Crop Families

This week in Sustag we have been working a lot on our crop family presentations, and we are learning more about the different families of crops and how to identify them. Through our presentations, we are teaching each other about the different families of plants and their characteristics, when to plant them, care and common pests of the different plants in each family. My group is the Apiaceae family and includes common plants like carrots, celery, and dill. We have gone through all of the old data from the SustAg farm, and we have actually planted and harvested a lot of these crops. We have harvested 15.96 pounds of CAL crops of celery this semester, and 18.12 pounds of COMP crops of celery, as well as 8.35 pounds CAL crop of carrots this semester, and 0.28 pounds COMP crop of carrots. I have included a picture of kale in my bed, which is in the Cruciferae family of plants and strawberries in my bed, which are in the Rosaceae family. We have been out on the farm watering a lot and taking care of our seedlings and they are starting to come up! 

-Sarah Young

Chickens

The SUSTAG Garden has recently introduced 3 new chickens to the farm! Recently named by the students, they go by Chicky Minaj, Lil Peep, and Young sLayer (or other?). Although they are a big responsibility for the students and teachers of the garden, they do provide many beneficial uses. They enjoy eating weeds and pests around the garden and introduce another way to keep the garden clean and regulated in an efficient way that doesn't require much micromanagement. The output is another added bonus, as their waste becomes fertilizer and supports plant life in their coop and for the rest of the garden. Students have also enjoyed the company of the chickens and are weaning them into life with humans as close companions. Regular holding and human interaction will get them used to humans and keep stress and frustration levels down when humans have to interact with them. Although not much time has passed, students are becoming closer and are learning and understanding more about chicken's characteristics and instincts. They will continue being a resource learning tool throughout the rest of the year. 

-Tyler Woods

Senior

Let The Iron Chef Begin

This week in SustAg marked a very important day. It was our very first IRON CHEF!!! The theme for the first iron chef was Herbs. The rules were simple, we had to make a dish that included herbs from around our farm. Our choices of herbs were mint, chocolate mint, rosemary, basil, oregano, chives and lemon verbena. These were the only herbs available for us that were on the farm. Aside from that we could bring anything else from our  own gardens or from the stores. My group agreed to make a brusketa made out of sourdough bread, monsterella cheese, tomatoes and basil. Only the Basil and tomatoes were from the farm. We put olive oil on the pan and put the bread on top of it and let it cook till it was nice and crispy and then added the cheese and to top it off we mixed tomatoes and basil together and put it on top of the cheese. At the end of the Iron Chef we did not win but another lucky group did…. So Congrats to Jordan's group. 

By Eduardo Diaz 

Planting!

These past two weeks, SustAg has begun planting their fall crops! Everyone on the Farm has been working really hard to plant the most sustainable bed. Each group is making sure their crops are planted as closely as possible so our crop output is greater. Some popular plants being planted are potatoes, beans, onions (lots of onions), kale, and garlic. Everyone is really excited to see their plants start growing. We all took pictures of our beds to see the difference in how they look later. Planting was a lot of fun, but the most exciting part of this week was our Iron Chef competition. 4 groups competed head to head to win the best meal deemed by Mr. Stewart. Each group made delicious and visually appealing meals with eggs being the favorite dish to cook in 5th period. In the end, only one group came on top and were crowned victors. It was a lot of fun learning how to cook more sustainably! -Sophia

The Sustainable Agriculture Farm's Pond

By: Jack Finnegan

Before you are greeted by the dozens of neatly spaced beds, each containing various crops that are grown organically and through biointensive methods, you are welcomed by our small, self sustaining pond. This pond is home to a handful of small goldfish. These omnivores eat the plants, insects, zooplankton, and the detritus that is found in the pond. Due to the algae and plants in the pond, along with being instinctively scared of predators that hover above them (birds or racoons) these little fish are hard to find on most days, however when you are able to see them you can see that their small, 2-4cm body is covered in bright orange scales that shimmer in the sun. The plants in the pond do not just provide a pleasing visual aesthetic to the farm, but also, with the help of algae that is also found in the pond, provide dissolved oxygen for the ponds grilled inhabitants. The pond is a great addition to our farm for a couple reasons. Besides it being nice visual aesthetic and offering something unique to our farm, it also promotes biodiversity in and around the farm, along with providing residential birds and animals with a source of freshwater. This pond was created by one of Sustainable Agricultures own students, Owen Henderson, who is a fishing enthusiast and an outspoken person in regards to sustainability and conservation of our land, food, and our marine and terrestrial species. He is now studying fisheries biology at Louisiana State University. 

