Hello Everyone, this week in Sustainable Agriculture we had a very special guest. Shasta, from the Marin Municipal Water District came and spoke to our class about the importance of Water Conservation during the worst drought California has ever faced. Because California is the fifth largest food producer in the world, he suggested that we try to conserve water by taking shorter showers and to leave a bucket in our shower so that we can use the excess shower water for watering plants. He also discussed how even though the reservoirs in Marin County are full at the moment, the water supply will only last for 1 or 2 more years to come. Shasta also discussed how snowpacks are California's largest factor in replenishing water to our reservoirs. He talked about how recently, due to climate change and the heating up of the earth, snow hasn't been able to form and less water has been saved in these packs during the winter seasons, thus contributing to the drought. We also discussed what Evapotranspiration was and how it is the sum of evaporation and transpiration from the globes land and ocean surfaces. This provides information on how much water is needed after evaporation and transpiration has occurred in order to replenish the lost water. However the lost water in California is not being replenished due to the major drought. Some of the reasons for water loss are:
- temperature
- wind
- solar radiation
According to Shasta the most water lost was in July, rather than August which was on average hotter. It turns out that more water was lost in July because of the more hours of direct sunlight July had over August.
Also a part of this week was starting our new job assignments. The maintenance group continued work on the trench for the future the pipeline as well as prepped one of the E beds for planting. As a part of prepping the bed, since the previous soil was too compacted to be double dug, John, the adviser, had assigned the maintenance group to cover the compacted top soil with a layer of compost and then used forks and a U-bar to mix the compacted soil with the new compost.
The beds in the farm seem to actually be growing, which thanks to Mr. Stewart, means we have successfully begun what we hope to be soon a thriving sustainable farm. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Thanks for reading.
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