Christmas Farm Post!

Christmas Farm Post!

This week on the Redwood Sustainable agriculture farm, we've all been very productive. This week alone we've been harvesting and preparing our beds for winter. As it's called, "winterizing", is very necessary for our beds. While the school will be off for break our preparations will help new seeds and underground root growth develop. As the summer/fall season comes to an end we are also planting more winter oriented crops that can handle lesser amounts of sunlight and colder conditions. 

Along with harvesting all our summer/fall crops, the RHS Agricultural Classes have raised money for the class and have delivered bags of fresh greens and produce to teachers around the school. Bells Beans, Chard, Roman Lettus, and Kale were the main harvested crops, and we've been receiving lots of smiles as we deliver them. With our beds prepared with layers of hay and row covers, the farm is ready for a month without attention and little growth. From everyone at the farm, we wish you good luck with upcoming finals and studying! Merry Christmas Redwood.

Thanks,

Justin Inscoe

From Farm to Classroom

            This year we introduced a new idea to the table and it worked out great! To raise some more money for our farm, we decided to offer to bring produce straight from the farm to teacher's classrooms for the price of just $2. It was a really simple mini project and was really fun to do! Many teachers enjoyed their organic and fresh food whether it was spicy jalapenos or sweet strawberries.

            In order to pull of such a task, we spent half of a class harvesting and recording the food that we were soon going to deliver. Then during the second half of class we were off to the classes to deliver and collect our money! The food was presented in a simple brown lunch bag and had a good amount of produce in it. It was really cool to see the teacher's excitement on their faces and how pleased they were to see fresh organic food for just the price of $2. I hope that we can continue this for the following years as it was different then what we usually and everyone gets a benefit out of it!

-Ali Lee 

           

Semester's End...

As our semester comes to an end, we will begin working on our One Bed Fall presentations and planning for the winter. The week before break, we harvested as much as we could and/or wanted to take home and perhaps could have eaten with Thanksgiving dinner. There was plenty of lettuce for salad!  We have spent these previous weeks focusing not only on harvesting, but also our management jobs. As a part of the watering group, we have been monitoring the irrigation to ensure there are no leaks and if there are, what we can do to fix them whether temporarily or permanently. We ran into quite a few issues with the irrigation systems today but were able to repair two fairly serious leaks. The farm continues to thrive as winter approaches.

-Kylie

Herbs Galore!

At the Redwood High School Farm you can now find a small yet expanding herb garden! 

Common herbs such as Oregano and Mint can be found in the garden along with other more uncommon herbs such as Nepitella. Herbs have been used for centuries for their medicinal properties.  Once mature and large plants, we will be able to harvest the herbs and sell them at the Farmer's Market where buyers can take them home and make things such as tea or incense. Other herbs in the herb garden are French Tarragon, Sage, Rosemary, and Lavender. All of which can be used in the Kitchen. 

The Herb garden is not the only place on the Farm however one might find an herbal plant. At the end of a few beds around the farm Lemon Verbena, Rosemary, and mint can be spotted. Lavender is also planted along the West side of the Farm against the pool fence. As this is only the beginning of the small herb garden at the Farm, many more plants will be added. All which will serve a purpose in the kitchen or on the farm. 

If you have any suggestions for more herbs or your favorite is not yet on the Farm, feel free to contact me with inquiries!

Your fellow farmer,

Lennon Lott

​

Straw Donations

The Redwood High school farm is always in need of donations of not just monetary value but more importantly items such as straw bales or mulch. In the weeks following halloween there are multiple opportunities to gather such items as straw bales. We were able to secure a few straw bales from, Aikido of Tamalpais.

I picked the straw bales up in two trips and delivered them to the farm.

Straw bales are used on the farm in many ways, The uses for straw varies from insulting plants and keeping moisture in in the winter along with general soil retention. After all we aren't just growing plants, were growing soil.

-Miles

Hope everyone is having a nice break.

Rainfall

Rainfall over last weekend acted as a double edged sword at the RHS Farm. While water was saved in efforts to conserve, the hard landfill foundation the farm stands on, and the slightly angled topography of the land resulted in flooding in the lower level of the farm.

While the raised beds were able to retain some water, pathways in the back of the farm were flooded due to the rocky landfill foundation of the site.

"It's a challenge because we have a very high water table, which means we need to raise our beds." Said teacher and farm manager Mr. Stewart.

— Ray J

This Week's Journal

| November 19, 2015 | By David Hall |

Last Monday, November 15, 2015, Mr. Stewart's 6th period Sustainable Agriculture class was taken over by guest teacher Mr. Slesinger. During the class period we continued our unit on Companions. A Companion can be a pest or beneficial to our farm. Companions are both plants and animal which inhabit the farm.

During the class, Mr. Slesinger started playing a documentary entitled More Than Honey, which has had three main points so far. The first point of the movie was dedicated to teaching viewers that honey is essential to humans because they pollinate our food. Bees carry pollen from our Almond trees and apple trees. Bees are often held on Almond farms and Apple orchards in order to carry pollen from plant to plant pollinating it in the pursuit to get their food.

The second point was that Bees are great for the economy. This is because Bees pollinate only one type of plant in their lives which makes them perfect for mass production of crop. Bee's are the most efficient at pollinating opposed to butterflies and wind.

The Last point so far in the documentary was that bees are subject to parasites and disease while farming. Varroa mites are blood sucking parasites which feed off the bee like a vampire. When a bee is subjected to these mites they cling to it almost like a tick, however in comparison to the bee the mite would look like a rabbit attached to a human.

On wednesday, November 18, 2015, the class met for the usual farm day. During farm day, the groups were asked by Mr. Slesinger to conduct the usual jobs around the farm like composting, water, maintenance and companions. After completing these tasks we tended to our one beds and worked on community parts of the farm to dig out older beds and prepare the beds for winter crops.

On Friday, November 19, 2015, we were set to complete the documentary, More Than Honey, which we are all looking forward to.