Previously on The Farm…
The farm continues to take shape through the blood sweat and tears of the Ag team, led by fearless director Alex Goff. Sadly, we are still mourning the temporary absence of Joanne and Josh, on the farm. Though gone for different reasons, both of them are dearly missed, especially right around hole diggin’ time. Even without some key members Ag team was able to make some major additions to the farm. The weeks emphasis started out in the green house. Lets start with the front of the green house, where we cultivated about a 10 by 20 foot rectangle of ground. This was the foundation for the greenhouse extension, which we created by stretching sun cloth from the top of the house to the end of the cultivated patch.
A second addition (which remains half completed)
is a water catchment system on the back end of the greenhouse. When it rains, and it rains often, the water naturally flow off the backside of the greenhouse. To take advantage of this free water delivery service we designed a system that included a gutter system leading into a 75 gallon water tank at the back corner of the greenhouse. This week, with the help of Brigitte, we constructed a platform strong enough to hold up an overflowing 75 gallon water tank using recycled wood from around the camp. Also, we scavenged some old guttering. Although the guttering has yet to go up, we have enough of it to cover the greenhouse and all that’s left is deciding the manner in which we put it up. When completed this system can be used for the essential watering of greenhouse seeds, and even for drinking water, in times of desperation.
Fellow Ag Intern Dominique, also made some major headway on her own personal project, the “H”erb spiral. The h is not silent in this case. The structure of the spiral was finished this week and by the end of our stint, she had several herbs in the ground. Not only does this thing look sweet, but it is an excellent example of applied sustainable farming.
Fellow Agriculture intern Josh spent his 10-day stint in the capital city. He has plans to develop an aquaponics system in the Hispania house. He plans to begin construction over the next stint.
The great propagation experiment with oversized trimmings of jamaica and Cranberry Hibiscus was a smashing success. Charged with the task of multiplying our stock of these delicious and ornamental herbs, the Ag team planted about 70 of these larger-than-usual trimmings into the ground. Before we left for the city, all of them were still living. Also, in other miscellaneous farm news, the first green house plants were big enough to be planted in one of the plant beds in the farm. 50 new snow pea’s are now in the ground, and with the amount of seeds we have already planted this semester, there are much much more to follow.
