Little Berm: Big Harvest!

Today we harvested 4.2 lbs of mesculun, 1.4 lbs of spinach and one strange beet from the berm. Students brought everything home and I hope they enjoy it while its fresh!

Here are some pictures of the happy farmers:

We also took some notes on our radish experiment that hopes to test whether the PlanTone is effective.  We dug up two little one today for a baseline comparison.  The one on the left is the control.

Attendance for Urban Farm

Andres, William

3

5

P

A

E

E

E

T

T

T

A

P

T

_

T

A

Andrews, Adrian

2

0

P

P

E

E

E

P

P

A

P

P

P

_

P

A

Burke, Erika

1

1

P

P

E

E

E

P

T

P

P

P

P

_

A

P

Carouso, Nikola

0

0

P

P

E

E

E

P

P

P

P

P

P

_

P

P

Carrion, Jeremiah

8

2

A

A

E

E

E

A

A

T

T

A

A

_

A

A

Cornwall, Octavia

5

3

T

P

E

E

E

A

A

T

P

T

A

_

A

A

Daskalova, Alissa

0

0

P

P

E

E

E

P

P

P

P

P

P

_

P

P

Edrei, Anika

5

0

P

A

E

E

E

P

P

P

P

A

A

_

A

A

Graig, Analee

2

6

A

P

E

E

E

P

T

T

T

A

T

_

T

T

Hoffeld, Rose

7

1

A

A

E

E

E

P

A

A

A

A

P

_

A

T

Jenney, Emma

2

0

P

A

E

E

E

P

P

P

P

A

P

_

P

P

Kopaleishvili, Natia

3

3

T

P

E

E

E

A

A

P

P

P

A

_

T

T

Li, Ryan

4

4

A

P

E

E

E

A

T

T

A

P

A

_

T

T

Negron, Nicole

5

3

P

P

E

E

E

A

A

A

A

T

T

_

A

T

Rueda, Massiel

3

0

P

A

E

E

E

P

A

P

P

P

A

_

P

P

Vinasco, Sebastian

5

5

A

T

E

E

E

A

T

T

A

A

T

_

T

A

This is the attendance for the class: The first number is the number of absences and the second is the latenesses.

Dried Blood?

Well, we just planted our strawberries when we heard about the marauding squirrel problem. Turns out they ate all of the strawberry plants that another group recently planted.  We did a little research and we found that coyote urine works best as a deterrent.  Unfortunately, that is hard to find in NYC, so we decided to try Dried Blood.  We sprinkled it around our strawberry areas and now we are hoping for the best.  Here is the picture of the product.

I'll have to post the picture later as my internet connection seems to be having problems.

The brand is Espoma Organic Traditions if you would like to google it.

Science Illustrated Fertilizer Experiment

t

Picture of our friendly farmers

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 you see the strawberries in the back?

Here is our latest crop of lettuce.

 The tomatoes are on the vine and we're just waiting for them to ripen!

 We plan to harvest the marjoram and chives on Thursday...research the recipes.

Homework assignment

On your blog:
Part 1:
Write a short two paragraph piece that incorporates the three
readings: If you are particularly interested in one side of this topic
you can choose to research further and have two or more other sources.
I think these are good jumping off points.

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/why.html
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/fundamentals/benefits_benefits.htm
http://www.slate.com/id/2284361/

Part 2:
Seeds and Harvest: Write a short essay that summarizes the reading that includes three questions
Who ever finishes first and answers someone else's question (s) gets a
prize! (Think one less homework assignment, make up time, cookies, strawberries, letter of recommendation, etc.)

Our first harvest!

Yesterday Mateo from Farming Concrete came to the farm to show us how to track our harvest.  He also gave us a scale.
It was an exciting day as we harvested the lettuce for the school picnic.

We decided to give the lettuce a "haircut" instead of pulling out the whole plant.  We hope this speeds up the re-growth process.  Afterwards, you couldn't even tell we harvested there is still so much lettuce! And other things...the snap peas have germinated as well as the nasturtium!

We weighed our harvest and it totaled .7 of a lb of Mesculin!

We also harvested some of the Apple Mint, but it was so light you couldn't weigh it.  We hope to make a refreshing iced tea. 

Later.....Everyone enjoyed the mesculin salad which we added local goat cheese, apple, walnuts and dressing to!

Here are some pictures

Pictures of Rich's students test the Phosphorus and Potassium of the Lettuce leaves

On Wednesday, May 18th students tested the phosphorus and potassium levels of the leaves growing in their farm plot at Battery Park:

The dark blue color indicates that the phosphorus level is high.

The level of precipitate (solid) that forms indicates the potassium level, therefore, we need to compare this to the leaves after we add potassium-rich fertilizer (Plant Tone).

Farming Concrete and Vertical Farming

Hi,
We talked today about a couple of things, so I thought I would post some pictures and links:

These are the vertical systems I was talking about.

 Also here is the link to concrete farmings:

http://farmingconcrete.org/

Don't forget to write about your berms and today's discussion. 

Washington Sq. gets Woolly!

