Spring planting has finally arrived!

By Maia Mazur

This week on the Redwood SustAg farm, we have begun our spring planting. We began this process by weeding the desired area in our bed to plant, and placing some very awful smelling fertilizer on top. In my personal bed, weeding was the most strenuous task. There were so many species of weeds that had taken over the majority of our bed, most of which were deep rooted and difficult to remove. I found that the sickle was the most efficient tool to remove the weeds the in the shortest amount of time.

To top it off, we placed about an inch of compost to provide vital nutrients to boost root growth for the seedling transplant. An important part of seeding transplant is to find, and use the proper spacing to allow enough room for the plant to grow to its full potential. Some of the groups failed to do this, and were asked to re-space, and re-plant. Spacing your plants is important because if it is not done, the plant is more susceptible to nutrient deprivation, mildewing, and lack of sunlight.  Some of the seedlings that we were able to plant in our beds were squash, broccoli, lettuce, and other greens.

Besides the progress that we were able to make in our individual beds, we were able to plant some strawberry seedlings into the C beds. The C beds had been previously sheet mulched, so the soil became very fertile for strawberry growth.

Bees and Trees

Morgan Glasser

In this week's blog I would like to take a moment and talk about my final project and a little about what we did on the farm. This week on the farm a couple of students set up the irrigation for the apple trees. There was two trees that had already been set up but the four others that we planted last week need to be set up. In order to keep the the irrigation pipe from being punctured we need to dig little trenches to place the pipe in. To keep it safe underground it was surrounded by a pvc pipe. When the pipe was lined up with all the trees and covered we made holes in the pipe to place a drip piece in. Once we finished we tested the water and it worked perfectly.

On Wednesday I had a graduated redwood student and current bee keeper come to the farm. The reason for this is because of my final project I would like to have bees on the marsh next to the farm. That day we both went out to inspect the site where the bees are going to go. When we were out there we talked about clearing the area up a little to make it easier to access the bees but still keep them hidden. Another thing we discussed was how many hives should be on the marsh. We both agree that 2 hives is the least we should have for a couple reasons. The first is that if something happens to one of the queens we can just move a queen from one hive to another without have to drive far away to get one. The second is if one hive is struggling we can move more bees to the struggling hive to help it get back on its feet. Another thing that we talked about when it would be a good time to put the bees in, and because of the rain the bee season has been pushed back a little. We need to wait till the rain is stopping and once it gets hotter. Hopefully in about three weeks we can put them in. But before that there is only one hive on the marsh so we need to get another one and make sure we have all the right tools to maintain the hive.

Once everything is in order and checked buy the beekeeper and approved we will have bees on the farm.  

Reestablishing Soil!

The sun made quite an appearance this week, allowing us to get to the farm to work and play. Two beds where Mr. Stewart had been growing strawberries for a few seasons needed to be re-fueled and cared for. We did this by applying a method called "sheet-mulching," where we basically cover both beds entirely in cardboard. Then we add a layer of compost and then straw. 

Marin Municipal Water District states, "Sheet mulching is a layered mulch system that nurtures the soil and replaces existing lawns or other vegetation, eliminating the need to remove unwanted plant material." This process is used when a bed is entirely exhausted and weeded over. The process allows for a fresh start and reboots the bed full of nutrients! 

I contributed with picking up additional cardboard at a local bike shop where there are lots of extra bike boxes. 

-Mackenzie Slaugh  

Johns fruit trees

This tuesday we visited the farm at college of marin indian valley campus. They also use the grow biointensive system,  however their farm is very established with a large focus on perennial planting.

 They had one-hundred, fifty of which were olive trees. The rest were various types of fruit.  On average the olives trees produce 300 pounds per tree, which is equivalent to half a gallon of olive oil.

 The group that helped john pruned some of stone fruit trees. We learned winter pruning promotes new growth while pruning in the summer will keep the tree under control. John had us pruning the peach trees, because peach trees only produce fruit on new growth, so every year all the old branches should be cut off as to promote new growth thus making a more productive tree. John told us that most people who own fruit trees are afraid of trimming them because they don't want to hurt them. This makes their trees less productive and over grow.

With a little of work you can make fruit trees that give a larger amount of fruit that is easier to pick because the tree is a manageable shape and size.

Austin 

Cuba

Cuba serves as a model for organic farming. The fall of the Soviet Union resulted in a economic crisis for Cuba because their economy was very dependent on Russia. Cuba lost 80% of its imports as a result, including fertilizers and pesticides. Organic farming methods were introduced to Commercial farmers and organic mini farming (rooftop farming) was encouraged to all Cubans. Land was made available for people to farm for free as long as they were producing food. These solutions solved the food shortage brought about by the fall of the Soviet Union. Today 80% of Cuba's food is farmed organically.

Tommy

RAINS IN THE WINTER SHINES IN THE SPRING

Preston Massey-Blake

This recent period of time on the Redwood sustainable farm has been a preparative moment for Spring. We have planted many seeding trays in advance for the upcoming season. Some of the main vegetables have been cucumbers, squash, leeks, and bell beans. These seedlings will be nice and strong in the next month and will be ready to be planted in our beds. The rain additionally has made the whole garden grow quite a bit and everything is fluorescent green from the broccoli to the grass.

Sustainable Businesses:

A local business that Redwood gets its ice cream from called "Three Twins" is quite the sustainable business. Originally founded in 2005 based out of San Rafael it was founded to be the first mix in the United States of a ice cream company mixing quality ice cream with sustainable practices. They manufacture their ice cream at a factory in Petaluma and get most of their ingredients from organic farms located nearby. This is a more sustainable approach and getting ingredients locally for a product greatly reduces food miles. Food miles are the distance a food or ingredient has to travel from farm to where it is going. By limiting this you are saving fuel and preventing pollution. "Three Twins" does a good job of this and that is why I think they are such a model business. So next time you're at Redwood get some sustainable ice cream from the cafeteria.