The Rest of the Farm

This week in the farm we took a break from working on our individual beds and worked on the rest of the farm. The majority of the class worked on aerating the soil and weeding the beds to keep the already established crops growing while others re-established paths.

We used tools such as a U-bar to aerate the soil to allow the crops to gain as much water and nutrients as possible. Within the bed we hand weeded to ensure we were not damaging the crops. Any loose leaves left behind from weeding were left in the bed to decompose, further enriching the soil with nutrients. Around the beds we mainly weeded large amounts of bermuda grass with sickles to clean up the beds and make room for path restoration.

A small amount of students who were not assigned to restoring the beds were in charge of restoring the paths. Cardboard from bike boxes was recycled to lay down as a base layer on the paths to make them more sturdy and cover wet spots. The cardboard was then covered with wood chips to make the pathways even more sturdy.  Our individual beds are doing great and the rest of the farm is on its way as well.

Reyn R

Farm to Fork

Last week, our Sustainable Agriculture class was assigned to make a recipe or product from ingredients harvested on the farm. There are two recipes due by the end of the semester, each assignment must include a produce list (your ingredients found on the farm), other ingredients, procedures, and photos of your creation.

As we are entering the Autumn harvest, the farm had an abundance of produce available to us including fresh basil, catnip, lavender, squash, green and red tomatoes, raspberries and strawberries.

This assignment will be useful to our understanding of the seasonal harvest, and choosing organically/ locally sourced sourced foods sustainably. Integrating ingredients depending on their harvest can save us money. Buying food at its peak of supply costs less to farmers to harvest and get into grocery stores. Another plus of purchasing food in season is the food is grown closer to you, limiting the amount of time it can spoil (in flavor and health benefits) on its trip.

By Sophia Comins

Bed Prep

This week on the farm are Sustainable Agriculture class started to re-establish the paths that have been overgrown with weeds. The process of making these paths included cutting a card board box into the dimensions of the path that we were making. If a path was a foot wide then we cut the card board so that it is a foot wide. After, the card board was perfectly laid onto the spot where we wanted the path we then would add a layer of wood chips over the cardboard planks. The paths we made are very nice because it allows for easy mobility throughout the farm without getting mud all over your clothing and shoes. We still have more paths to finish, but we have made a great start.

This week we also put in our seedlings that we planted into flats earlier in the school year. When planting our seedlings we had to be very careful not to "J" their roots when we transplanted them into the beds. When you "J" the seedlings root that means that the roots are scrunched up when you transplant the seedling. When transplanting seedling it is important to be as delicate as possible with their roots and not disrupt them. We transplanted the seedlings into our with their roots straight and then watered them thoroughly as possible after the transplant. We then moved onto planting seeds straight into our bed. We planted some turnips and potatoes. When planting seeds we made sure that we covered the seeds only the length of that seed deep. This makes it easier for the plant to emerge and gain access to more energy; the sun. The same concept is used for planting a half a potato. The one difference with the potato is make sure one of the eye's of the potato is facing towards the sun. This also makes it easier for the plant to start growing. Overall it was a great week out on the farm and a lot was accomplished.

-Josh D

Crazy week

Last week we planted seedlings in our beds which means we have been watering a lot more than usual. This is because the early plants need a lot of water in their roots to be able to go through the process of photosynthesis. My group planted broccoli, bell beans, turnips, and potatoes. I can't wait to see them grow!

This week was a bit crazy with the whole bomb threat, which meant we only had one day out on the farm. In which we had a pop quiz. The quiz was to prepare a bed, by weeding, aerating, covering and watering. First we were assigned a bed at random. Then we were told we had about 40 minutes to complete preparation. My group first went to get tools and gloves. We weeded for the majority of the time, with a sickle and gloves, while carefully working around the already grow and very alive plants. Once we were done weeding we put them all into buckets to be weighed. After they were weighed and recorded they were put into the browns pile to be used as compost. After weeding, we used a U-Bar to aerate the soil, instead of doing a full double dig. Aerating is to open up the soil so when new plants are put into the ground they can grow as deep as they need to. Once the soil was aerated it was very vulnerable, which is why we then covered it with straw for protection. Lastly we watered the now prepared bed.

-Raya Corren

Dig Deep for Roots

The week of September 18 was both hectic and exciting. As well as rosh hashanah scheduling we also had a lock down, changing our farm work time. Therefore the majority of harvesting happened on Wednesday block. Despite all of the school's challenges, our harvest was diverse, including potatoes, strawberries, mint and tomatoes. By harvesting this week we saved our crop from spoiling in particular our strawberries.

In class on Wednesday we were assigned a pop quiz utilizing all of our acquired skills from our one bed projects for example aerating the soil using a U-Bar is important because it breaks up the soil allowing the plant's roots better soil penetration. This extra root penetration is important because the roots will go deeper which will allow the plants to grow more extensively because it can find more water and nutrients. With the water that the plants discover the students can provide a more sustainable environment for the bio intensive farm because less water is needed. The deeper the plant's roots go the less the farmer has to water allowing the farmer more time to spend on other projects like we did on block day, including harvesting watermelons.

In class we tried a watermelon that was white inside. This is called a White Wonder Watermelon. The fruit is still green with dark streaks and about the size of a icebox. The harvest of 3-10 lbs watermelon's season is now in the indegious region South Africa. Apparently it takes about 80 days to grow. An expert said " When a watermelon is ripe it will break easily from the vine when twisted. If you try to pick a melon and it fails to twist off easily, it probably isn't ripe yet. Another sign of ripeness is when the underside changes from white to pale yellow." about how to tell when a watermelon is ripe.

Overall the harvest day was successful and exciting.

--

Skylar F. Vos

Transplanting

By: Audrey P

This week on the farm, much was done! We kicked off the fall planting season by planting many transplants into the A beds. Crops such as radish, kale, potatoes, and rye will all hopefully be thriving and producing soon!

We transplanted seedlings from flats that were planted in advance. By initially planting seeds in flats, we are able to manage water usage, select the healthiest seedlings to plant, and prevent pests from inhibiting growth. We also can control light exposure and weather because the flats can easily be moved around inside and outside. 

When planting, we use intensive planting to maximize the space available, minimize weeds, and save labor. This is done by using dibble boards or hand spacers that are the length of the appropriate spacing. 

We will continue to tend to the new A bed crops by watering, weeding, and using compost when necessary.  

Sheet Mulching

By Tommy F

This week on Friday we sheet mulched paths on the farm.  Sheet mulching is an organic way to clean up overgrown or flooded pathways on a farm or garden. Cardboard is layed down and bark chips are poured on top of it. The cardboard eventually biodegrades along with the bark chips so it is a natural way to kill weeds and create pathways without putting any harmful materials or chemicals in the environement. 

SustAg and Economics

This week at the farm our beds were finally ready to plant in, management jobs were introduced, and both classes got a visit from Mr. Kelemen's economic class. The purpose of the visits were so that the SAGE program could be involved in both the classroom environment and the Redwood farm. This week in economics Mr. Kelemen assigned a project where Mr. Stewart has hired us to act as Economic Consultants to advise the Sustainable Agriculture class on how to most efficiently maximize the economic potential of the Redwood High School Sustainable Farm. The proposals our groups need to present should address the  what to grow, how to grow it and how to use/sell it questions. 

Essentially the goal is to come up with sustainable ways to maximize the space and use of the farm but also create profit and awareness. The SAGE program stands for Sustainable Agriculture, Government, and Economics and it is new this year to Redwood. Taking these classes in reference to each other promotes the idea of sustainability as a whole. What I mean by this is that this group of student are going to study and learn how to apply sustainability to the economy, the environment, and the community. 

-Kenzie Slaugh  

Double Dig

By: brian odonnell 

This week in the garden we started by double digging. Double digging is where we dig out a 1 by 3 foot section in our flower bed and move the dirt from that section to the far end of our bed in order to put into the hole that will be there when we are almost finished, then we go back to the original hole and use a spading fork (pitch fork) to break up the dirt in the bottom of the hole. This aerates the soil so that we can grow the soil with bacteria and worms. We found that the bottom of the holes we dug was mostly clay.