Need to make up time?

Water Fight! Fracking, Food, Art & Economy
Monday, May 16th
2:00 - 5:30 pm  Doors Open at 1:30
5:30 - 7:00 pm  Local Food, Local Drinks and Networking

Tishman Auditorium, The New School
66 West 12th Street, New York 10011

Parsons The New School for Design and The Baum Forum present an action-oriented conference to energize and educate the public about industrial hydrofracking in our watersheds and regional foodsheds. The event will provide inspiration and tools to protect our ecosystem and build a green economy. By confronting, debating, strategizing and visioning, we will celebrate water, food, art and activism. The program will be moderated by Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet.

Hydrofracking, a dangerous, modern technology employed by gas and oil companies to extract hard to reach gas in the Marcellus and other low-permeable shales, is recognized for its potential to degrade the watersheds of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and beyond. The toxic effects of fracking on water, air, soil and health have been documented and measured, and will compromise the sustainability of farming, vitaculture, and tourism in this region and elsewhere.

Speakers include:

• Wendy Brawer, Green Map
• Tracy Carluccio, Delaware Riverkeeper
• Cecil Corbin-Mark, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
• Severine von Tscharner Fleming, The Greenhorns
• Lois Gibbs, Center for Health, Environment, & Justice
• Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountainkeeper
• Wenonah Hauter, Food and Water Watch
• Ken Jaffe, Slope Farms
• David Levine, American Sustainable Business Council
• Miriam MacGillis, Genesis Farm
• Laura Simms, Storyteller
• Kate Sinding, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Conference Cosponsors:

Organic Valley • American Sustainable Business Council • Brewery Ommegang • Brooklyn Food Coalition • Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy • Catskill Mountainkeeper • The Cleaver Co. & The Green Table • The Coalition for One Voice • Earth Environmental Group • Farmhearts • Finger Lakes Progressives • Food & Water Watch • Food Systems Network NYC • Food Karma Projects • Frack Alert• Glynwood • Green Map System • The Greenhorns • Hudson Valley Seed Library • Jimmy’s No.43 • Just Food • Natural Resources Defense Council • New York Coalition for Healthy School Food • NOFA NY •NYH2O • Parent Earth • People For a Healthy Environment, Inc. • PRINT Restaurant • Safe Water Movement • Sane Energy Project • ScheinMedia • Sky Dog Projects • Slow Food NYC • United for Action

Food and Drinks Provided By:

Amy's Bread • Brewery Ommegang • City Bakery • Co. Pizza • Dallas Bros Coffee • Dickson's FarmStand Meats • Equal Exchange • Jimmys No. 43 •  Organic Valley • Print Restaurant • SlantShack Jerky • Tierra Farms

Event producers: Baum Forum and Parsons The New School for Design.

Go to this website to reserve your free tickets!

http://waterfight.eventbrite.com/

Optimal pH for veggies

Vegetable	Optimal pH
Artichoke(globe)	5.6-6.6
Asparagus	6.0-7.0
Avocado	6.0-7.0
Beans	6.0-7.0
Beet	5.6-6.6
Broccoli	6.0-7.0
Brussels sprouts	6.0-7.0
Cabbage	5.6-6.6
Cantaloupe	6.0-7.0
Carrot	5.0-6.0
Catnip	5.0-6.0
Cauliflower	6.0-7.0
Celery	6.0-7.0
Chard	6.0-7.0
Chili pepper	5.0-6.0
Chives	5.0-6.0
Cucumber	5.0-6.0
Dill	5.0-6.0
Eggplant	5.0-6.0
Garlic	5.0-6.0
Gourds	5.0-6.0
Kiwi	5.0-7.0
Leek	5.0-6.0
Lettuce	6.0-7.0
Mint	6.0-7.0
Mushroom	7.0-8.0

Vegetable	Optimal pH
Okra	6.0-8.0
Onions	6.2-6.8
Parsley	6.0-8.0
Parsnip	5.0-7.0
Peas	5.6-6.6
Peanuts	5.0-6.0
Peppers	6.0-8.0
Potato	5.8-6.5
Pumpkins	5.0-7.0
Radish	6.0-7.0
Raspberry	6.0-6.5
Rhubarb	5.0-7.0
Rutabaga	5.0-7.0
Shallots	5.0-7.0
Spinach	5.0-7.0
Squash	6.0-7.0
Strawberries	6.0-7.0
Sunflowers	6.0-7.0
Sweet corn	6.0-7.0
Sweet potatoes	5.0-7.0
Swiss chard	6.0-7.0
Tobacco	5.0-7.0
Tomato	5.0-7.0
Turnip	5.0-7.0
Yam	6.0-8.0
Zucchini	6.0-7.0

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/soilPH.htm

Pictures from 5/10 urban farming

another class blog 2

http://cityasfarmer.blogspot.com/
check this one out as it is updated regularly!

more pictures from Friday's class: may 6th

Students building structures for the sweet peas and tomotoes

Building and planting nasturtiums

Brittney is taking data

Putting in arthropod traps