Iron Chef #1

Iron Chef #1

This past week in Sustainable Agriculture we performed our first Iron Chef competition. The theme of the challenge was "Fall Herbs" due to the plentiful supply of these plants on our farm. Rosemary, basil, mint, and chives were common herbs used among the four groups. Each group had roughly eight members as the classroom only has the capacity for four cooking/prepping stations. We were told about this assignment a few days before in case anyone wanted to bring in any produce or food that wasn't available to us from the farm. On the day of the competition, Mr. Stewart gave us time to harvest and record any produce that we wanted to use for our dish. Aside from the herbs, lemons and other fruits such as strawberries and apples were popular additions to each group's dish, providing a good aide on the presentation aspect of this assignment. Each of the four dishes were tasted by Mr. Stewart and graded based on their taste, presentation, sustainability, preparation, and cleanup. In the classroom, each group was given a hot plate, a few knives, a plate, a mixing bowl, and access to their own sink. Only two people from each group were allowed to be using the hot at a time so the rest of the members either helped clean up or prepare other parts of the dish. We had roughly 40 minutes to prepare our meals, and I was pretty impressed with what each team was able to make. In the end, one team was crowned the winner for their excellent and thorough use of "Fall Herbs" and were awarded a few extra credit points for their victory.

By: Ryan Carlson

Iron Chef!

This week in sustainable agriculture we got to mix it up a bit with a super fun activity we do periodically throughout the year called Iron Chef! If you have seen the show before you know the appeal. We first split off into groups of 8 the day before and planned out our meal. Each iron chef competition has a different focus, this one was based on seasoning and herbs found out on the farm. Ideas were being thrown out all over the room until each group individually decided what to make. The next step was planning what we would source from the farm and what we would have to buy or find somewhere else. We were told to pay attention to where the items not from the farm were coming from, for example: were they from a students garden? A local farm? Or less desirable... were they packaged and processed? That day after class ended we all went home excited for the following day to come. My group talked all evening about what our game plan was until finally the next day arrived. We started Wednesday's class by meeting out in the redwood sustag farm (our very interactive classroom) and we were given intrusions to only pick what we would use and not extra to go with our main focus on the farm which is sustainability. From there the groups went off grabbing what they would need for the iron chef challenge. Once the groups were done with getting their ingredients we walked up to the classroom and Mr. Stewart briefed us on safety. Then it was off to the races with 40 minutes on the clock! The groups began to construct their dishes with the hot plate, spatula, 2 knifes, cutting board and plate they were given to display the food on (plus whatever else was needed from home). After each group completes their dish they bring it up to the front judging table where Mr. Stewart, accompanied by his TA for the period judge on presentation, taste, creativity, and use of the farm ingredients. Our class had a very wide variety of dishes with people making hash browns with brussel sprouts and topped with a fried egg, omelets with farm tomatoes and other ingredients, smashed seasoned potatoes, mint, strawberry, and lemon verbena lemonade, and toasted bread with bruschetta and farm grown tomatoes. Not too shortly after Mr. Stewart completes his judging do we get to do our own taste test accompanied with a presentation by a few of the group members. Slightly hesitant but intrigued we all tried each others food and with that the class period came to an end and a winner was announced. The winner of this weeks challenge was the group that made hash browns with brussel sprouts and a fried egg. Overall this was a super fun way to interact with what our farm produces and I think we can all agree that we can't wait for next time!
-Annika Geissberger