensive agriculture concept which is not only about maximizing growth of crops but is also about maintaining soil fertility. My bed group looked up what was previously planted from last year ago in our bed and beets, potatoes, and squash were the main species.

   We then decided to plant some baby lettuce, onions, leeks as well as bell beans. All these were a nice mix of plants that complemented each other as well as the soil. Lettuce is a relatively moderate feeder, while onions and leeks are light feeders. A reason for us going on the lighter side of types of plants that absorb a lot of nutrients is that we have a large tomato plant that has developed over summer and tomatoes are very heavy feeders on the nutrients of the soil. We felt this combination offered us a nice array of crops but would not put stress on the soil as well as a rotation of the crops previously planted. It's only been a couple days and we have already have seen some solid growth from the baby lettuces. (pictures below)

   We have also been working on crop reports which is the process of selecting a plant and becoming very well informed about all of its traits as well as it is scientific name. My crop is the banana which scientific name is  Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana there are two because there are two different species in the wild. A fun fact is bananas are very radioactive compared to other fruits and are sometimes used as a gauge of radiation exposure. But don't worry bananas are very healthy.

Preston MB

This week on the FARM

This week on the farm we  did lots of planting in our beds. There was lots of weeding done and harvesting for our market day. This market day was a big success by making over 200$. There were pumpkins, squash, celery, artichoke, mint, catnip and so much more. I would say it was a very successful market day. 

Our beds are looking really good compared to how they looked the first day of school. You can see that there are little weeds and lots of open dirt which means lots of planting. This week I saw garlic, beets and lettuce being planted. there was also a great improvement on the pathways in-between the beds. The farm is looking in ship shape condition. 

In class there was lots of time to plan what the groups are going to be planting in there beds. Some groups started to work on there second bed and start seeing that. Groups also worked on management jobs. There was improvement in the irrigation — fixing some holes in a couple tubes. The compost crew started building a new compost pile and did some sifting. The maintenance crew did a great job in keeping the shed clean and making sure that everything was back in its spot. 

Even though it was a shorter week there was a lot accomplished.

Morgan G.

Weeds, weeds, and more weeds

Summer left the farm in a jungle of weeds and for the past two and a half weeks, most of our time has been devoted to weeding. In many beds, the coverage was so dense that we were not able pull the irrigation out without hand removing a hefty pile of weeds.

Weeding our beds was a three step process. First, we had to cut down all of the the big stuff with a grass whip, mattock, or some other large tool. Next, we got our hands dirty and pulled out all that we could from the surface of our beds. When it was time to start double digging, I had a hard time getting my shovel to penetrate the soil. My shovel constantly struck patches of grass that held the soil together underground. Finally, after double digging, we had to make one more sweep through the beds and pull up any grasses or roots that we were previously unable to get. 

Although it was a very tedious process, it was worth the while because now everybody¡¯s bed looks nice and ready for planting. However, there is still an enormous amount of weeding to be done on the farm. After a couple hours of work, our class was able to weed and prep a little more than every other A bed, only a small dent in the amount of weeding that needs to happen on the farm.

Al

AFTER:

BEFORE:

Bed Preparation

This week we began our preparation of the plant beds, which will be home to the many interesting and varying plants and animals found in the farm. Our group was quite motivated in preparing our beds, so we set off immediately. However, as soon as we witnessed the overgrown jungle of our bed, we had some doubts. How could we possibly turn this jungle into a neat farm-bed?

Our first task was grasping the process of double digging. I had never double digged(dug?) in my entire life, but I was relatively confident that I understood the method. The next task my group members and I had to do was remove the weeds from our bed. I, after seeing Mr. Stewart courageously hand-remove the dauntingly prickly weeds, decided to give it a try. Bad decision. Gloves, I found out, were more than necessary.

After a while, the work seemed less like work and I began to enjoy preparing my bed. Once I had gotten my hands dirty all of my apprehensions went away. Before we knew it, our group had completed the preparation of our first bed and prepared more than half of our second one. Now we can look forward to planting!
--Noah