Last Day

It was the last day of Urban Farming. Everything looks so great, I really didn't expect these fruitful results. The soil in our farms I think contributed a lot to making our crops so successful. From testing our  soil we found out it is 42% sand, 37% silt, and 20.6%clay. The PH of our soil is 7. We learned down at the farm about companion planting. For example One of the other groups planted onion next to their carrots so they would grow. Certain plants repel certain animals so that is part of the reason for this. This was a great class. Thank you Naima!

Urban farming

We have one class left of urban farming. I enjoyed this experience, it was fun, relaxing, and educational. I felt I learned a lot, I feel confident now that I could grow a pretty decent farm. I learned things I didn't know before like washing the tomato plants with soap to get rid of pests, to cut the bottom leaves and cut dead leaves off. I learned a lot about compost and soil like how to increase levels of phosphorus and carbon. The high point of this class the overall mellowness and consistency with growing the plants. I liked how everyday we had our jobs to make sure the plants would be healthy. I honestly can't think of any complaints I had. Urban farming is a great class and I am happy I took it!

6-7-11

The farm looks great! All of our crops are growing and healthy, even the raspberries have new growth. The tomatoes have aphids and white flies but we cleaned them off. I saw around 5 bees today. The temperature outside was 80.9 degrees Fahrenheit. The soil temp was 72.6 and the compost was 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

6-2-11

Today, we did a potassium tests on our sugar snap peas. We did one on the fertilized peas and one on the non-fertilized peas. We also took a PH test of the soil. The result was 7.0 which is good because last time the soil was 8.0. We added more coffee because coffee lowers the PH and that is our goal. All the plants look great except the raspberry because it is non existent- I think an animal ate it. It was very sunny and breezy out today with one spotting of a bee.

Homework 5/31

There are very specific directions in planting the "Three Sisters" garden. First, you have to select a space that gets a lot of sunshine. For the soil you have to create a mound. To plant corn, it requires to soak the corn overnight and once you plant them to plant 6 inches apart. You can plant the beans and squash a week after planting the corn. They have to be 6 inches away from the corn. The garden requires fertilizer so the crops flourish.

To care for french beans the most important thing is watering and weeding. Be sure to pinch out the growing tips. Every once in a while you can treat the beans to some tomato plant food and you're good to go.

5-31-11

The class is almost over with the crops looking great. The tomatoes have taken a complete 360. After putting on the dried blood the tomatoes have completely transformed. Today, we washed the tomato leaves with soap to get rid of the diseases. They are all tall and green instead of being shriveled and yellow from last week. Peas look good, they are starting to tangle so we need to train them to grow on the tee pee. The nasturtium and basil look nice. The raspberry died, I have no idea what happened there. The strawberries are good too but I'm not completely confident in them. We saw 3 bees today and its blazing hot! In the garden next door I planted climbing french beans, lazy housewife beans, and strawberry corn.

5-26-11

We got a lot done today. Two of our tomato plants are not looking great so we added dried blood to boost them up. On the good tomato plant there are some pests on some of the leaves so we washed it with soap. This traumatized the leaf but hopefully it will be okay. Only some of the carrots are growing so we replanted them. WE are still waiting to see the the lettuce grow. Nasturtium and peas are looking extraordinary! The basil has definitely improved. Some squirrels got to the strawberries so we surrounded he plant with blood and planted  raspberry plant. This will get rid of the squirrels because of its thorns. The temperature was 75 degrees Fahrenheit and a little overcast. For the fertilizer experiment, we put fertilizer on two sugar snap pea plants and left two alone. On both sets there are 12 leaves. We have  pest problem! The soil mounds are filled with ants. I looked it up and apparently cinnamon, cornmeal, coffee grinds, or Chile pepper will get rid of them.

Urban Farm: Pictures for the 5/24

Urban Farm: Pictures for the 5/24: "Students took out everything to mix with the brown leaves and the coffee grinds. Everyone got to help! The sweet peas are growing!...can y..."

5-24-11

The crops are looking great down at the farm. One of the tomatoes is absolutely perfect, growing fast and looking healthy. The other two tomatoes are very questionable. I had to pinch a lot of their leaves off because they were dead or dying. The carrots are looking good to the ones that have grown(3). We might have to replant some. The lettuce absolutely failed so i replanted all of them today. The nasturtium are looking very good and healthy. I am not very confident with the basil. They are still growing but not looking as good as the other plants. I planted 2 strawberry plants so we will see how that turns out. The peas are looking fantastic and growing very fast. I put coffee grinds around all the plants except the basil. Today the ambient temperature was 28 degrees Celsius. The soil temperature was 18 degrees Celsius and the moisture was 17.4%.  I saw 1 bee today. For an update on the experiment, the two tomato plants that i put the nutrients on are not looking healthy. This may not be the nutrients fault. I think those tomatoes are just bad plants but I think the nutrients had no effect.

Historical context of seeds and seed-saving

Over the years plants and people have become very dependent on each other. People need the plants to eat and live their daily lives and plants need humans to be fertilized. Agriculture today is not simple planting and watering but all these experiments and tests. Today plant's nutritional needs are being applied by using chemicals.  Now seeds are sold with a coating of fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide. Characteristics of plants are now manipulated for the consumers preference. People do this even though it threatens ecological agriculture and genetic differences. Luckily, we have companies that want to protect all the varieties of plants and agriculture.


Why are seed savings illegal?

Why do we have to use all these chemicals on plants and not the old fashioned way?

What is a progenitor?

