Garden Greenhorns: Moving Forward and Paying It Forward

an update from Garden Greenhorn and AmeriCorps VISTA Kelsey Grant

This week, I am halfway through my Garden Greenhorn experience. I can’t believe it is going that fast! The Garden Greenhorns and I harvested some head lettuce on Monday. This produce was to be taken to the food pantry that CCUA has a relationship with.

In previous blog posts, I haven’t mentioned a lot about Planting for the Pantry. The Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture operates a program called “Planting for the Pantry”, which operates as a pay it forward CSA model. A CSA stands for a community supported agriculture. People, agencies, and groups can sponsor any length of a row, starting at $5 a square foot. The dollar amount is divided up going to different categories. The food pantry that CCUA has a relationship with is called the Annie Fisher Food Pantry. This pantry is located in Columbia Housing Authority, helping residents residing in that area. The Garden Greenhorns and I will be making a delivery every Wednesday.

Giving residents fresh produce is such an excellent thing. The main food items given to pantries are typically canned or packaged food. Wednesday, May 14, was the first day that we delivered produce to the Annie Fisher Food Pantry. The produce that was delivered was head lettuce and turnip greens. The food pantry had just moved to a new location by the Columbia Housing Authority. The supervisor for the food pantry was very appreciative for the produce.

The produce that is donated to the pantry is in season. Having fresh produce made available to the food pantry allows people to get nutrients that they may or may not have access to. AmeriCorps VISTA is all about building capacity and fighting poverty. By providing individuals the produce and information about CCUA, it is building partnerships and opportunities for our agency, and also helping provide people in poverty with healthier options.

Garden Greenhorns: Harvesting the Produce of the Land

an update from Garden Greenhorn and AmeriCorps VISTA Kelsey Grant

Wednesday, May 7, 2014, was the first day of harvesting in the beds. The Greenhorns and I learned all about food safety and the proper techniques at CCUA in harvesting. The first and most important thing we have to do is wash our hands. Carrie Hargrove emphasized before every time you touch and handle food, that you wash your hands with soap and water. Also, after handling the produce, it is enforced to wash your hands as well. A second thing that was done by the Garden Greenhorns is washing the equipment we would use in harvesting. This includes everything from the harvesting knives and scissors to the harvesting bins, drying racks, and washing tubs. There was a two-part system of washing, then sanitizing. This system is in place so that the produce being taken from the field to be sold will be stored in a clean environment.

Photo from Columbia Farmers Market VISTA, Matt Jernigan

Once the produce is gathered and placed in bins, you begin the next step – washing it. The produce, in our case – leaf lettuce, is placed in a big tub filled with water. The Greenhorns and I then picked through the lettuce to filter out if there were weeds or straw accidently mixed in. The lettuce is placed in mesh laundry bags and then spun in a washer machine on the spin cycle. By spinning the lettuce in the washer, it is able to get all the excess water out, just like a salad spinner. The lettuce then is weighed and placed in bags to be sold.

By the end of the session, we harvested about four bins of lettuce, which equaled out to 15 ½ pounds! We did this whole process in less than four hours. It shows that this hard work will give you good food.  The whole process from which we start plants in the greenhouse to transplanting, to then caring for them in the beds, to harvesting them is amazing. It feels like as a garden greenhorn, I’m seeing the full swing of the urban farm in action.

Garden Greenhorns: Round and Round It Goes

an update from Garden Greenhorn and AmeriCorps VISTA Kelsey Grant

Now, I know that you can reuse certain things, but over and over? I’m not familiar with this concept for straw. Straw is vitally important to the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s Urban Farm. This straw has many purposes. The main lesson that I got from this week was the continuous cycles and reuse of materials.

For example, we got one bed completely ready for transplanting by removing the straw that was on top of it. The straw is then transported to an area of the farm to be later reused. Some of the uses for this straw include covering up the compost piles, laying it down in the chicken bed, or using it on the beds in the garden in the future.

Some of the straw that we take off of the beds goes inside the chicken coop. The chickens then can eat some of the insects or bugs that are inside the straw. The straw then is collected and put into our compost bin to further decompose, thus bringing this straw a full circle in all of its different ways we can use it at the farm.

This concept of using and reusing different materials struck me like a lightning bolt. Working in the farm atmosphere, I had the mentality of using everything over and over again, but never had considered straw.

Imagine if we could use this method of re-purposing on everything?!

Garden Greenhorns: Plant Anatomy

an update from Garden Greenhorn and AmeriCorps VISTA Kelsey Grant

Learning and observing all the different structures and parts to a plant is extremely fascinating. During this discussion I kept having flashbacks to my high school biology class learning about this information. It was surprising to me how much information I was able to remember.

The Garden Greenhorns talked about 4 main organs that all plants have.  The four main organs are roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. We talked in depth about the make-up associated with each.

The first organ that was discussed was the roots. Roots are such an interesting thing! A root for a plant takes up soil nutrients, water, and oxygen. Carrie Hargrove talked about gravitropism, which is a chemical in each plant that makes the plant know for the root to grown down. “Put your roots down and make yourself stable” said Carrie. Was a perfect slogan to describe what is happening with the plants. The plants are trying to balance out and begin their growing.

Plant roots that we eat can be carrots, turnips, and radishes. For stems we eat asparagus, celery, and rhubarb. The leaves of a plant could be kale, spinach, onions, and lettuce. The last organ that we discussed was flowers. Cauliflower and broccoli are examples of flowers we eat of a plant. It is interesting to know that we eat different parts of plants.

What was later discussed was the relationship with plants and light. The two different factors include photosynthesis and photoperiodism. Photosynthesis includes using the sun’s energy to create sugar and oxygen. Photoperiodism refers to the amount of darkness a plant needs, which, to my surprise, is 10 hours! Plants need a balance of light and darkness.

As I continually learn about the environment encompassing plants and their biology, I’m reminded how important science is. Science is a part of everything. It is asking and answering the “what” to the “why questions”. Learning how plants get and use energy, the different parts of a plant that we eat, and the anatomy of plants is the baseline for further science and investigation. Science can be broken down into so many categories. Learning all these different layers is sparking the layers in my brain. The spark that I get from these topics gives me such a charge to keep learning more about the whole process of how we get the foods we eat!

 

Garden Greenhorns: Some classrooms have garden beds instead of walls

an update from Garden Greenhorn and AmeriCorps VISTA Kelsey Grant

“Life already has so many boundaries and pressures – why add more in the garden?”
Felder Rushing

The first day of my Garden Greenhorn program! I was excited, anxious, and nervous. It was like the first day of school; not knowing anyone, what to expect, or how you are going to feel about it. The program runs for 12 weeks and meets every Monday and Wednesday morning. We usually finish our work around noon. This journey is different than school, because I was excited to be learning about something I was interested in. Unlike school, where I felt we were always memorizing facts and figures.

The day started out with knowing what “chores” the greenhorns were going to be responsible for. At first I was like chores… hold up…