In our first two weeks of Sustainable Agriculture, we learned about the various tools we will use, the rules of the farm, and how to prepare the soil for planting. After choosing our garden groups and garden beds, we started deep soil prep, which we learned is the first part of the bio-intensive "three-legged stool". Double digging is a good method for deep soil prep because the soil will hold more water through aeration, it enhances nutrient availability, and facilitates root penetration while minimizing erosion. To double dig, each garden bed needed shovels, buckets of compost, a spading fork, and a pick. With the spade and flat shovels, we dug a trench the width of the shovel and about one foot deep, transferring that soil to the end of the bed to be added to the last trench. Then, we started to fill the trench with soil from where the next trench would be, as well as aerating with the spading fork and adding in compost halfway. This pattern was repeated for the whole length of the garden bed, in which we occasionally removed invasive weeds and plastic. The last step was evenly raking the soil, distributing some organic fertilizer, and thoroughly watering the garden bed. Next week, we will choose types of plants we want to grow for the semester.
- Sarah Dougherty
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