HW ASSIGNMENT 1

Composting is very important. Composting reduces waste while providing nutrients for plants. The invertebrates inside compost are millipedes, sow bugs, snails. and slugs. These creatures help break down the organic matter which makes it easier for microorganisms to work in. The microorganisms are fungi, bacteria, and actinomycetes. The heat in compost is produced by the microorganisms as they decompose the compost. For rapid growth you need the right blend of carbon, nutrients, and nitrogen. Moisture rate and particle size also affect the compost.

Earthworms are very important to both compost and soil. They bring up minerals from deep within the soil. They remove litter and and prevent other organisms like insects and nematodes. Most earthworms eat the bad microbes and increase the good microbes. Earthworms discontinue the growth of weeds and improve the water absorption in soil. Seeds are also much more special than you think. Seeds can be grown thousands of years after the were first created. Agriculture has also changed through the years. Certain plants have adapted to human needs. Plants these days are all about chemical engineering, they have become very dependent on humans.

6/19/11

The farm today was very exciting! You can see total progress in everybodys' plants. The sugar snap peas are about 2 inches high. We finally built the sugar snap pea tee pee. It seems pretty sturdy so I have faith. One of our tomato plants is flourishing, the others are questionable. Some of the leaves on the other tomato plants were dead so I had to pinch them off. You can also see major progress in the nasturtium. They are about 1 1/2 inches high and look very healthy. The lettuce has not grown at all so on Tuesday I think we are going to replant it. The carrots have small signs of growth and the basil is looking okay. Today the moisture of the soil was 15 and temperature was 20.5 degrees Celsius. Things are looking good down at the farm!

Sugar Snap Peas

Sugar snap peas grow to 4-8 cm high. You can eat them both mature and immature. They are a cool season vegetable. They can handle a little frost when they are young. Sugar snap peas, ideally,  should get around 4-6 hours of sun a day. They require structures to grow upon. You should make sure you pick them just right, big and full. If they are all shriveled still on the plant it's too late.

http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/sugar-snap-peas/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_pea

Food Inc.

Today in class we watched Food Inc. It is a film on how food is grown and processed. It shows the farming conditions of chickens, cows, and pigs and growing of crops including corn. The film shows the "Ugly truth" on agriculture and farming which brought about many controversies. It shows that people are not safe with how our food is being processed. The way these farms work causes ecoli and salmonila to our food. Nothing is hygenic and is causing people to become very ill if not dead. I feel farming these days is taking the method of "The Circle of Life" to Sweeny Todd goes rural. As I watch the film my initial reaction is anger and frustration. What am I supposed to eat for lunch? I can't get every meal at the farmers market. They are not on every corner like the Mcdonalds is. Now meat and pultury is knocked off the list of things I can't eat, I am frustrated! I am confused on what I am supposed to do and eat.

The movie relates to the farm by transitioning communities to Organic ones. By growing our own food we know it is mostly safe to eat because we are in control. We are not injecting hormones and amnoia into our plants but, plain and simple, water and sunlight. I believe the Community Farm can make a difference by influencing other people to start their own gardens. Seeing lettuce grow for your own eyes makes you more interested into where your groceries really did come from. Seeing the garden, in my opinion, inspires you to be healthier and be more intouch with your food.

Washington Square Park

It was a gorgeous day Thursday where we were all down at Washington Square park. In Woolly Pockets, above the benches at the childrens' playground, we planted Tomatoes, Okra, Carrots, etc. We had to drown them in water because the soil was dry and plants need a lot of water when you first plant them. It was very sunny and hot out and those kind of days will continue, so hopefully they will be watered often.

How to lower ph in soil organically?

• Decayed vegetables
• Horse manure
• Compost
• Some people like using coffee grounds

plant health progress

Tomato: there are 3 plants, one was replaced, we added plant tone to two of them
Basil: there are 4 plants, one is fertilized
Sugar Snap Peas- no visible growth, we planted 3 rows
Nasturtium- no visible growth, we planted 2 rows
Carrots: no visible growth, we planted 3 rows

May 10, 2011

We transplanted basil(4) and tomatoes (1).  Our tomato died so we replaced it. We added plant tone fertilizer to 1 of our basil plants and 2 of our tomato plants. We did this to compare the plants with the fertilizer and without to see if it does anything for the plants.

It was sunny and clear today but its supposed to rain later in the week.

Farm Experiment

Research question: What will be the difference in the plants after using the nutrients booster?
Hypothesis: I think that the plants will grow faster and look healthier after using the nutrients booster.
Independent Variable: The nutrients for the soil
Dependent Variable: The plants
Procedure: I think we should add the nutrients to some plants and skip it with others. We should do this to compare both plants to see if the nutrients makes a difference or not.

day 3

Today we finished planting our nasturtium and sugar snap peas. We also planted two more tomato plants.On Tuesday we will need to build a tee pee for the peas and plant our strawberries.
 The temperature of the soil is 11.1 degrees Celsius.
 The moisture of the soil is 15 degrees Celsius.
 The outside temperature today was 61.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tuesday May 2 we were down at the farm. My group and I decided to plant the following:
Tomatoes
Carrots
Lettuce
Strawberries
SugarSnap peas
Nasturtium( edible flowers)

We planted the Lettuce, carrots, and some sugar snap peas. We built a teepee for the tomatoes to grow on. We only have one at the moment but there will be plenty more in the future.
On Thursday we will need to:
 build a teepee for the sugar snap peas
 plant the strawberries
 plant the nasturtium
 plant more sugar snap peas

The Beginning

Many people may not realize but gardening could be one of the most therapeutic things a person could do. Just digging holes and packing down warm soil, imagining the most bountiful plants evolving from tiny misshapen seeds makes you feel happy. Of course I imagine giant Cinderella pumpkins(even though I didn't plant pumpkins) and sugar snap peas to the moon. Even just a little sprout is enough . Being in the garden down at South Ferry is relaxing and I am very excited for this new experience.