When we had finished with that first hole we moved to the section next to it. We dug a second hole next to the first and put that dirt into the first hole we had finished digging.  Next used the spading fork to break up the soil that was still clumpy and  the dirt in the bottom of the hole, and so on until we got to the end where we put in the dirt from the first hole. After the double digging we added some compost, that Mr Stewart ordered, that is supposed to be really good for the soil, plants and microorganisms living in it.

After we double dug and put on the compost we had to put the drip hose on top of it all for watering the ground, although we haven't planted any plants yet. One part of our hose was broken so I had to figure out how to fix it, but I couldn't so I had to ask for help from Mr Stewart and he helped by showing me how to screw it together. After the hose my group had to put hey over everything to keep the ground moist as well as killing off weeds and other unwanted plants, then, when we figured out where the hey actually was, we put it all on and now the garden is ready to be planted.

DOUBLE DIGGING

This week within sustainable agriculture we continued our double digging process. We dug a twelve inch trenches with a spade shovel and loosened the lower part of the trench with our spading fork. The soil that we dug was pushed over to the last trench while keeping the topsoil on top and the lower soil below. Our goal is to keep the same layer of soil, but transfer it to the prior trench and loosen the bottom of the trench to make it suitable for deep root systems. The main purpose of double digging is to introduce aeration, make the soil looser and make suitable drainage environment for the plants.

During the process of double digging and cleaning my groups plant bed we came across Bermuda grass which is an invasive plant that is a common nuisance (see previous entry). Bermuda grass is hard to dispose of, but to eliminate it is best to take out the roots with the plant. We put the Bermuda grass in designated buckets and the plant was taken to the invasive plant area.

After double digging and clearing the unwanted Bermuda grass we put a thin layer of compost over our bed of one to two inches and added straw to maintain the beds moisture. We also added our irrigation.

-Mateo V

Bermuda Grass

Pictured below is a plant known as Bermuda Grass. On the farm, our class has been removing it, along with its roots before planting / double digging. 

Bermuda Grass is classified as an invasive species, meaning is can cause some trouble for native species that we would like to grow on the farm. Invasive species are known for competing with native species and often out-competing them. By removing this specific plant, along with its roots, we eliminate a risk of our crops dying due to a lack of resources and space in the soil. By growing crops without the presence of Bermuda Grass, it is more likely that the crops will receive nutrients and room without high levels of stress. 

Given that our farm at Redwood High School tries to grow food sustainably, a finite amount of resources can be used in the process. Removing invasive species, including but not limited to Bermuda Grass, will help conserve the resources that are being used on the farm because it will require less resources to grow the same amount of food. I hoping that by removing all of this grass (several pounds from my designated bed alone), the crops that we grow will not be as restricted. 

After having removed most of it, our group decided that we could begin to double dig without including too much of of this invasive species in our soil.

-Michael Ritter

A Day in the Life of the Farm

On the RHS farm, lots of work needed to be done. We started off with weeding the A beds- lots of work needed to be done to keep the beds in good shape. The sickles kept in the shed came into great use that day. The squash bed seemed to overflow into three surrounding beds, causing a harder time for some groups. But, we persisted and managed to clear all harmful weeds. Despite the strong heat beating down on the farmers, everyone seemed to have a good time helping take out the invasive specie. The heat at 101 hit us hard, though, causing us to sweat as we worked and to really appreciate the water kept on the farm.

We also spent lots of time double-digging our beds. In groups of three of four, we slowly made our way digging across the beds with our spade shovels and hand weeders to break up any dry dirt. Digging was a little hard: the soil was dry and hadn't been in too much use. But, we managed to get to the wetter part of the dirt and dig our way across.

We saw lots of growth in both the A and P beds: squash, strawberries, lavender, and many more plants were put out for the first sustag sale in front of the school. The farmers selling the product after school worked hard to explain our sustainable farming methods to buyers and to sell everything we had. Overall, we had a good first week on the farm and I think I speak for all of us when I say we're excited to see what this school year brings.

Addie K