In the Spirit of Bees...

Hey everyone! Last week on the farm, I asked Amy if she had read Sylvia Plath's bee poems from Ariel. She suggested that I post them on the blog for everyone to look at in their own leisure. So if you are a poetry geek like me or are just feeling curious, check these out :) I found "The Arrival of the Bee Box" and "Stings" to be particularly relevant. Enjoy! http://strongverse.blogspot.com/2013/01/sylvia-plaths-bee-poems.html

Week 2 on the Farm: Soil!

Weather forecast: Monday, high of 40 degrees F; Friday, high in the mid-50s. Partly cloudy both days.

This week on the farm we'll be teaching you about organic methods of soil and nutrient management. Healthy, living, soil is absolutely key to organic growing systems! But what exactly is soil and how can we tell if it's healthy?

Take just a minute to write down your definition of what soil is. Then, read through this succinct article on the components of soil by soil scientist Dr. Patricia Fraser: http://www.compostingvermont.org/articles/what_is_soil.htm.

Did your definition include all of the components of soil? Each component of your soil is going to have an effect on the plants that grow in that soil. The nutrients available to your plants through the soil will also have an enormous influence on their health (and their ability to produce healthy food for YOU). Here's a website that details the essential nutrients for plant growth: http://www.ncagr.gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/nutrient.htm.

But just because nutrients are present doesn't mean that plants are able to absorb them. Conventional and organic farmers use different methods to make nutrients available to their plants. In this video, Dr. Elaine Ingham talks about the destructive effects of conventional agriculture on soil microbiology and how organic practices such as composting can help restore the biological health of the soil and release nutrients for plant use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtl09VZiSU.

Dress warmly this week! Hats, gloves, and boots are probably all good ideas.

Vermiculite and Perlite

Some of you were asking about two of the ingredients frequently found in potting soils: vermiculite and perlite. Here's a nice article in the Washington Post about the two substances, where they come from, and why you might use them in a seed-starting or potting mix: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/get-to-know-your-potting-mix-vermiculite-and-perlite/2014/03/25/c0385bf2-add0-11e3-b8b3-44b1d1cd4c1f_story.html

Saving Tomato Seeds

This past week we talked a lot about seeds and seed-saving. If you want to try to save some of your own seeds, tomatoes are a great crop to start with, since they are mostly self-pollinated and you don't have to worry too much about genetic crossing between varieties.

Here's a link to a Seed Saver's Exchange post that gives step-by-step instructions for saving tomato seeds: http://blog.seedsavers.org/heirloom-tomato-seedsaving/.

Material for Monday, April 14 (Urban Agriculture)

Even though we covered a lot of ground (so to speak) during our Week 2 Monday meeting, we didn't have a chance for each of you to share your research into urban agriculture. So let's devote next Monday's class to that and to working out whatever details we need to address to move forward with your on-campus garden. If you have websites on urban agriculture to share with us, post them to the blog. If you have handouts, bring them next Monday. And let's all read "Farm City" before then too, so that we can include Novella Carpenter's book in our discussion (and possibly come up with some more questions to ask her).

Here's a link to a urban-farming video that I just happened upon. It includes apiculture, aquaponics, livestock, hydroponics, and growing vegetables in vacant lots. Check it out: http://video.pbs.org/video/2276862085/!

Praying Mantis

Last week we found some praying mantis egg cases in the field behind my house. If you'd like to see what it's going to look like when several hundred baby praying mantises emerge from those little egg cases, check out this video: Praying Mantis Life Cycle.

And if you'd like to see the mantis in action, check out this Animal Planet clip: Nature's Perfect Predators - Praying Mantis.

Here's one patrolling my Swiss Chard patch a few years ago: