Companions

For the past week and a half or so, our class has been learning about companions on the farm. Knowing the role of certain companions is very important in biointensive farming. Some companions like each other and some do not. For example, when green beans and strawberries are grown next to each other, they thrive more than they would if they were grown separately. On Friday, Mr. Stewart assigned us each to do a companion report on a companion species that is not a crop. My companion species is the monarch butterfly. I learned that monarch butterflies are beneficial for agricultural systems because they pollinate seed plants. Planting milkweed is a good way to attract monarch butterflies because they lay their eggs on milkweed and milkweed is the only thing that the monarch caterpillars eat.

On Tuesday 11/10, David Peterson came to Redwood to teach us about a very important companion, the California honey bee. Bees are beneficial for agriculture and, like monarch butterflies, bees are responsible for pollinating flowers and other seed plants. Mr. Peterson taught us many cool things about bees including their incredibly strong sense of smell and how they use the sap from from trees and plants called propolis to stick things together like glue.

Although many companions are beneficial, some of them are not. For example, pests such as aphids and cucumber beetles are detrimental to the well being of our crops. In biointensive farming, pests usually do not need to be dealt with as long as you are using proper crop rotations. However, if one feels the need to do something about the pests in their farm, they should avoid using unnatural pesticides or herbicides because those products are harmful for the environment.

Al Mindel