This week in SustAg

This was a busy week for Redwood's Sustainable Agriculture Class and the farm. The students spent the majority of farm time creating new beds, and analyzed our soil in class.

The beginning of the week consisted of each group collecting soil from their beds to place in glass cylinder test tubes. We did this to create samples for us to test later in the week. We went back to class to learn more about the complexity of soil. We learned how different fertilizers contain different values of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus. For example a common fertilizer we use for our beds is Alfalfa which is a 2-1-2 which means it contains 2% Nitrogen, 1% Phosphorous and 2% Potassium. All three of these chemical elements are critical for high productivity in the farm.

We went to the farm in class on Tuesday which usually doesn't happen, since there was a Teacher Development day on Wednesday. We were given a surprise pop quiz! With our one-bed groups we were each assigned to create a new bed from scratch using all proper procedures. Every group had to first clean their new bed by removing all the weeds and other things that were in the way. My group was assigned to a bed in the Hoop House, so we had to clean out the instead before we could start. We removed the tables, weeded out all the unwanted crops, removed the hay and relocated some voles.

A key step in creating a successful bed is to layer the soil correctly. This meant double-digging and layering the soil were required. Although it was very tedious work, it made our beds immensely better. Thursday was also spent working on our pop quiz, and by the end of the class most groups had made tremendous strides of improvement from their original plot of land. It was very hard work, but I believe that everyone was proud of their work by the end of the block period.

The last day of class we quickly ran out to the farm in the rain to collect the soil samples we made on Monday, and to get another soil sample from our original beds. We headed back to class to test our soil. We did a total of four different tests: One for the nitrogen levels, one for the phosphorous levels, one for the potassium levels and one more for the pH content. We also figured out the texture of our soil by using the Clay Sand and Loam triangle. It was fun to see each group learning more about the soil in which they grow crops on.

Overall, we had a great week in Sust Ag. We accomplished many things and have started new projects that we are eager to complete in the coming weeks.

Tiago